1. Deadline Near for SDMS 2004 Sonographer Salary & Benefits Survey
2. Professional Liability Woes
3. Walk-ins Welcome at SDMS 2004 Annual Conference in New Orleans
4. Important Information about The SCAN^®
5. Happy Birthday: SDMS CME Tracker Turns Three!
6. Certification News
7. News & Notes
8. Important Dates

STILL TIME TO COMPLETE THE SURVEY BEFORE NOVEMBER 1!

We need your help! Please complete the SDMS 2004 Sonographer Salary & Benefits Survey - it's online and only takes a few minutes to complete.

This confidential employee-based survey will provide in-depth, accurate compensation and benefits data for the field of diagnostic medical sonography. SDMS will use this information to generate practice/specialty salary and benefits reports which could assist you in your next salary review or when seeking a new job. SDMS members will have access to the survey reports AT NO CHARGE!

Your answers to this survey will be kept strictly confidential. The results will only be released in aggregate – no data will be released about any individual.

As a "thank you" for participating in this survey, SDMS will hold a random drawing for those who complete the survey and provide us their email address (before 5:00 pm [CST] on November 1, 2004).

Prizes in Random Drawing:

• Grand Prize: Gift certificates at your choice of more than a dozen stores including Saks Fifth Avenue, Crate and Barrel, Home Depot, Smith & Hawken, Brooks Brothers, Dell Computers, Discovery Channel Store, and more (value: $500)
• 1st Prize: 2005 SDMS Annual Conference registration (value: $295)
• 2nd Prize: Free SDMS Membership renewal (value: $119)
• 3rd Prize: Gift certificate good for SDMS products (value: $50)

Note that this survey specifically excludes educators, travelers, commercial application specialists, and sonographers working outside of the US -- these groups may be targeted for future surveys.

During the past several months, many SDMS members have been affected by insurance carriers who previously offered professional liability insurance to sonographers, but have suddenly, and many times with no warning, notified them that they cannot renew their coverage. Since the beginning of 2004, two major sonographer professional liability insurance carriers have stopped offering this line of insurance. SDMS members, as well as other sonographers, have called SDMS Headquarters for leads on other companies offering this protection.

The SDMS, in conjunction with our insurance agent, having seen the trends and experienced the dissolution of TIG's professional liability line of insurance personally, positioned ourselves so that we could continue to offer our members the opportunity to secure professional liability insurance. To that end, in 2003 SDMS announced to members in Sound News that we were changing to an insurance company that is rated A++ Superior by AM Best, which is the largest and longest-established company devoted to issuing in-depth reports and financial-strength ratings about insurance organizations.

Today, SDMS Insurance Services can offer you two levels of coverage of "occurrence based" coverage at rates that are very economical. SDMS Insurance Services can also help those who are self-employed or sonography students. Call SDMS Insurance Services today at 800-565-8794 for more information about your options. Remember to have your SDMS member number handy, as this coverage is available to SDMS members only.

The SDMS 2004 Annual Conference in New Orleans will be one of the largest ever! On-site registrations are welcome. Please stop by the SDMS registration desk on the Third Floor of the Hyatt Regency New Orleans. Registration hours are:

• Wednesday, September 29 - 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm
• Thursday, September 30 - 7:00 am to 8:30 pm
• Friday, October 1 - 7:00 am to 7:00 pm
• Saturday, October 2 - 7:00 am to 4:00 pm
• Sunday, October 3 - 7:30 am to 12:30 pm

We may still have a few seats available in our pre-conference tutorials on September 30 and Lunch & Learn educational sessions on October 1 and 2. Check availability at the registration desk.

If you can't make it to the educational sessions, we recommend an exhibit hall pass (only $25). Our exhibitors range from ultrasound equipment manufacturers to recruiters. Our exhibit hall is open:

• Thursday, September 30 - 6:00 pm to 8:30 pm
• Friday, October 1 - 9:00 am to 4:00 pm (closed from 1:00 to 2:30 for lunch)
• Saturday, October 2 - 9:00 am to 4:00 pm (closed from 1:00 to 2:30 for lunch)

To see the complete list of companies who are exhibiting, visit:

For complete program details and hotel reservation information, visit:

Recently the SDMS Educational Foundation released an update of the Abdomen/Superficial Structures/Breast section of The SCAN®. This release was a result of continued reviews conducted on each section of The SCAN® to ensure its accuracy and viability. Because these reviews may result in changes that might affect its use, all SCAN users are urged to watch for updates from the Foundation via the SDMS website and Sound News regarding changes and revisions. To ensure you use the most recent edition, it is important to note the "revision date" which is printed in the lower-left corner of the specialty section proficiency pages. The most recent revision dates for each section are:

• Abdomen, Superficial Structures and Breast - 09/04
• Adult Cardiac - 07/03
• Advanced Fetal Cardiac - 07/03
• Neurosonology - 04/04
• Ob/Gyn - 07/00 (to be reviewed 2004)
• Pediatric Cardiac - 07/03
• Vascular - 02/04

NEW! Regular reviews may also necessitate changes to the various forms associated with The SCAN® and the most expediatitious way in which to provide users with the most updated information is to publish it electronically on the SDMS website. SCAN information and forms are now available to authorized users in The SCAN® Online Forms Library. The CDs previously sent with each copy of The SCAN® are no longer available. The library will be password protected. The SCAN® Online Forms Library contains:

• Abbreviations and Glossary
• Clinical Evaluation Forms
• Clinical Examination Totals forms (specialty specific)
• Clinical Logbook forms (specialty specific)
• Continuing Education Record
• Guidelines
• Introduction
• Master Assignment Sheet
• Master Proficiency Lists (specialty specific)
• Performance Objectives Overview (specialty specific)
• Program Option forms

NEW! Educational institutions that have adopted The SCAN® for use in their programs can now receive a complimentary copy of updates as they are released.

For more information about complimentary copies of The SCAN® sections, the URL address for access to the online SCAN forms, or other Foundation programs, please call Dawn Sanchez, 800-229-9506, ext 169, or email her at dsanchez@sdms.org.

An exclusive SDMS member benefit, the SDMS CME Tracker program,is now three years old (it began September 1, 2001). Since it's inception, SDMS has logged more than 86,000 CME individual activities totaling more than 113,000 CME credits. More than 100,000 CME credits have been automatically transferred to the ARDMS - saving SDMS members time and money!

Beginning with this year's Annual Conference, we will start reporting CME credits to Cardiovascular Credentialing International (CCI) as well as ARDMS.

Reminder: The SDMS CME Tracker program only includes SDMS CME products and meetings and does not currently include SDMS-approved CME courses conducted by other CME providers. For more information about the SDMS CME Tracker program, visit:

ARDMS

ARDMS has released a staff report to the ARDMS Certification Committee concerning comments from the community along with their evaluation and proposed revision of ARDMS Prerequisite 2.

Additional information on the next steps in the Prerequisite 2 process are listed on the ARDMS website at:

The News & Notes column includes links to web-based news articles of interest to sonographers. To submit articles, send the URL to webmaster@sdms.org