The Impact of COVID-19 on Australasian Sonographers

COVID-19 RESEARCH

‘What is the impact of COVID-19 on the Australasian sonographic community captured at three time points during the pandemic?’

Jessie Childs, Kathryn Lamb, Brooke Osborne, Sandhya Maranna, Adrian Esterman

The ASA is financially supporting the research project from the University of South Australia on the impact of COVID-19 on Australasian sonographers. COVID-19 has significantly affected sonographers in a variety of ways. It is important for the sonography profession to capture how the pandemic influenced work hours, diversification of duties, incidences of cessation of certain scans, protocol changes and wellbeing. The findings could assist in the formation of future sonography guidelines and protocols. Australasian sonographers and the ASA’s Sonography journal were recognised by the World Health Organisation (WHO) on the COVID-19 Global Literature on Coronavirus Disease Database. The initial findings of this research are now available from the WHO website.

SURVEY ONE

Survey One sought to capture data from the early months of the COVID-19 outbreak. Data was collected during May 2020, and the initial findings were presented at the ASA Virtual Conference 2020 and published in the Sonography journal on 28 May 2021. Survey One found that scan numbers and sonographers’ work hours were affected by COVID-19. View the three publications produced from Survey One below:

The initial impact of COVID-19 on Australasian Sonographers Part 1: Changes in scan numbers and sonographer work hours The initial impact of COVID-19 on Australasian sonographers

Part 2: Changes to sonographic examination protocols and access to personal protective equipment

The initial impact of COVID-19 on Australasian sonographers Part 3: Sonographer professional, personal, and social wellbeing

SURVEY TWO

Survey Two captured the interim impact of COVID-19 and found that there was a lull during this period. The research found workers’ hours returned to normal in most instances, personal protective equipment (PPE) supplies increased and most protocols returned to normal. Jessie Childs provided an update of findings from Survey Two in a webinar featured on the ASA website.

SURVEY THREE

Survey Three captured the Delta outbreak and saw sonographers’ work hours largely unaffected, with PPE supplies staying at high levels. Sonographers reported that they felt safer overall, with the impact on practice being less severe than the initial COVID-19 outbreak. Significant changes were documented in sonographer wellbeing across the first three surveys. Findings suggest decreasing sonographer wellbeing levels, which prompted researchers to include additional questions to address sonographer wellbeing in the final survey.

SURVEY FOUR

A fourth survey was added to the research project to capture the Omicron outbreak. This study aims to capture the protocol changes, impact on examinations, wellbeing of sonographers, and the status of ultrasound in Australasia at the time of the Omicron outbreak.

The results of Survey Three and Survey Four are yet to be published.