School of Cardiac Sonography

Overview

St. Joseph’s Health cardiac sonography program is a highly specialized certificate program that produces graduates who are knowledgeable, compassionate, and responsible healthcare professionals. Graduates of the program are prepared to assist in diagnostic procedures performed in an adult echocardiography setting. Students begin the program by learning the fundamentals of heart function and physiology, as well as concentrating on core, didactic, lab, and clinical cardiovascular courses related to Adult Echocardiography. Specialty areas of the program include evaluation of the heart, its valves and chambers, and associated vessels through the performance of transthoracic echocardiography (TTE), transesophageal echocardiography (TEE), and stress echocardiography (SE). 

The 13-month program comprises an initial ten weeks of evening classroom instruction. Classes will be held Monday - Friday, 3:30 pm - 9:30 pm, as scheduled. Instructors will focus on didactic classroom instruction, with a concentration on anatomy, basic equipment operation, and fundamental skill development in cardiac ultrasound. The remaining 46 weeks include 24 hours per week of clinical hands-on instruction at our hospital training sites and one evening, 3:30p-9:30p, of lab instruction. 

Students are split into 2 groups for clinical hours: 

Group A: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, 7am - 3:30 pm 
Group B: Tuesday and Thursday, 7 am - 3:30 pm; Saturday and Sunday, 7 am - 11 am 

Students may rotate their clinical training in several locations, including office and hospital settings. These rotations provide students with a broad range of clinical experiences.

St. Joseph's Health Sponsoring Organization

Our sponsoring organization, St. Joseph Health, hosts an advanced, vast, nationally recognized Cardiovascular Institute. 

The many accolades include:

• Ranked among the top 15 hospitals in the US to have cardiac surgery by Consumer Reports and among the top 10% in the nation for cardiac surgery by Healthgrades
• 8th hospital in the nation to receive American Heart Association’s Cardiovascular Center of Excellence Accreditation
• ICAEL accredited Echo lab • Five-Star Recipient for Coronary Bypass Surgery by Healthgrades
• Five-Star Recipient for Valve Surgery by Healthgrades

Experiential Learning

Clinical Internship

The 46-week internship provides hands-on experience at one or more approved medical facilities. After completing the pre-internship coursework, all students begin the internship at St. Joseph’s Hospital. During this time, they enhance and refine skills previously learned, perform complete sonographic examinations in real clinical settings, and advance their knowledge in recognizing anatomy and disease states using a variety of equipment. At the assigned facilities, students work side-by-side with sonographers, physicians, and other health care professionals to learn, develop, apply, and sharpen the necessary skills to perform general echocardiograms. Students’ clinical progress and performance are closely monitored by the program director or and/or clinical supervisor. Additionally, students return to the classroom one evening per week for lectures, presentations, projects, and testing. Students may be eligible to complete a portion of their clinical internships at another approved regional or national medical ultrasound facility with approval of the program director. Graduates of the program will be eligible to sit for CCI certification upon completion of the program. Students wishing to sit for ARDMS certification will need additional clinical hours to be eligible for the exam, which may be completed during employment.

Tuition

$24,000

Applications and Admissions

For consideration to the St Joseph’s Health School of Cardiac Sonography, individuals must present a strong academic and professional background. They need to demonstrate responsibility, confidence, a character of high moral integrity, good interpersonal skills and compassion.

Prospective students must meet one of three available pathways to be considered for the program.

A bachelor’s degree in any field or higher
OR
An associate’s degree in any field and:

• 8 credits or 2 semesters of anatomy and physiology
• 3 credits or 1 semester of college mathematics course
• 1 course in medical terminology
• A minimum of 2.5 cumulative GPA

OR
A high school diploma, or equivalent, AND completion of a minimum of 12-months (or 1200 hours) of training in a health care related field. The program(s) must include clinical time spent providing patient care. Applicable fields include, but are not limited to: registered nurse, physical therapist, occupational therapist, respiratory therapist, LPN, paramedic. 

The most competitive candidates will possess:

• A GPA of at least 3.0
• Previous experience in patient care
• Previous experience in cardiology

Curriculum

1-hour credit= 15 hours lecture; 30 hours hands-on/lab
1 clinical hour credit: 45 hrs/semester
Clinical hour: 960 hours (40 weeks -3days/week- 8 hours/day) = 21credit
Program duration: 12 months- 52 weeks
Total Credit: 40 credit (19 lecture + 21 contact)