Strategies for Eliminating the Sonographer Shortage

The sonography profession has and continues to experience a shortage of properly trained and creditialed sonographers. The purpose of this article is to study the current sonographer shortage and to suggest various solutions to the problem. Issues such as staff retention and recuitment are addressed to enable sonography departments to attract and retain valuable sonographers. Sonography education, distance education, and clinical site issues are also explored as they have a profound effect on the number of sonographers entering the profession. An attempt is made to cite recent and relevant sources in an effort to outline stratieges for dealing with this problem.