The Ultrasound Examination, the Ultrasound Examiner, and the Patient

An extension of the physician's physical examination with a specific machine - that is what our patients experience with clinical ultrasonography. They know this for example from pregnancy, or from many other diagnostic procedures in all fields of medicine. Ultrasound examination has become a widely accepted and acknowledged diagnostic tool - not only for the physician, but in the public opinion, too.

The diagnostic potential of clinical ultrasonography is increasingly understood -both in the sense of detecting and of ruling out minor and major disease such as gallstones or malignancies. So being exposed to an ultrasound examination has a number of psychological implications, too - such as hope, fears, and doubts. The ultrasound examiner should be aware of this during all steps of the examination: before, during, and after the procedure. Before the examiner should clear with the patient the aims and limits of the examination; during the examination he should be aware as an examining doctor that the patient constantly reads the face. At the end of the examination, the findings and the further consequences from the procedure must be communicated adequately to the patient.

Indeed, a considerable number of psychological interactions happen during an ultrasound examination as well as in all our other directly patient related contacts. The combination of a high tech machine in the expert’s hands and the patient to doctor interactions generates a highly specific situation. The drama is compounded by dimmed lights with some magic moving pictures in grey, black, and white, and sometimes even with colours.

So performing an ultrasound examination means more than the simple technical action - a high degree of interaction and psychology must be considered, too, and can be made use of for the benefit of our patients.

Lucas Greiner, MD

EFSUMB Honorary Secretary