New Zealand sonographers do not outperform their European or American colleagues in the knowledge of ultrasound safety

Introduction Recent surveys of clinical users of ultrasound conducted in Europe and North America show that users of ultrasound worldwide are poorly informed about the safety issues of diagnostic ultrasound technology. For instance, only 32% of American and European users reported being familiar with the term Thermal Index (TI), and only 18% of Americans and 22% of Europeans could correctly define or describe what TI means. Little is known about the level of knowledge that Australasian users have regarding ultrasound safety. In general, Australia and New Zealand enforce stricter educational and licensing requirements for sonographers than USA and Europe. Does this mean our sonographers are better informed about issues of ultrasound safety such as monitoring and regulating of thermal indices during obstetric examinations? A survey of sonographers was performed in Hamilton, New Zealand to answer this question.