NAN-H-26
Ultrasound
By Vivian Ihechu
Lagos, April 28, 2017 (NAN) The Association of Medical Ultrasound Practitioners of Nigeria, on Friday urged its members to ensure accurate ultrasound reporting for good management of health conditions.
Dr. Femi Olagunju, President, Association of Medical Ultrasound Practitioners of Nigeria (AMUPN), made the appeal in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.
Olagunju spoke with NAN on the sidelines of the association’s 2017 first quarter seminar with the theme “Good Ultrasound Reporting: The Responsibility of Every Ultrasound Practitioner’’.
He said ultrasound was one of the imaging modalities used to access the internal organs to help in the management and proper care of patients.
According to him, a wrong report will result in the poor treatment and management of any case.
“We have had reports that are not really of international standards and there is need for the practitioners to come and hear the latest reporting patterns.
“This will help in the management of patients.
“ The purpose of this seminar is to make practitioners to be abreast of their responsibilities; to know that giving good ultrasounds of cases they see will help in managing them appropriately.’’
On the importance of ultrasound, he said: “Ultrasound is useful.
“The good thing about ultrasound is that it is an imaging modality that does not use ionising radiation; it does not use x-ray.
“Rather, it makes use of sound waves that is converted through electric impulses for interpreting the image on the machine.
“We use it mainly for pregnancy detection and growth; it is also used to detect anomalies, pathologies and diseases to help in their treatment.
“Ultrasound is used to determine the number and age of pregnancies, the expected delivery date, development of the foetus and any pathology issue,’’ he said.
On the challenges facing the discipline, Olagunju said: “Quackery is a great challenge; there are many quacks in the discipline.
“There is also a lot of corruption, a lot of people are pretending to be what they are not; they are not well trained but they are doing the job.
“In the process, they disseminate wrong reports that will not lead the doctor anywhere, but may end up causing grave consequences on the health situation of patients.
“A healthy nation is a wealthy nation; when we are healthy, productivity improves and this helps the economy, so, quackery has to be stopped’’.
Consequently, he called for policies and laws to regulate the practice.
“There is need to formulate policies and regulations that will stop quackery in ultrasound.
“If one has what it takes to do the job, let the person do it well; however, if the person cannot, let the person leave and find another thing to do.
“Here in our country, medical doctors, nurses, physiotherapists and practitioners in other areas of health want to do everything not minding their limited knowledge of ultrasound.
“We need legislation and empowerment to put a check on this,’’ Olagunju said.
Also, Dr Babajide Balogun, Consultant Radiologist and Head of Department, Radio Diagnostics, Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), Ikeja, Lagos, restated the need for good ultrasound reporting.
Balogun, who was the Guest Lecturer said: “There is need for good ultrasound reporting; it is mandatory for a practitioner to give a good report for improved health outcome.
“Ultra sound is important as it has allowed us to go beyond medical and scientific barriers.
“For example, years back when there was no ultrasound, a woman who has been carrying a very big stomach for years would be thought of as being pregnant, whereas, it is fibroid.
“This is because, there was no way of checking inside the body except she be referred to do x-ray.
“But the risk of x-ray is that if a baby is actually inside the stomach, they baby may be at risk of some congenital anomalies or health situations later,’’ he said
“The reason is that the baby has been exposed to radiation of which could have resulted to anything.
“With the ultra sound machine, one can do scans anytime and anywhere, even in the most remote parts of the country.’’
Balogun called for unity among practitioners as well as a legislation to guide the practitioners.
“There should be understanding between radiologists and radiographers; the friendship between them is actually truncated.
“A radiologist is a medical doctor who is trained and specialises in diagnosing and treating diseases and injuries using medical imaging, while a radiographer is a medical imaging technologist trained in the use of X-rays and similar diagnostic technologies
“If they can work together as a unit, the level of what we are seeing will be better.
“We need a legislation to guide the practice; we also need funding, especially as the machines we use are very expensive,’’ Balogun said. (NAN)
VIV/PDE
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(Editing by Peter Ejiofor)
