About half of ultrasound technology graduates say they are interested in additional credentials to widen their job options, according to a small survey conducted by LeAnn Maupin, Med, RT, RVT, FASA, FSVU, a professor of vascular technology at Oregon Institute of Technology in Klamath Falls.

Speaking to the annual meeting of the Society of Vascular Ultrasound June 1, Maupin said she surveyed former students via Facebook to find out if they thought multispecialty training was an important goal. Most responded that they thought more than one specialty would provide better mobility in the job market.

Maupin said she has also run the question by the CEOs and imaging managers of the clinical sites where institute students practice and received conflicting answers. The CEOs said they would value multicredentialed sonographers. But the imaging managers said they’d prefer to work with specialists. “They want dedicated people,” she said, so that technologists aren’t pulled away from the vascular lab to do exams in the echo lab.

For sonographers in some states, she said, additional credentials may be required by Medicare carriers.