Australasian Sonographers Association

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Clinical Resources

Clinical Resources

A vital part of the ASA’s dedication to promoting best practice in medical sonography involves producing and providing clinical guidance and standards. View our current guidelines, clinical statements and endorsed resources below:

The following documents have been reviewed and are endorsed by the ASA:

Oct 2023 | International evidence-based guideline for the assessment and management of polycystic ovarian syndrome.
Designed to provide clear information regarding PCOS to assist clinical decision-making and support optimal patient care

Nov 2022 | Stillbirth Clinical Care Standard
The Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care

Nov 2022 | Prenatal Screening for Chromosomal Conditions including Down Syndrome (Practice Resource)
Down Syndrome Queensland, Queensland Government

Mar 2021 | Recommendations for the Adult Cardiac Sonographer Performing Echocardiography to Screen for Critical Congenital Heart Disease in the Newborn: From the American Society of Echocardiography
Journal of the American Society of Echocardiography

Jul 2020 | Recommendations for the Assessment of Carotid Arterial Plaque by Ultrasound for the Characterization of Atherosclerosis and Evaluation of Cardiovascular Risk: From the American Society of Echocardiography
Journal of the American Society of Echocardiography, Article in PressMay 2020 | Recommendations on the use of multimodality cardiovascular imaging in young adult competitive athletes
Journal of the American Society of Echocardiography

Apr 2020 | Recommendations for Echocardiography Laboratories Participating in Cardiac Point of Care Cardiac Ultrasound (POCUS) and Critical Care Echocardiography Training: Report from the American Society of Echocardiography
Journal of the American Society of Echocardiography

Mar 2020 | Australian Commission of Safety and Quality in Health Care advisory statement AS18/07: Reprocessing of reusable medical devices in health service organisations

Mar 2020 | Recommendations for Multimodality Assessment of Congenital Coronary Anomalies: A Guide from the American Society of Echocardiography, Developed in Collaboration with the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions, Japanese Society of Echocardiography, and Society for Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance
Journal of the American Society of Echocardiography

Jan 2020 | Australian guideline for prevention, diagnosis and management of acute rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease 3rd edition
Rheumatic Heart Disease Australia

Jan 2020 | Guidelines for Performance, Interpretation, and Application of Stress Echocardiography in Ischemic Heart Disease
Journal of the American Society of Echocardiography

Dec 2019 | New Zealand Obstetric Ultrasound Guidelines 2019
New Zealand Government Ministry of Health

Jun 2019 | Care Around Stillbirth and Neonatal Death – Section 3 Respectful and Supportive Perinatal Bereavement Care 
Third Edition from the Perinatal Society of Australia and New Zealand (PSANZ) and the NHMRC Stillbirth Centre of Research Excellence

Jan 2019 | Guidelines for Performing a Comprehensive Transthoracic Echocardiographic Examination in Adults: Recommendations from the American Society of Echocardiography.
Journal of the American Society of Echocardiography.

Feb 2017 | Guidelines for Reprocessing Ultrasound Transducers.
This guideline was jointly produced by the Australasian Society for Ultrasound in Medicine and the Australasian College for Infection Prevention Control, published in the February 2017 issue of the Australasian Journal of Ultrasound in Medicine.

2017 | Industry standards for the prevention of work related musculoskeletal disorders in sonography. 
Developed through a 2016 consensus conference hosted by the Society of Diagnostic Medical Sonography.

Nov 2016 | Diagnosis and management of ectopic pregnancy.
Joint guideline from the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and the Association of Early Pregnancy Units. 

There are several situations where an extended scope of practice for sonographers provides an innovative solution to increasing demands on the healthcare systems in Australia and New Zealand. Extended scope of practice can be defined as:

  • optimising full scope of practice

  • extending scope of practice in appropriate contexts; and

  • delegate tasks to the support workforce to enable full scope and extended scope.

In other countries, sonographers can be required to provide different or extended responsibilities than is generally expected of sonographers in Australia and New Zealand. For example, in the United Kingdom, it can be assumed that the ultrasound report should be written and issued by the sonographer undertaking the ultrasound examination.

The Queensland Government Ministerial Taskforce on health practitioner expanded scope of practice: final report identified that training sonographers to perform musculoskeletal therapeutic steroid injections and produce independent reports has the potential to increase patient access to service and reduce wait times for services.

In support of this work, the ASA commissioned research which evaluated sonographers administering ultrasound-guided musculoskeletal injections on defined outcomes related to patient safety (e.g. expected incidence rates for complications) and patient satisfaction. Find the results from this research as well as FAQs below:

Patient satisfaction and incidence of adverse events during a trial of sonographer administered musculoskeletal injections

FAQs on Sonographer administered ultrasound-guided MSK injections  

The ASA is committed to ensuring that all sonographers have the opportunity and capacity for career progression and personal and professional extension. 

SDMS | Industry standards for the prevention of work related musculoskeletal disorders in sonography

Online resources and support

Australian crisis hotlines

  • BEYOND BLUE | 1800 512 348 |  www.beyondblue.org.au

  • LIFELINE  |  13 11 14 |  www.lifeline.org.au – A crisis support and suicide prevention service for all Australians

  • SUICIDE CALL BACK SERVICE  |  1300 659 467 | www.suicidecallbackservice.org.au – A free service for people who are suicidal, caring for someone who is suicidal, bereaved by suicide or are health professionals supporting people affected by suicide Australia wide

New Zealand crisis hotlines

  • LIFELINE  |  0800 543 354 (0800 LIFELINE) or free text 4357 (HELP)

  • THE LOWDOWN |  0800 111 757 | www.thelowdown.co.nz

  • SUICIDE CRISIS HELPLINE  |  0508 828 865 (0508 TAUTOKO)

  • HEALTHLINE  |  0800 611 116

  • SAMARITANS  |  0800 726 666