OB / GYN
Current sonography student Mattea Callahan conducted the following interview with Eastern Florida State College sonography graduate Sarah Rice .
You now specialize in OB / GYN at your job . Did you always know you wanted to be a sonographer in this field ?
When I first started in ultrasound , I always had the thought in the back of my mind that I wanted to be an obstetrician – a specialty where sonographers work with women , survey their reproductive systems and track the development of the fetus during pregnancy . But truthfully , I didn ’ t realize how many other areas in ultrasound there were until I started the program . It ’ s funny though , because our first week of school , Harry had us draw pictures of where we saw ourselves in our future careers , and I drew myself scanning a pregnant patient . They sent it to me after I started working in Maternal Fetal Medicine ( MFM ) and were like , “ See , Sarah ? You always wanted this !” I was not personally a fan of vascular , so I knew that was not an option for me . I don ’ t mind general ( a specialty where sonographers scan the abdominal region of the body , which contains the gallbladder , liver , pancreas and spleen ), but my heart is 100 % meant for OB .
Are you involved in scanning during all three trimesters , or do you only see patients for certain trimesters ? In my office , we scan from 12 weeks onward . On occasion we ’ ll get someone who may be 9 to 11 weeks , and it ’ s usually because they had an abnormal viability scan elsewhere and were sent to us to confirm . Our 12- to 13-week of pregnancy scans are what we call a “ first screen ,” where we do a typical first trimester exam , but also measure the nuchal translucency , which is the appearance of fluid under the skin behind the fetal neck in the first trimester of pregnancy . In the second trimester , our most common exams are detailed anatomy scans at 18 to 20 weeks and fetal echoes at 22 to 24 weeks . Third trimester exams are mainly growth scans or biophysical profiles .
Are you involved in genetic counseling ?
I am not involved with genetic counseling . I work with two board-certified Maternal Fetal Medicine doctors , and they do all the counseling . One of our doctors is also a geneticist , so he tends to go very in-depth with counseling .
How has this job mentally affected you ? Do you think you were born to handle the trials that may come with a career in high-risk OB , or did you learn and adapt ?
The job itself can be very difficult mentally . Because I work in high-risk OB , all of the abnormal findings get sent to us to be worked up . I see some really sad and awful stuff on these babies . Then the parents get told their baby is abnormal , and you have a distraught mom on your table to take care of too . Thankfully the normal cases outweigh the abnormal cases , but that doesn ’ t make the abnormal ones any easier . It ’ s always hard when you find defects or can ’ t find a heartbeat . You don ’ t ever get used to that . It ’ s kind of like a sucker punch to the gut every time you set the probe down and there ’ s no heartbeat .
Sarah Rice
Diagnostic
Medical Sonography