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Student of the Week: Carmille Flores
South Texas College DMS student, Carmille Flores shares the growing areas of ultrasound diagnosis. Flores is slated to graduate next spring in Diagnostic Medical Sonography, an increasing field detecting the human body.
Scanning for an ultrasound is more than finding out a baby’s gender. In fact, scanning anything on the human body can detect pathologies like cancer, illnesses and other abnormalities within.
For third-term sonography student, Carmille Flores who enrolled at the start of Spring 2021 with STC’s Diagnostic Medical Sonography (DMS) program, is finding the field to be rigorous but rewarding.
“We take a lot of classes dealing with pathologies, anatomy, and physiology as well as understanding the ultrasound basics,” said Flores. “There’s a lot of stress but it’s going to be very rewarding for us, I’m sure.”
STC’s DMS program is 18-months long that sits its students for the American Registry for Diagnostic Medical Sonography (ARDMS) exam - a highly notable credential that certifies them as sonographers.
This is part of the two-way track STC offers for students with prior education such as a degree (certificate track) and for students looking to earn an associate.
Flores chose the certificate track on top of earning her bachelor’s with UT-Pan American in rehabilitation services in 2015.
Shortly after graduation, Flores moved to Austin where she worked with children of all types of disabilities.
Her care for helping others stems from her mother’s work who is a registered nurse. Though Flores wasn’t sure if the medical field was right for her, she considered all options and chose one of the most important growing jobs.
“We do the entire body, not just the obstetrics which is the baby and the mother. We do a lot of abdominal scans, anything related to the vessels, cardiac and the brain,” said Flores. “We’re giving them a view into the body so radiologists can see whether or not there’s something worthy of a diagnosis for our next plan of treatment.”
A radiologist, in this case, is a certified doctor and physician who can diagnose the patient whereas sonographers scan the body and present those images to the radiologist.
“Half of where I’m at now is because of them."
In the near future, Flores will sit for her ARDMS exam allowing her to become a certified sonographer in the areas of Obstetrics & Gynecology (OB) and Abdomen (AB) - what the program prepares students for.
“Ideally, I would like to go to any job that is open after I become registered,” said Flores. “A lot of hospitals and clinics require you to sit for your ADRMS registry.”
Some advice Flores leaves as a parent-student for prospective sonographers is to earn volunteer hours while they can.
“The DMS program is very rigorous because we hit the ground running, but push through it," said Flores.
Lastly, she’d like to thank Crystal Bird, Chair of Diagnostic Imaging Department, instructors and classmates for her perseverance.
“Half of where I’m at now is because of them,” she said.
National Radiologic Technology Week is an annual week-long celebration that recognizes the vital role that medical imaging professionals play in patient care and health care safety. National Radiologic Technology Week 2021 will be celebrated during the week of November 7-13.