Did you know?
- 90% of sonographers experience work-related pain
- Of those in pain, 20% suffer career-ending injuries
- The absence of a full-time sonographer amounts to an estimated $21,000 loss of billable revenue in just one work week
Injured sonographers can cost employers millions of dollars each year in various areas:
- Loss of revenue
- $702,000 per year of $13,500 per week, which is 60% of the billable revenue
- $1,100,000 is the billable amount of revenue generated by one sonographer in one year, according to John Hawkins of Allied Consulting and based on customer surveys I can’t confirm this information I can’t find a source
- Worker’s Compensation
- $32,000 per year or $2,700 per month
- The cost per worker in 2018 was $1,100. This includes the value of goods or services each worker must produce to offset the cost of work injuries. It is not the average cost of a work-related injury.
- Cost per medically consulted injury in 2018 was $41,000,
- These figures include estimates of wage losses, medical expenses, administrative
- Replacement staff
- $150,000-$300,000 per year, which includes airfare, per diem expenses, and housing
- $131,040 per year or $10,920 per month using a local temp. agency
- Medical bills
- $20,000 per year or $1,700 per month for the average shoulder injury, exclusive of surgical treatment
See Cost of Injury for more information.
As policy makers, you have the opportunity to reduce the risk of injury to your staff by implementing guidelines for safe work practices. Information is available through site evaluations and ergonomic training that can reduce your sonographer’s risk for occupational injury.
What Can You Do?
The following factors, alone or in combination can result in occupational musculoskeletal injury:
- Repetitive movement
- Overuse
- Excessive strain or force
- Poor postural alignment
- Static or prolonged holding of strained positioning
Sound Ergonomics, LLC provides ergonomic site evaluations of clinical ultrasound facilities, as well as in-service education and local educational seminars and hands-on ergonomic training for sonographers, vascular technologists, and cardiac sonographers.
We offer educational seminars and hands-on training. In some cases, these can be done virtually.
Our clinical worksite evaluations include:
- Schedule/workload review
- Individual postural alignment assessment of sonographers
- Ergonomic evaluation of ancillary equipment
- Environmental solutions recommendations
- These evaluations can now be done virtually in some cases, which make them more budget-friendly since there are no expenses associated with travel.