Q&A with Radiation Sciences alumna Samantha Nguyen

It started with my pregnancy. I was a young mom at 17. When I had my first ultrasound, I was just amazed at the detail. I could see my daughter opening her mouth, and I could see her little nose. That was just incredible to me. That’s when I kind of dabbled in the idea of going into ultrasound. 

The further I got into my prerequisites, the more I really liked anatomy and physiology, and that’s when I started exploring and getting serious about it. Besides that, I think I have always been a people person. I’ve always been told that I’m patient and kind. So, I think health care, for me, just came naturally.  

Before starting at the University of Iowa, I took my first health care job as a home health care aide. I worked with seniors and felt I had a knack for it. I also worked at an obstetrics and gynecology clinic answering phones and doing scheduling. I got to shadow some obstetric sonographers. That further helped me realize this was the field I wanted to go into. 

When I was accepted for the program, I was in tears. I thought I couldn’t attend because I was pregnant with my son, and my due date was around the same time as the start of the first semester. I felt honored to be accepted for such a competitive program and was devastated that I wouldn’t be able to accept the invitation.  

Then the director of the program, Steph [Stephanie J. Ellingson, MS, RDMS, RDCS, RVT, RT(R), FSDMS], said they could offer a deferment, and that’s when the happy tears began streaming. I took her up on the opportunity and was so appreciative that she helped make it happen. 

Steph has the program structured so well to give us the exposure and preparation that I think anybody going into ultrasound needs. We get a lot of exposure to different clinical sites, which prepares you for adapting to new work environments and machines.  

It’s an accelerated three-year program, so we worked through the summers. All that time, I was making the hour-and-15-minute drive from the Quad Cities, so I was very fortunate to have a supportive husband to help with the kids. 

Ryan Lomen [BA, RDMS, RVT], made us understand why we practiced certain techniques, not just how to do them, and challenged us to ask questions. Todd Woods used metaphors and personal experiences to help us make connections. Hannah Kelly [MS, RT(R), RDMS, RVT] came to our obstetrics clinical sites and pushed us to interact with physicians, a skillset I am so happy I developed prior to graduating. Stephanie Ellingson made very challenging subjects make sense in the simplest way.  

They all cared about our success in the field. I credit them as well as all of the sonographers I have had the pleasure to work with in clinic for my confidence and success in my role as a general sonographer. 

When incorporating the distance the program was from home, it was challenging balancing parenthood with school. I learned pretty quickly how to read a textbook while Cocomelon was playing in the background. There was a lot of eating out, too, since I couldn’t make dinner every night. While there were many sacrifices, we are now experiencing the reward of all my schooling, and I am now able to make dinners for my family again. 

Being a first-gen student, I didn’t have any role models who went to school and sought an education. It was important to me to show that to my daughter. I made a difficult decision to sacrifice time with my daughter while going to school, but I knew that ultimately, she’d see the reward in the end. That was a lot of my motivation—showing her the hard work.  

She was there when I was studying, and she was there with me at graduation. It was a proud moment of accomplishment when I could finally say, “We did it.” She made sacrifices, too, by having to give up some time with mama. But then graduation happened, and it was all worth it.

I work in a busy hospital setting with inpatients and outpatients. As a general sonographer, I scan abdominal (liver, kidneys, spleen, pancreas, gallbladder, and more) pediatric (hips, GI, spines, neonatal brain), breast, and small parts (random lumps and bumps, thyroids). Outpatients are scheduled, but there are daily add-on inpatients and emergency department patients. Life as a sonographer in a Level 1 trauma hospital is busy, but there is a lot of opportunity for growth in my career. 

I rotate between three different hospitals. I start off looking at the schedule, seeing what exam is going to come in next. The team all communicates about where everyone’s at, whose turn it is for an exam, who needs help, and what needs to be prepared. From there, it’s scanning patients.  

For the most part, I am pretty independent. I do have coworkers who have been in the field for years and are considered “seasoned techs,” so if I have any questions about anything, I’ll usually go to them first. If they’re not available, I’ll go to the radiologist to discuss what I need assistance with. We are procedure-heavy where I currently work, so we collaborate a lot with physician assistants and radiologists. 

One thing that was really important to me after graduating was to find a job where I could do everything I learned. I do kidney, liver, pediatric, breast, and obstetric scans. While it’s the same kind of pattern scanning patients, it’s a new exam every time. 

I love the structure and organization of scanning. It’s kind of an art; you want to get the most picture-perfect, textbook image. Sometimes that’s not possible, but you really work hard for it, because you want it to be diagnostic for the radiologist. My favorite thing is getting a satisfying picture for my radiologist so we can get the best answers for the patient. 

Do you have a favorite type of scan? 
I love, love, love liver dopplers! There is something satisfying about successfully getting a waveform with information like velocity and waveform morphology in different vessels throughout the liver. I love abdominal and vascular ultrasound, and it’s a more challenging exam that combines both. 

It’s challenging being so new. Even though three years of clinical exposure seems like a lot, there is still so much to learn, especially in the first year as a new grad. The University of Iowa made me feel very confident and prepared, but I now have a responsibility to the patient that I didn’t have as a student. I don’t have a preceptor I can run to with questions. It’s a lot of pressure.  

But even as a seasoned tech, I think you can overlook things if you’re too confident. So even then, I think one of the challenges could be the same—just being responsible for the patient outcome. 

Something I didn't know before is how ergonomics is so, so important in this field. In ultrasound specifically, I didn't realize how much force is needed on your body to get the best images. Within the last few years, ergonomics became more of a “thing,” but prior to then, you would see a lot of seasoned techs who have a lot of work-related injuries. But the diagnostic medical sonography program through the University of Iowa wanted to reduce those numbers and began educating us that it’s a lot on your body, so you have to take ergonomics seriously. 

The biggest takeaway that I got specifically from our program was that it’s not important just to get the “prettiest” picture. It’s important to get the picture that’s diagnostic for our patients.  

Todd Woods [BSDMS, RDMS, RVT, RT(R)] said we should treat each patient like they’re our own grandma. It’s easy to get caught up in getting your protocol images, but if you treat your patients like they’re a loved one, that will motivate you to look for the problem, too.