Advanced Practice Sonographer® (APS®)
Frequently Asked Questions
NOTE: If your SDMS membership renewal is now pending, and you don't meet all of the APS® membership requirements, please make sure to renew your regular membership and then submit the APS® membership application as soon as you have completed all the APS® requirements----don't let your membership lapse!
What are the benefits of APS®?
- Provides professional and personal recognition of your clinical excellence
- Provides professional recognition of your educational, training, scholarship and certification accomplishments
- Provides professional recognition of your career accomplishments with your sonography peers
The APS® is intended to serve as a model for recognition of clinical excellence and appropriate standards of education, training, and certification within a sonography specialty area. The APS® has been designed to create opportunities for advancement and recognition of the membership within the sonography community, to educate the medical community and healthcare consumers, and to assist in the establishment of a career ladder for advancement within the profession of sonography.
Why are APS® dues higher than other SDMS membership categories?
The APS® application requires the submission of a lot more information than any of the other membership categories. This information has to be processed and confirmed. The increased fee structure for the APS® is an attempt to cost-recover for the increased administrative work required for the processing of APS® applications.
If some of my clinical experience is part-time, can I still qualify?
Yes, as long as you have 24 hours of clinical experience per week, 800 exams per year in the specialty for which you are applying.
What are the bottom-line rules for meeting the APS® publication requirement?
The article must be published in a peer-reviewed journal and it must be sonography related.
What journals qualify as a peer-reviewed journal?
The term "peer reviewed journal" is a publishing industry and science community term. It refers to journals that require a review of papers that have been submitted for publication consideration to a group of professional peers with expertise within the profession. There are many peer-reviewed journals. Examples of peer-reviewed journals within the sonography community include:
- Journal of Diagnostic Medical Sonography
- Journal of Ultrasound in Medicine
- Journal of Vascular Technology
- Journal of the American Society of Echocardiography
The APS® does not stipulate that the publication requirement is tied to any specific journal. The only qualification is that the journal be peer-reviewed. The JDMS publishes an "Information for Authors" section in each issue of the JDMS that provides a "how to" template for paper submission which can also be accessed on this website: http://www.sdms.org/jdms/authors.asp
Do "Case Studies" or "Case Reports" count toward meeting the APS® publication requirement?
Yes, as long as they are published in a peer-reviewed journal.
Does publication of a JDMS "Diagnostic Challenge" count toward meeting the APS® publication requirement?
No.
I have written some articles in a journal, but they did not include anything that was ultrasound or sonography related. Do they count?
No. The publication requirement is publication in a peer-reviewed journal and the content of the article must be sonography related. However, it is possible to have a medical ultrasound related article published in a peer-reviewed journal that is not necessarily a "sonography" journal. For example, an article dealing with the issue of sonographer Musculoskeletal Injury (MSI) might be published in the Journal of Safety Engineers.
Why was the publication of a "peer-reviewed" article included as an APS® application requirement?
APS® candidates have a tremendous wealth of experience and information that could be an asset to other sonographers and to helping move the body of knowledge for the profession ahead. The publication requirement is an incentive for sharing that information.
What if I'm not the "first-author" listed on the publication that I would like to submit for my APS® application?
As long as you are listed as an author the publication will be considered for the APS® publication requirement.
I've been published in a journal, but it was a letter to the editor, does that count?
No, letters to the editor are not reviewed. The publication must be an article, case study, or case report.
I've worked in the songraphy profession for over 15 years. I've been ARDMS certified for 10 of those years. Must I still have a Bachelor's degree to apply for the APS®?
Starting in 2003, the APS® membership category requires a bachelor's degree for all candidates.
Is the APS® designed for multi-specialty designations?
The APS® was primarily designed to recognize clinical expertise in a given area of sonographic clinical work. While it is theoretically possible to qualify with more than one APS® specialty designation, the requirements of 24 hours a week and 800 exams per year will be applied to each specialty area.
Is the Clinical experience requirement, 24 hours a week, 800 exams a year, per specialty?
Yes
Why is ARDMS registration accepted but CCI registration is not accepted toward APS® membership?
The APS® Task Force felt that it was imperative that some accountability standard for certification bodies be used to set the "gold standard". The criteria they chose was Category "A" classification by the National Commission for Certifiying Agencies (NCCA). This organization is an independent organization that provides review and certification support for establishing the validity of certifying examinations — "testing the tester". While SDMS is prepared to accept any certification organization that meets the NCCA standards (also reflected in the Sonography Scope of Practice and Clinical Standards) the only such organization that currently meets this standard is the ARDMS.
Does the APS® requirement of "five years of clinical experience after becoming ARDMS registered in the specialty I'm applying for" have to be the last five years?
No. As long as you have a total of five years since you became registered in the specialty you are applying for.
I have a Bachelor's degree and 20 years of experience and have published 5 articles, but only became ARDMS registered in 2003; do I have to wait until 2008 to apply?
Yes. The APS® requires five years of ARDMS registry in the APS® specialty area that you apply for before your application will be accepted.
What if I meet all the requirements, but I have trouble contacting a company that I worked for in the past 10 years (a company that is now out of business), how would I confirm that with you?
Submit an Employment Documentation form confirming who the employer was, the dates covered by that employment, and the work you performed during that time. This form (APS-ED1) can be found on page 14 of the APS® Application.
Will there be a registry test for the APS®?
At this time, the APS® is a membership category within the SDMS only. Whether a registry test is developed in the future for the APS® is not known.
Is the SDMS really going require that all of the application criteria for the APS® have been met before the application will be accepted---is there some "wiggle room" for some of the requirements?
Yes, SDMS will require that all APS® criteria have been met before processing any application for APS® membership, and there is no "wiggle room" in the APS® requirements. Incomplete applications will be returned, and the processing fee will be retained.
Will the SDMS be promoting the APS®, and the training and education standards, which it represents, to others within healthcare and reimbursement communities?
Yes.
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