My niche ultrasound related activity is the craft of expert witnessing.  As a pastime it beats my other obsession (baking), being better for the waistline.  Like ultrasound practice it can be bad for the anxiety levels so you may wonder why anyone in their right mind would want to do it.  My area of clinical practice is obstetrics and gynaecology and most of my expert witness work to date has been in cases of Wrongful Birth.  These are usually cases where a fetal anomaly has not been detected and the parent’s case is that they would have terminated had they known of ..read more

 And now for something completely different... Being interviewed for TV is much harder than writing, lecturing with notes, attending case conference with barrister, conference between experts and giving evidence in court. What have I learned? Prone to imposter syndrome which threatens to strangle me even on a good day, I learned that there is no limit to the deviousness of my brain.  Since the interview it has rewritten the interview over and over again so now I am slightly alarmed about the prospect of watching it. I was approached to give the interview after giving evidence in a ..read more

In between clinical assessments, I have managed a new podcast.  This one covers abnormalities of the placenta, membranes and liquor.  As always with these podcasts, it is based on the evidence available at the time of recording.  If you are aware of new evidence which contradicts or develops any of the content, I would love to hear from you.  You can get in touch via the blog or by Twitter where you can find me as @peabodysono I hope you find this useful, it is designed to be used by everyone scanning in obstetric ultrasound, whether you are training or, if like me you hav ..read more

Actually this is a post about flipped learning resources but as podcasting is so popular now I prefer to think of it as emulating Fascinating Aida and getting Down With the Kids! (see below...) I am renewing some of the resources on the obstetric module of the ultrasound course and decided to go down the podcasting route.  In the past the online content has been video lectures which are excellent but now need replacing.  With ubiquitous smartphones and apparently endless data, podcasts, along with ultrasound images on the university virtual learning environment give the freedom ..read more

Lorraine Walsh's excellent article entitled 'Why it is difficult for sonographers to talk' in Imaging Therapy and Practice (April 2018) got me thinking about communication in obstetric ultrasound and the experience of scanning within the screening programme. Why it is difficult for sonographers to talk | Society of Radiographers https://t.co/1GnArBDZmJ — JacquieTorrington (@peabodysono) April 16, 2018 Although the fetal anomaly screening programme is highly structured, the experience of scanning is more complicated than the structure suggests and the quality of a scan depends not only o ..read more

There appears to be a broad consensus that radiography is in danger of being left behind as other professions advance.  The evidence that extended roles and advanced practice are commonly conflated is building.  As sonographers we have additional problems as we are in the main from radiography backgrounds, but have no direction as an independent profession as we are unregulated. Our research- Just 9.3% of 205 rep rads correctly articulated difference between extended & advanced practice @PaulineReeves19 @peabodysono https://t.co/mCGTW3ad5H — Rob Milner (@RobMilner3) August 3 ..read more

Procrastination and dissertation After completing my PGDip in the 90s I realised that I did not have anything to say in a dissertation.  The day the 5 year point passed and there was no way of progressing to MSc was a relief.  The following years I moved house repeatedly (following the husband) had children and kept what I had once called my career going as best I could.  Emerging from the fog of the early years of mothering and with a little more stability on the home front I turned my attention to work again.  I was startled to find that ultrasound seemed to have stalle ..read more

I am torn between enormous admiration for the Doctors demonstrating their disagreement for the unsafe and unfair Junior contract and horror at the existence of the situation.  Both for the Juniors and the Consultants supporting them.  When the entire Consultant body of a department feels motivated to write this Big respect to clinical directors & other managers who stand up for their staff @IminworkJeremy pic.twitter.com/vQaVpGlJvo — nuwan dissanayaka (@nuwandiss) October 27, 2015 We know we are all in trouble.  This should never have developed into an industrial dispute ..read more

Yesterday I met a young couple who lost their baby last year.  By luck I happened to look at the booking letter and noticed the annotation SB next to the details of her previous pregnancy.  It was a busy clinic with lots of extra scans added to the list and she was attending for a 32 week scan.  I could so easily have welcomed them into the room with a breezy ‘so why are we scanning you today?’ Thank goodness I didn’t.  I asked them if they would like me to put a SANDs sticker on the handheld maternity notes.  They did and told me about their little boy ..read more

We are so stretched by ever increasing demands on our time and a chronic shortage of sonographers - 18% shortfall across the UK last year.  It is probably higher but the majority of departments did not respond to the SCoR survey – perhaps too busy scanning to be able to dedicate time to anything not immediately pressing?  And that pressure means that not many of us get to meetings where we can exchange ideas.  Networking.  It is everywhere now, following and commenting are second nature to many of us and the NHS is embracing it.  Sonographers are behind the trend ..read more