Introduction to Ultrasound Safety - Video Lesson

Hey, everybody. Welcome back to our series on ultrasound safety and patient care. This lesson explores the basics of ultrasound safety. We will discuss potential bio effects, the ALARA principle, thermal and mechanical indices, and the actions sonographers can take to improve patient safety. Ultrasound imaging offers real time, noninvasive visualization of internal structures that is, for the most part, very safe. But like any imaging modality, it comes with safety considerations. To discuss these various safety considerations, we should revisit the factors of power, intensity, and pressure. Power refers to the total amount of energy transmitted by the ultrasound beam per unit of time measured in watts. Power is managed by adjusting output power settings on the machine to follow the Alara principle. Intensity is the concentration of that energy in a specific area measured in watts per square centimeter. Intensity is monitored by the thermal and