Sanjiv Kaul, MD, FASE

Did you know that many volunteers at ASE banded together recently to publish a 608-page textbook entitled Dynamic Echocardiography ? Not only does this text book comprehensively cover all aspects of cardiovascular ultrasound, it comes with access to over 1,000 online moving images as a companion piece. It’s just one of many educational tools that our volunteers have developed to help serve our members and many other professionals. Our Educational Products Taskforce has been very active in producing educational products with special discounted pricing for ASE members. ASE Marketplace ( www.asemarketplace.com ) is your resource for quality cardiovascular ultrasound educational materials.

In response to member interest, ASE began developing posters to highlight its new guidelines. For the past several years, ASE has released three posters per year, highlighting a variety of vital topics and our cutting-edge guidelines. With patient care in mind, these colorful posters have been designed with clear, colorful and informative illustrations conveying important information. ASE used these posters to develop the ASE Guideline Reference Book , which reformats the information into an 8 ½” x 11” layout for your reading room. There are also four handy pocket guidelines which fit neatly in your lab coat and contain a wide variety of helpful charts. Additionally, all of the 40-plus ASE guideline documents are available as PDF files on a complimentary CD offered by ASE.

Confused about the best way to use the CPT codes to maximize reimbursement? ASE’s newly updated Coding Reference Guide for Ultrasound Laboratories links “echo terminology” with “medical coding terminology” as a practical reference for physicians, sonographers, nurses, administrators, and other personnel who are part of the echocardiography team. This guide will help you in your everyday practice, and you’ll find the glossary of coding and billing terminology, documentation guidelines, and coding tips a very valuable resource for your lab.

The 2010 Sonographer Salary Survey includes information gathered from almost 2,000 US cardiovascular sonographers, and is available as a free download to ASE members. It covers all aspects of compensation, demographics, benefits, industry trends, and more, and is a helpful tool for practicing sonographers and healthcare recruiters alike.

ASE offers 3 DVDs as a discounted bundle in the “Ask the Experts” series: Assessment of Valvular Dysfunction in Adults with Congenital Heart Disease, Conversations on Valvular Heart Disease (each offering 2 hours of educational content), and The Latest Technical Advances and Clinical Applications of 3D Echocardiography (which offers 3.75 hours of educational content). Each is also available separately. These DVDs feature some of the most respected speakers in cardiovascular ultrasound giving cutting-edge presentations at some of our most popular meetings.

ASE has partnered with ProLibraries to capture several of our educational courses and make them available to you wherever you are. Offered online by ASE are almost 1200 sessions on a huge variety of topics. The synchronized slides, embedded videos and accompanying audio will make you feel like you are sitting in the classroom, making them perfect for those looking to access the content anytime, anywhere.

In addition to ASE’s Scientific Sessions, ASE has also captured material for those studying for certifying and credentialing examinations. On ASE’s ProLibraries site, you can also find The ASCeXAM/ReASCE Review Course Online Library , a 20-hour, online course to help you prepare for the NBE exams. These lectures were presented at the 2010 ASCeXAM Review course by expert faculty and cover all aspects of cardiovascular ultrasound essential to the board examinations.

ASE’s online library also hosts the Cardiovascular Sonographer Registry Review Guide, which provides a comprehensive study guide for both the American Registry for Diagnostic Medical Sonography (ARDMS) and the Cardiovascular Credentialing International (CCI) adult cardiovascular ultrasound registry examinations. For your convenience, you can either order this product online through ProLibraries or purchase a hard copy via ASE Marketplace. This two-piece bundled set, including11 DVDs and a 600 page workbook, provides a thorough review of adult echocardiography and physics to help you pass these examinations.

We are in the process of developing additional tools that can assist our members’ educational needs. Currently in development are a series of iPhone, iPad, and BlackBerry applications to bring ASE guidelines to you even more conveniently. In 2011, ASE will unveil its newest DVD, How to Perform a Basic Transthoracic Echocardiogram, to guide beginners through an exam based on ASE guidelines and protocols. We plan to hold Webinars to coincide with publications of new guidelines in JASE .

ASE welcomes other suggestions or ideas you might have. Our Educational Products Taskforce will evaluate your ideas and implement them based on need. If you have special skills or talents that can help in the endeavors of ASE, please volunteer to serve on this taskforce. For a list of all our educational materials, please visit www.asemarketplace.com . Some of these resources are free to our members; others are significantly discounted. For questions on any ASE educational product, please contact ASE’s product coordinator, Anita Huffman, at ahuffman@asecho.org . I hope you take advantage of these products; each was developed specifically with you in mind.

The American Society of Echocardiography is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education to provide continuing medical education for physicians.