Monday, 10 November 2025
A survey investigating sonographer's perceptions of ultrasound appointment times in Australia and New Zealand.
Detailed information about the survey
Plain English title: A survey investigating sonographer's perceptions of ultrasound appointment times in Australia and New Zealand.
Ethics application number: 207242 (University of South Australia)
Researchers
Dr Kerry Thoirs
Adjunct Associate Professor, University of South Australia; Research and Standards Manager, Australasian Sonographers Association
kerry.thoirs@unisa.edu.au / kerry.thoirs@sonographers.org
Paula Kinnane
General Manager Professional Development, Research and Standards, Australasian Sonographers Association
paula.kinnane@sonographers.org
Emma Jardine
Projects and Standards Manager, Australasian Sonographers Association
emma.jardine@sonographers.org
The following information tells you about the research project. It explains the processes involved with taking part in the survey and will help you decide if you want to take part. If you have any questions about anything that you don’t understand or want to know more about, please contact the researchers.
Participation in this research is voluntary. If you don’t wish to take part, you don’t have to.
If you decide you want to take part in the survey, you will be asked to indicate your consent. By indicating your consent, you are telling us that you:
- Understand what you have read.
- Consent to take part in the survey.
- Consent to the use of your information as described.
What does my participation involve?
If you are a qualified or student sonographer performing clinical work or training in Australia and New Zealand, then you are invited to take part in this research project. Specifically, to be eligible you should be either:
- ✓ an accredited sonographer listed on the Australian Sonographer Accreditation Registry as an accredited sonographer and is currently working in a clinical environment.
- ✓ a student sonographer listed on the Australian Sonographer Accreditation Registry as an accredited student sonographer and have had at least 6 months experience in a clinical setting.
- ✓ a sonographer registered with the Medical Radiation Technologists Board of New Zealand who holds an annual practising certificate and is currently working in a clinical environment.
- ✓ a student sonographer registered with the Medical Radiation Technologists Board of New Zealand as an Associate member who holds an annual practising certificate (protected scope of practice) and has had at least 6 months experience in a clinical setting.
What is the purpose of this research?
The aim of the research is to explore the preferences of qualified and student sonographers working in Australia and New Zealand for appointment times across a range of ultrasound examinations. ‘Appointment times’ refer to the specific time frame a sonographer is allocated to deliver an ultrasound service to a patient.
The aim of the research is to explore the preferences of qualified and student sonographers working in Australia and New Zealand for appointment times across a range of ultrasound examinations. ‘Appointment times’ refer to the specific time frame a sonographer is allocated to deliver an ultrasound service to a patient.
Specially the objectives of the research are to:
- investigate the appointment times (duration) allocated to qualified sonographers and student sonographers working in Australia and New Zealand across a range of ultrasound examinations.
- Investigate the preferences of qualified sonographers and student sonographers working in Australia and New Zealand for appointment times across a range of ultrasound examinations.
- Explore if the sonographer/student sonographer preferred appointment times for a range of ultrasound examinations are associated with their workplace or clinical experience.
This information will be used to develop industry guidance and recommendations for scheduling of ultrasound appointments in Australia and New NZ. Appointment scheduling is an important operational aspect of ultrasound services to provide effective and quality patient care, and potentially also impacts on sonographer satisfaction.
Recently, research was performed to establish the range of appointment times used in Australia and New Zealand for three common ultrasound examinations; Second trimester ultrasound scans, Abdominal scan, and echocardiography. This research demonstrated that most sonographers were satisfied with those appointment times.
This survey extends the above research by:
- Investigating the range of appointment times (duration) used in Australia and New Zealand across a wider range of ultrasound examinations,
- Investigating the preferences of sonographers working in Australia and New Zealand for appointment time allocations for a wider range of ultrasound examinations.
- Including the voice of student sonographers.
1. Milanese, S., Farley, A., Osborne, B., Lamb, K. and Perry, R. (2025), Satisfaction With Current Scan Times in Sonography Practice. A Survey of Australian and New Zealand Sonographers. Sonography. https://doi.org/10.1002/sono.12500
What does participation in this research involve?
Participation in the research involves completing an online, anonymous survey, that we estimate will take up to 30 minutes to complete (depending on the range of ultrasound examinations that you perform). The questions do not ask personal information, but rather general questions about the geographic location and type of your workplace and your clinical experience. It asks specific questions for a wide range of ultrasound examinations about the appointment times you are allocated and your agreement with suggested arbitrary appointment times for them.
What are the possible benefits of taking part?
We cannot guarantee or promise that you will receive any benefits from this research; however, possible benefits include industry guidance and recommendations for the scheduling of a range of ultrasound appointments in Australia and New Zealand.
What are the possible risks and disadvantages of taking part?
It is not anticipated that there are any risks to participation in this study beyond those encountered in everyday life.
Do I have to take part in this research project?
You are free to decline to complete the survey or to withdraw from the study at any point while completing the survey, without affecting your relationship with the researchers, the University of South Australia, or the Australasian Sonographers Association, either now or in the future. Once you submit your survey, however, we are unable to remove your response as it will be impossible to identify your completed survey. Data provided in incomplete surveys will be included in the research.
What will happen to information about me?
By indicating your consent at the beginning of the survey you consent to the research team collecting and using information about/from you for the research project. All information obtained in connection with this research is non-identifiable survey information and will remain confidential. Only the researchers will have access to the information and will only use it for the purpose of this research project. While the survey is open, the responses will be stored electronically on the survey platform. When the survey is closed, all survey responses will be transferred to a secure, password protected servers hosted by the University of South Australia and the Australasian Sonographers Association for at least five years. If any identifiers are provided in the survey by the respondents, this information be removed before these data are shared and stored. After the transfer of data form the survey platform, the data on the survey platform will be deleted.
The researchers will take every care to remove any identifying material from the responses you provide. Likewise, individuals' responses will be kept confidential by the researcher and will not be identified in the reporting of the research. However, the researcher cannot guarantee the confidentiality or anonymity of material transferred by the internet.
The survey data will be stored electronically in accordance with UniSA policy.
What if something goes wrong?
It is very unlikely that you would suffer from any adverse events resulting from participating in the research. Should this research trigger anxiety or mental health challenges, you should seek assistance. The ASA provides links to a number of online mental health resources at https://www.sonographers.org/resources/clinical-resources
What happens when the research project ends?
A summary of project results will be available on the ASA website after completion of the project. A summary of the research study findings will be available to all participants upon request. Should you wish to receive a summary of the study findings, please contact the chief investigator via the contact details provided. A journal article will also be submitted to a peer-reviewed journal article for publication and/or conference abstract submitted for peer-review at an international conference.
Who is organising and funding the research?
This research project is being conducted by Dr Kerry Thoirs, Paula Kinnane and Emma Jardine, who are funded by the Australasian Sonographers Association (ASA) as employees to undertake this research. There are no financial benefits to the ASA or the University of South Australia in undertaking this research project.
You will not benefit financially from your involvement in this research project. In acknowledgement of your time to participate in this survey, after completing the survey you will be eligible to go into a prize draw for one of four individual $100.00 gift vouchers. If you wish to go in the prize draw, you will be directed to a website where you can provide your contact details. Participating in the prize draw will not compromise the anonymity of your survey responses. The prizes will be randomly drawn when the survey is closed, and you will be confidentially contacted if you are a winner.
The researchers will not receive a personal financial benefit from your involvement in this research project (other than their ordinary wages).
Who has reviewed the research project?
The ethical aspects of this research project have been approved by the Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC) of the University of South Australia as required by the Australian government research requirements, specified in the National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research (2007 - updated 2018). This statement has been developed to protect the interests of people who agree to participate in human research studies.
Further information and who to contact.
The person you may need to contact will depend on the nature of your query. If you want any further information concerning this project or if you have any problems which may be related to your involvement in the project, you can contact Dr Kerry Thoirs email Kerry.thoirs@unisa.edu.au, phn (03) 9552 0000 or the alternate contact below: