Echocardiography Atlas, a mobile application that allows you to view examples of normal and abnormal echocardiograms, is a very useful tool to help with your cardiac sonography training. The unique insights and familiarity it provides in cardiac diagnoses can help you get an echocardiography job.

Echocardiography Information Anywhere, Anytime

Echocardiography Atlas provides a powerful and convenient way to learn about echocardiography and become proficient in diagnostic interpretation. The editor of the app, Scott D. Solomon, MD, of Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, says,

“Cardiovascular ultrasound technology is advancing swiftly, which leads to better patient care and, ultimately, more lives saved. Interactive imaging applications that can be carried conveniently on a mobile device unlock new opportunities concerning clinical training and patient education.”

No matter where you are, as long as you have your iPhone, iPod, or iPad, you can access 250 annotated images and 189 videos with this app, encompassing a wide variety of cardiac pathology.  Though the $19.99 price tag may seem a bit steep in the age of free information, the ability to access it anywhere (content is locally stored so no need for wireless connection), and the amount of content and interactivity it offers make Atlas a valuable resource for someone trying to launch their echocardiography career. With more traditional study programs offered at $100 or more, this training tool seems a bargain.

Features

The app is organized into 12 main chapters including:

• The Normal Exam
• Aortic Valve Disease
• Mitral Valve Disease
• Tricuspid and Pulmonary Valve Disease
• Myocardial Infarction
• Cardiomyopathy
• Diseases of the Aorta and Pericardium
• Diseases of the Atria
• Congenital Heart Disease in the Adult
• Diseases of the Right Ventricle
• Infectious Endocarditis
• Transesophageal Echocardiography

Search chapters for specific terms or navigate by selecting a given key topic. For each key topic you can find well-annotated and labeled images. The app also allows you to pause, watch frame-by-frame, zoom, and pan within highly interactive looping videos. These visual references give you a hands-on way to become more acquainted with what to look for when interpreting echocardiograms.

Another helpful feature in Echocardiography Atlas is the ability to bookmark certain topics for quick reference. If you are having trouble with a certain subject, bookmark it and easily go back at any time

Effective App

Whether you are still training or actively looking for an echocardiography job, this is a fun yet effective resource. Though you may not be able to put down Echocardiography Atlas on your resume, the knowledge it provides will certainly enhance your qualifications.

But for those who’d like a deeper look into the definition of echocardiography and its history – look no further than this entry.

What is Echocardiography?

Thanks to the ever-developing world of science, an echocardiogram is an ultrasound that provides both one and two-dimensional imaging to examine the heart. Echo techs can use an echocardiogram to display a cross-sectional “slice” of the beating heart.

When a patient receives a basic echo, or resting echo, their echo tech will place sticky patches, or electrodes, to the chest and

A transducer, which is used to measure the ultrasound for an echo test.

shoulders. These patches help record the echocardiogram, also known as the EKG or ECG. Then, the specialist will apply a colorless gel to the chest and uses the echo transducer, the part of the machine that will directly take the images of the heart, to record different parts of the chest. This results in several views of the heart.

We’ve Got the Pictures. Now What?

Once the tech has finished gathering the recordings, its time to examine the organ. The test gives the physician information about the size and shape of the heart. This information includes:

• How the chambers and valves are working
• Pumping function
• Identifying areas of the heart muscle that aren’t functioning properly due to poor blood flow or injury from previous heart attacks
• Detecting possible blood clots, fluid buildup and problems with the aorta

An echo tech gives a patient a standard, resting echocardiogram.

Cardiac sonography is not just for patients considered at risk for heart problems, like the elderly, the overweight and those who have a family history of heart disease. It’s also safe and painless enough to use to detect problems in infants and children and pediatric echocardiography is field in its own right.

How Did Echocardiography Come to Be?

This technique is a relatively new one in the medical world. The following is a timeline of major events that led to cardiac sonography as it is today.

Mid-19^th Century – Johann Christian Doppler discovers the Doppler sound effects – begins the premise for sonographic imagery.

1881 – Jacques and Pierre (husband of Marie) Curie discover the principle of piezoelectricity – another stepping stone to creating the ultrasound.

1903 – Willem Einthoven records the first ECG waves, thus developing the very first electrocardiogram. This discovery heralds cardiology’s status as a medical specialty. Those who knew how to conduct and use an electrocardigram were known as cardiovascular specialists.

1941 – Karl T. Dussikwasthe becomes the first to use an ultrasound machine, using it to examine the brain.

1950 – WD Keidel is the first to use an ultrasound to examine the heart.

1952 – JJ Wilde, JM Reid, D. Howry and W. Bliss develop the first two-dimensional ultrasound system, but didn’t attempt to use it on the heart.

1953 – Physician Inge Edler and engineer C. Hellmuth Hertz borrow a shipyard sonar machine to conduct the first human echocardiogram.

1960 – Echocardiography becomes more widely accepted as a method of cardiovascular research.

1963 – Dr. Harvey Feigenbaum, hailed as the “Father of Echocardiography” takes an unused echoencephalography machine and uses it to record cardiac images, rather than its original intent, to record images of the brain.

Dr. Harvey Feigenbaum (left), is known as the “Father of Echocardiography” and founder of the American Society of Echocardiography.

1965 – Chuck Haine, a physician at Indiana University, becomes the first cardiac sonographer.

1971 – N. Born and Paul Hugenholtz introduce the first two-dimensional scanner to produce multi-dimensional echocardiography.

1973 – Echocardiography is included as a searchable term in Index Medicus.

1975 – Feigenbaum founds the American Society of Echocardiography.

Keep an eye out for the next part of this two-part series, which will take a look into the various specialties of echocardiography.

With the current economic situation, it is hard to be interested in studying echocardiography and attending school while having to work a full time job. According to the US Department of Labor, employment of diagnostic echo cardiographers is expected to increase by about 19 percent through 2016—faster than the average among occupations. As the population ages, the demand for diagnostic imaging and therapeutic technology is higher.

Fortunately, candidates interested in studying echocardiography should know that the future of education is moving online and many majors and fields of study are available solely on the internet and works at the student’s pace and time.

Echocardiography and cardiac ultrasound training is one of those fields that is finding its place on many schools’ online education curriculum.

Online Instruction

Learning basic ECHO is easy online, and is great for getting a feel for what the career entails. Using online classes is tailored to the student’s interest and schedule. Courses can begin immediately and unlike traditional college, you don’t have to commute or commit to an entire course load if you do not want to.

Studying echocardiography through an internet course is instructor driven, so you are never left to study materials by yourself. In addition to an online instructor answering questions, the course may include textbooks or online e-books available to download.

What You Will Learn

An introduction to basic echocardiography includes the fundamentals of the field of echocardiography and cardiac ultrasound training.

The course work includes the basics of Doppler and transducers, physiology, anatomy, hemodynamics, physics and cardiovascular principles, electrophysiology, physical examination, patient history, color and spectral Doppler, M-Mode, cardiac calculations, imaging and Doppler techniques, protocols, disease states and basic echo interpretation.

The course generally uses a combination of extensive graphics, video and interactive exercises. Weekly quizzes are given to ensure you understand the material and the course ends with a final exam.——

Time Commitment

Typically classes of this nature have an online forum that is exclusively for students to discuss the echocardiography course materials and work. The average length of an online introductory echocardiography course is 12 weeks but each participant has the flexibility to work at a faster or slower pace if they choose. A certificate of completion is awarded after passing the individual sections and final exam. Enrolling in an introductory course to echocardiography allows you decide whether it is the health care career you would like to pursue because it involves learning about every element of diagnostic cardiac ultrasound training.

]]> http://www.echocardiographer.net/blog/echocardiography-education/study-echocardiography-online.php/feed 11 http://www.echocardiographer.net/blog/echocardiography-education/specializing-in-pediatric-echocardigraphy-getting-started.php http://www.echocardiographer.net/blog/echocardiography-education/specializing-in-pediatric-echocardigraphy-getting-started.php#comments Wed, 03 Sep 2008 14:52:36 +0000 admin http://www.echocardiographer.net/blog/?p=10 A recent visitor wrote to us looking for programs to prepare in Pediatric Echocardiography.  A great source for specific info on a career in pediatric echocardiography is SOPE, the Society of Pediatric Echocardiography. See the following for website and contact info:

SOPE
http://www.sope-online.com/index.html
admin@sope-online.com
1500 Sunday Drive, Ste 102
Raleigh, NC 27607
P: 919-787-5181 X235 F: 919-787-4916

Let the Society know your goals, where you live and wish to go to school or work,
your background, and this professional organization will advocate for you on your quest to become a skilled pedi echo practitioner….So go for it!  Your helpful comments are always appreciated on the Blog or Forum Communities.

Wishing you the best of success!

Cheryl McLeod
Echocardiographer.net

For lots more in-depth info on the growing field of echocardiography, check out the following topics at our main site:

Hot Echo Job Locations

Echocardiographer Salaries

Echocardiography Certificate

Cardiac Sonographer Education

The course will extend over a 9 month period and be divided into three modules. The first module will consist of embryology, cardiac anatomy, pediatric echocardiographic imaging, introduction to fetal and transesophagel echocardiography and clinical assessment The second module will consist of all the major and rare congenital cardiac lesions. The third module will consist of post-operative evaluation of congenital heart disease, a comprehensive review for the ARDMS exam and a clinical externship.

Students will graduate with a certificate in Pediatric Echocardiography. In addition to the didactic training, there will also be a comprehensive lab portion of the course in which the students will be able to have hands on experience in pediatric echocardiography. Individuals who have at least a year in adult echocardiography will be eligible for the course. This course will be one of a kind.

For more information visit http://www.ultrasoundinstitute.com/

or contact Karen Ambrowitz BS, RDMS, RDCS at kambrowitz@ucla.mednet.edu>

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