Brooke Osborne

Introduction: Transvaginal ultrasound (TVUS) is the gold standard in gynaecological imaging; however, practices of withholding TVUS from non‐sexually active (NSA) people have been observed. This study aimed to assess the practices and opinions of Australasian sonographers regarding TVUS for NSA adults.Methods: Participants meeting the inclusion criteria were eligible to partake in an online survey. Quantitative data were analysed with descriptive statistics and correlations using Fisher's exact tests. Qualitative responses were coded and grouped into themes by the authors.Results: Responses from 139 participants were included. Half of the respondents (51.5%) routinely offered a TVUS irrespective of sexual history, while 26.2% would never offer TVUS to NSA patients. For practices with specific protocols for NSA patients, 30.0% stipulated that TVUS should not be offered to NSA patients. When asked whether TVUS should be the gynaecological imaging method of choice, opinions were significantly different depending on the patient's sexual history ([Sexually active: Yes = 80.3%, No = 2.4% vs. NSA: Yes = 29.9%, No = 26.0%] [p < 0.001]). Patient Consent, Patient Tolerance, Culture and Religion, Inappropriate for Virgins, Right to Quality Imaging, and LGBTQIA+ Community, were themes revealed to influence sonographers' opinions.Conclusion: Sonographic practices for performing TVUS examinations differed based on a patient's sexual history, and were influenced by consent, tolerance, culture, religion, and virginity. Some stated patient consent as the deciding factor for a TVUS, while others would not offer TVUS to NSA patients. There was a desire for more clarity in guidelines to support sonographers' practice decisions.

Introduction: Clinical skills education requires commitment from academic staff, clinical supervisors, and the students themselves to ensure the attainment of specific learning goals. The aims of this study were to identify specific skill areas that radiography education stakeholders feel are important to develop in Australian radiography students, and to evaluate how frequently the stakeholders believe graduate radiographers demonstrate these skills. Methods: A three-arm Delphi process of consensus development was used to survey radiography academic educators, radiographers, and radiography students as three separate expert groups. Three to four rounds covered the nomination of professional skills important to participants, the rating and ranking of importance of these skills, and identification of how well the stakeholder groups feel graduate radiographers demonstrate these skills. Results: Twenty-four stakeholders participated in the study. Thirty-four professional capabilities were identified as being important by at least one stakeholder group. Six capabilities were rated as being very or extremely important by all groups with no large differences of ratings identified between groups for the remaining capabilities. The student group felt that graduate radiographers demonstrate identified clinical skills more frequently than was perceived by the other groups. Conclusion: The agreement between radiographer education stakeholder groups as to the importance of identified professional capabilities indicates that each group is likely to place similar emphases on the teaching and learning of these skills. Differences of opinion between students and educators around student/graduate performance levels can inform areas for improvement in student performance and educator feedback approaches.

The aim of this pilot study was to develop structured online vivas as authentic assessments for capstone students enrolled in the medical sonography program in an Australian university. The objective was to evaluate the professional competency of trainee students who were transitioning to graduate as accredited sonographers. Prior to 2020, capstone students, located all over Australia, travelled to South Australia to undertake an on-campus, objective structured clinical examination for practical skills assessment. The interstate travel restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in the need for this examination to be conducted in an online mode. The emergency adaptation model employed in 2020 did not assess conceptual understanding and communication skills. To address this gap, structured online vivas were created and implemented through action research with 71 students in November 2021. A response rate of 51% from student feedback and 100% from external examiner feedback helped to enhance future iterations. Structuring of online vivas enabled assessment of professional competency skills, reduced both examiner bias and student anxiety, and promoted academic integrity. Our study discusses the action research process of developing and implementing structured online vivas, student performance, and evaluating student and examiner experiences with online vivas.

Sonographers possess a unique and complex body of knowledge and skills, providing real health benefits to the community. The value of competency frameworks rests on their capacity to support and facilitate professional practice in the interests of public safety. The commitment to act in the service of others carries with it a professional and ethical obligation to practice within the boundaries of accepted competency standards. The well‐accepted Australasian Sonographers Association (ASA) competency standards for entry‐level Australian sonographers were introduced a decade ago. At this time, ultrasound technology, its application and the sonographer's role as a critical interface to this technology continue to evolve. The article provides an overview of research used to develop a contemporary competency framework for sonographers. It describes each framework component and how these components have a potential role in sonographer education and clinical practice at different levels of expertise. Sonographer competencies were developed via a national collaborative research project led by a multi‐institutional research team of academic and industry professionals. A Delphi study design elicited consensus on multiple competency characteristics from an expert panel of 55 sonographers. The expert panel contained representatives from all Australian states and territories and represented all domains of practice. The resulting project outcome consisted of a competency framework containing four significant components: sonographer competency standards, sonographer knowledge, sonographer attitudes and a holistic competency matrix.

Endometriosis is a common gynecologic condition affecting as many as 1 per 10 women. Transvaginal ultrasound (TVUS) has become a frontline tool in the diagnosis of deep infiltrating endometriosis (DIE) before surgery. The primary aim of this review was to determine the accuracy of TVUS for DIE. The secondary aim was to determine accuracy specifically when a sonographer performed the TVUS examination. A systematic review was performed, searching literature by following a population, intervention, comparator, and outcome outline. MEDLINE, Embase, Emcare, and Google Scholar were searched in July 2018 and in November 2019. Including “sonographer” in the search terms yielded no results, so our terms were expanded. Two hundred and four articles were returned from the searches, and 35 were ultimately included in the final review. Analysis of the returned articles revealed the TVUS is a valuable diagnostic tool for DIE before surgery. Sensitivities ranged from 78.5% to 85.3%, specificities from 46.1% to 92.5%, and accuracies from 75.7% to 97%. Most authors reported site‐specific sensitivities and specificities, which varied greatly between locations. Site‐specific sensitivities ranged from 10% to 88.9% (uterosacral ligaments), 20% to 100% (bladder), 33.3% to 98.1% (rectosigmoid colon), and 31% to 98.7% (pouch of Douglas). Site‐specific specificities ranged from 75% to 99.6% (uterosacral ligaments), 96.4% to 100% (bladder), 86% to 100% (rectosigmoid colon), and 90% to 100% (pouch of Douglas). Transvaginal ultrasound is an accurate tool in the diagnosis of DIE; however, limited data exist as to whether this technique is accurate when performed by sonographers. More evidence surrounding the reliability between operators is also needed.