Diagnostic Medical Sonographers

Observe screen during scan to ensure that image produced is satisfactory for diagnostic purposes, making adjustments to equipment as required.

AI: Fully automatable - AI can assess image quality in real time and automatically adjust many equipment parameters or recommend changes, enabling fully automated quality assurance and equipment tuning in many setups.

Decide which images to include, looking for differences between healthy and pathological areas.

AI: Fully automatable - AI algorithms are capable of selecting and prioritizing diagnostic images and flagging pathological differences for inclusion in studies with performance approaching or exceeding human readers in many tasks.

Maintain records that include patient information, sonographs and interpretations, files of correspondence, publications and regulations, or quality assurance records, such as pathology, biopsy, or post-operative reports.

AI: Fully automatable - Record maintenance — including linking patient data, storing sonographs, and archiving reports — is readily automatable with existing EHR and PACS integrations and workflow automation.

Process and code film from procedures and complete appropriate documentation.

AI: Fully automatable - AI and software can reliably process image/film data, assign procedure/billing codes, and generate required documentation.

Perform clerical duties, such as scheduling exams or special procedures, keeping records, or archiving computerized images.

AI: Fully automatable - Clerical duties like scheduling, recordkeeping, and image archiving are routine and can be fully automated with current scheduling systems, EHRs, and PACS workflows.

Observe and care for patients throughout examinations to ensure their safety and comfort.

AI: Partial - AI can monitor patient vitals, detect adverse events, and provide scripted reassurance, but it cannot physically comfort, intervene hands‑on, or fully replicate human bedside care.

Provide sonogram and oral or written summary of technical findings to physician for use in medical diagnosis.

AI: Partial - AI can generate written (and synthesized oral) summaries from sonographic images, but acquiring the sonogram itself and conveying nuanced clinical context typically still require a trained operator.

Operate ultrasound equipment to produce and record images of the motion, shape, and composition of blood, organs, tissues, or bodily masses, such as fluid accumulations.

AI: Partial - AI and robotic systems can manage imaging settings and in some controlled scenarios perform scanning, but broadly operating ultrasound probes and handling patient variability remains a partially automated capability.

Select appropriate equipment settings and adjust patient positions to obtain the best sites and angles.

AI: Partial - AI can recommend or set equipment parameters, but physically adjusting patient position is a manual task except where specialized robotics are available, so full automation is limited.

Prepare patient for exam by explaining procedure, transferring patient to ultrasound table, scrubbing skin and applying gel, and positioning patient properly.

AI: Partial - AI can explain procedures and give positioning instructions, but manual actions like transferring patients, scrubbing skin, applying gel, and physically positioning still require human caregivers.

Determine whether scope of exam should be extended, based on findings.

AI: Partial - AI can analyze images and suggest when additional views are warranted, but final decisions about extending an exam require human clinical judgment and responsibility.

Obtain and record accurate patient history, including prior test results or information from physical examinations.

AI: Partial - AI can collect structured histories and pull prior results from EHRs, yet obtaining nuanced, accurate histories and verifying information still requires human interaction and oversight.

Record and store suitable images, using camera unit connected to the ultrasound equipment.

AI: Partial - Systems can automatically capture and store images from ultrasound equipment, but selecting and ensuring clinically suitable images typically requires human skill or validated AI assistance under supervision.

Coordinate work with physicians or other healthcare team members, including providing assistance during invasive procedures.

AI: Partial - Coordination and communications (scheduling, notifications) can be automated, but providing hands-on assistance during invasive procedures and real-time clinical coordination remain human tasks.

Clean, check, and maintain sonographic equipment, submitting maintenance requests or performing minor repairs as necessary.

AI: Partial - Monitoring, diagnostics, and automated maintenance requests can be handled by software, but physical cleaning and minor repairs still require human technicians.

Perform legal and ethical duties, including preparing safety or accident reports, obtaining written consent from patient to perform invasive procedures, or reporting symptoms of abuse or neglect.

AI: Partial - Generating reports and consent documents can be automated, but legally obtaining informed consent and exercising ethical judgment for reporting abuse require human involvement.

Supervise or train students or other medical sonographers.

AI: Partial - AI can provide training content, simulations, and feedback, but effective supervision and hands-on teaching of students and clinicians still need human educators.

Maintain stock and supplies, preparing supplies for special examinations and ordering supplies when necessary.

AI: Partial - AI can manage inventory, forecast usage, and auto-generate orders, but the physical preparation of supplies for exams typically still requires human staff or specialized robotics.

Load and unload film cassettes used to record images from procedures.

AI: Partial - Loading and unloading film cassettes is a physical task that AI software alone cannot perform, though robotic hardware could partially automate it.

Perform medical procedures, such as administering oxygen, inserting and removing airways, taking vital signs, or giving emergency treatment, such as first aid or cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).

AI: Not automatable - Performing hands-on emergency medical procedures and airway management requires physical intervention and clinical decision-making that AI cannot execute autonomously as of 2025.