80 Semester Credits
Program Length: 80 Instructional Weeks
Program Learning Outcomes
The Cardiovascular Sonography program is designed to prepare the students to perform echocardiographic examinations under the direction of a physician / cardiologist. Students gain both didactic knowledge and practical experience in cardiovascular science, EKG, holter monitoring, telemetry, and echocardiography. The students will have the opportunity to study the anatomy, physiology, and pathophysiology of the organ systems, recognize the EKG patterns of infarction, arrhythmia recognition, appreciate emergency protocols, and perform echocardiography.
The core curriculum is structured to include a lecture component, an imaging laboratory component, and a clinical component. The final externship portion of the curriculum is structured to include supervised experiences in the clinical environment that require competencies, logs, and evaluations completed by the student. At the conclusion of the program, graduates who have diligently attended class and their externship, studied, and practiced their skills should have the skills to seek entry-level employment as cardiovascular sonographers. The Cardiovascular Sonography program is designed to prepare competent entry-level cardiovascular technologists in the cognitive (knowledge), psychomotor (skills), and affective (behavior) learning domains for adult echocardiography.
• Demonstrate knowledge of normal and abnormal cardiac anatomy – Embryology and fetal cardiac development
– Cardiac chambers and septation – Valve anatomy and dynamics – Coronary artery anatomy
– Relationships of cardiac chambers and great vessels
• Demonstrate knowledge of cardiovascular physiology – Hemodynamics
– Ventricular function, including influence of loading conditions and measurement of cardiac output
– Exercise physiology
– Electrophysiology and conduction system – Pulmonary vascular disease
• Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of cardiac pathology, pathophysiology, and hemodynamics in different types of cardiac disease
– Valvular heart disease – Ischemic cardiac disease – Cardiomyopathy – Pericardial disease – Congenital heart disease – Cardiac neoplasm’s and masses – Cardiac trauma
– Pulmonary vascular disease
– Diseases of the aorta and great vessels
• Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of clinical cardiology – Relationship of echocardiography to history and physical
examination (including indications for echocardiography)
– Differential diagnosis as it relates to the echocardiographic examination
– Cardiovascular surgery and interventional cardiology
– Effect of systemic diseases on cardiovascular anatomy and physiology
• Demonstrate knowledge of other diagnostic cardiac procedures emphasizing indications, utility, and limitations of these procedures – Angiography and cardiac catheterization
– Electrocardiography, electrophysiologic studies, – Pseudo aneurysm identification and compression
– Arteriovenous fistula identification
• Perform venous exams of the lower and upper extremities using duplex ultrasound by
– Image/vein compression – CW Doppler
– Duplex imaging, b-mode, spectral PW Doppler, color Doppler – Vein mapping
– PPG venous reflex exam
• Perform extracranial carotid and vertebral artery exams using – Duplex imaging
– Duplex PW Doppler – Duplex color Doppler
– Measurements (diameter, area, velocity) – Transcranial Doppler and/or imaging
• Perform abdominal and visceral duplex exams – Renal
– Mesenteric
– Aorta-iliac (including aneurysm) – IVC/iliac veins
– Hepato-portal
• Analyze data collected from vascular exams and create a preliminary interpretation/summary of findings
• Identify the capabilities, accuracy and limitations of noninvasive vascular exams
• Collect pertinent data and calculate basic test validation statistics
• Describe other diagnostic tests used to assess vascular diseases (arteriography, venography, MRA, etc.)
• Describe treatment options for patients with various levels of vascular disease
– Conservative
– Medical/pharmacology – Endovascular
– Surgical
• List professional sources of information and journals, including associations, credentialing and accreditation organizations, other continuing educational sources, and internet resources
These are consistent with the mission to meet the needs of adult students and employers by providing quality, focused programs of education in allied healthcare and related fields that prepare students for employment.
– Holter monitoring – Stress testing – Radionuclide studies
– Other tomographic imaging procedures
– Phonocardiography and external pulse recording
• Demonstrate proficiency in the performance of M-mode, tow-dimensional, and Doppler (pulsed wave, continuous wave and color flow) echocardiographic diagnostic procedures. Recognize, identify, and appropriately document the abnormal echocardiographic and Doppler patterns of disease, pathology, and pathophysiology for cardiac diseases
• Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the indications, utility, limitations, and technical procedures for related echocardiographic diagnostic procedures
– Stress echocardiography
– Transesophageal echocardiography – Intraoperative echocardiography – Contrast echocardiography – Echo-guided procedures
• Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of clinical pharmacology as it relates to echocardiography and provocative maneuvers – Cardiovascular pharmacology
– Theory and use of provocative stress agents – Non-pharmacologic stress
– Potential effects of cardiac medications on echocardiographic findings
• Demonstrate knowledge, understanding, and proficiency in the use of quantitation principles applied to echocardiographic images and flow data
– Standard M-mode , two-dimensional, and Doppler measurements and calculations
– Knowledge and understanding of normal and abnormal values for M-mode, two-dimensional and Doppler echocardiography
– Evaluation of normal and abnormal ventricular function – Evaluation of the severity of valve stenosis and regurgitation
• Knowledge of normal and abnormal cardiovascular hemodynamics and flow patterns
CONCENTRATION COURSES
COURSE # COURSE TITLE CREDITS
BIO130 Anatomy and Physiology I 3
BIO131 Anatomy and Physiology II 3.5
CCT100 Introduction to Cardiovascular Sonography I 4 CCT101 Introduction to Cardiovascular Sonography II 4
CCT102 CVS Pharmacology I 1.5
CCT103 CVS Pharmacology II 1.5
CCT104 Advanced CVS Pathology I 1.5
CCT105 Advanced CVS Pathology II 1.5
CCT106FL Cardiac Modalities I 4
CCT107FL Cardiac Modalities II 4
CVT200 Echocardiography I 4.5
CVT201 Physical Principles of Medicine I 1.5
CVT202 Echocardiography II 4.5
CVT203 Physical Principles of Medicine II 1.5
CVT204 Advanced Echo/Doppler I 4.5
CVT205 CVS Instrumentation I 1.5
CVT206 Advanced Echo/Doppler II 4.5
CVT207 CVS Instrumentation II 1.5
CVT220 Clinical Applications VI 3.5
CVT222 Clinical Applications VII 3.5
CVT224 Externship I 3.5
CVT226 Externship II 3.5
CVT228FL Externship III 3.5
TOTAL CONCENTRATION CREDITS 70
GENERAL EDUCATION COURSES
COURSE # COURSE TITLE CREDITS
BIO105 Biology 3
COM150 Effective Communication 1
MTH120 Algebra 3
MTH150 Math/Physics 3
TOTAL GENERAL EDUCATION CREDITS 10 TOTAL CREDITS REQUIRED FOR GRADUATION 80
Cardiovascular Sonography
• Offer basic (medical) care to patients (e.g., dressing changes, regarding intravenous lines, changing oxygen sources, bedpans, emesis basins, ulceration’s, open wounds, etc.)
• Provide comfort and compassionate care to patients
• Demonstrate appropriate use of noninvasive vascular equipment controls (e.g., scale, gain, size, filter, angle correction, electronic steering, invert, sample volume size, power output, color amplitude, b-flow, flow measurement, etc.) in instruments and techniques including, but not limited to:
– Continuous wave (CW) Doppler and zero-crossing detector – Arterial plethysmography
– Duplex ultrasound
• Practice B-mode imaging
• Describe the uses of Pulsed wave (PW) Doppler and color flow imaging
• Explain the appropriate uses of noninvasive vascular testing (indications)
• Perform arterial exams of the lower and upper extremities including – Continuous wave (CW) Doppler waveforms.
– Segmental pressures – Segmental plethysmography
– Digital pressures using a photoplethysmograph (PPG) – Exercise testing
– Duplex scanning of native arteries of the upper and lower extremities
– Duplex scanning of bypass grafts – Thoracic outlet testing
– Palmer arch testing
– Pseudo aneurysm identification and compression – Arteriovenous fistula identification
• Perform venous exams of the lower and upper extremities using duplex ultrasound by
– Image/vein compression – CW Doppler
– Duplex imaging, b-mode, spectral PW Doppler, color Doppler – Vein mapping
– PPG venous reflex exam