Ambidextrous sonographic scanning to reduce sonographer repetitive strain injury

Abstract

Many sonographers experience work-related repetitive strain injury (RSI). The primary objective of this study was to investigate the feasibility and possible techniques of training sonographers who exclusively hold the transducer in the same hand to become ambidextrous as a method to reduce RSI. Five cardiac and three vascular right-handed sonographers were observed and videotaped while they performed right- and left-handed examinations. The sonographers also filled out pre- and post-session questionnaires. This study found that all the sonographers experienced RSI from scanning exclusively with their dominant hand and that they were willing to learn to perform scanning with their nondominant hand. However, aids and methods to help train sonographers to perform scanning with their nondominant hand would be required, such as arm supports, scheduling practice sessions, and demonstration of proper scanning techniques using the nondominant hand. The secondary objective of this study was to determine the diagnostic and image quality of sonograms acquired with the nondominant hand. A blinded review of the resultant sonograms found that the diagnostic and image quality of the sonograms acquired with the left and right hands were comparable.