How to hold the transducer

After teaching in the introductory ultrasound lab last week, I just want to post some quick tips on how to hold the transducer that several students found helpful.

• Hold the transducer like a pencil, not a flashlight. This gives your wrist the greatest range of motion for moving in different planes.
• Hold the transducer close to the contact surface with the patient. The farther away from the surface you hold it, the more each motion is magnified. Magnified motions make it hard to control the image.
• Let the fourth and fifth fingertips of your scanning hand contact the skin. Here’s a picture of the correct grip using a linear transducer in a person. Keeping your hand in contact with the patient helps keep your hand from sliding away while you are looking at the screen. It also helps keep your hand stable and the image steady.