Objective: Critical thinking is an important skill that sonographers must develop beginning in educational programs and into professional practice. Critical thinking requires students to reflect on information, use judgment skills, and engage in higher levels of thinking, including analysis, interpretation, inference, evaluation, and explanation, to formulate reliable decisions. Methods: Current research related to critical thinking has focused on medicine, nursing, physical therapy, pharmacy, and dental programs, but there has been no description of assessing sonography students. The Dreyfus model has been used as a framework to describe acquired skills that reflects students’ progress from novice to expert clinicians. This model illustrates specific cognitive abilities that students develop as they advance in education. Results: This review of the literature describes critical thinking skills coupled with a framework to understand different levels of cognitive thinking, as well as how it can be assessed. Conclusion: To understand differences between undergraduate sonography students and experts, the Dreyfus model is an excellent model to recognize progression. It can be used with the Health Sciences Reasoning Test, which is a nationally recognized critical thinking examination that can ascertain different levels of health sciences students’ critical thinking skills.
Amyand’s hernia is a rare inguinal hernia where the appendix is trapped in the hernia sac. This uncommon hernia is most often revealed as an incidental finding, and the demonstration of this disease process is variable. This case study presents a scrotal sonogram of a 48-year-old male complaining of pain and swelling, without history of trauma. Sonographic images of the right inguinal region identified Amyand’s hernia that contained fat, free fluid, and the appendix. Treatment of Amyand’s hernia is highly debatable, but most cases are treated based upon classification that includes the state of the appendix, the patient’s age, septic state, and if any peritoneal involvement was identified.
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