MUAM 2021- Love of Ultrasound

What I love About Ultrasound?! 

To be honest, I never liked ultrasound much when I was a student or newly qualified radiographer.  I could never understand what people got excited about.  As far as I was concerned, CT was much more fun. But then, about nine years into my radiography career my circumstances changed and I was encouraged by a respected staff member to train in ultrasound.

I’ve never looked back. What I love about my ultrasound career is the variety it has provided.  The possibilities are endless and I feel very lucky to have continuously been offered (and grabbed with both hands) opportunities to develop. I began my ultrasound career struggling to measure a fetal femur and now, some considerable years on, I’m involved with many great ultrasound-related projects and also regularly teach and influence the next generation of practitioners.

I suppose there are two ‘morals’ to my story; the first is to never judge a book by its cover.  To me, being young and short-sighted back in the ‘90s, I perceived a career in ultrasound would be dull and limited.  It was only after I had totally thrown myself into it, that I realised it had the autonomy and responsibility I was looking for and that there were all sorts of other ultrasound-related things I could get involved with too if I put myself forward.  

The second moral of my story is to make sure you recognise - and accept - opportunities when they are presented to you, not just in your imaging career but in life in general.  Just go for it.  It’s much easier to stay in your comfort zone and/or think you don’t have the confidence or ability to move forward, but instead just trust the person who’s inviting you and aim to reward their faith!

Hazel Edwards, BMUS Professional Officer