It is often said that time flies when you are having fun. That adage truly applies to the past several years. Almost seven years ago I was asked to enter the “leadership ladder” of the Council on Cardiovascular Sonography. It seemed then like it would be such a long time before I would step into the role of the chair and be writing the sonographer’s communications page. Yet it feels like I only blinked, and here I am writing my last column.
Serving as the council chair has been a tremendous experience. It has provided me the opportunity to see ASE from a different perspective and to understand that our mission is a process that is truly a work in progress. Through the past two years we have accomplished much and started more. It is tradition that this “last” communication offers a review of the past two years and highlights activities that relate to sonographers and the council.
Education & Guidelines
Developing new and updating current guidelines and standards is a continuous process within ASE. While all guidelines and standards documents relate to sonographers, there have been three published in the last two years that are of particular interest to sonographers.
Radiation Safety for the Cardiac Sonographer: Recommendations of the Radiation Safety Writing Group for the Council on Cardiovascular Sonography of the American Society of Echocardiography ( http://asecho.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/2014_RadiationSafety.pdf ) was finalized and published in the August 2014 issue of JASE. This paper discusses the issue of radiation exposure to the cardiac sonographer and provides recommendations for radiation safety within the cardiovascular ultrasound lab.
Guidelines for the Cardiac Sonographer in the Performance of Contrast Echocardiography: A Focused Update from the American Society of Echocardiography ( http://asecho.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/2014_Contrast-Sonography.pdf ) was also published in the August 2014 issue of JASE. This document offers updated information on microbubble physics, indications for echo contrast, and policies for contrast administration.
Recommendations for Cardiac Chamber Quantification by Echocardiography in Adults: An Update from the American Society of Echocardiography and the European Association of Cardiovascular Imaging ( http://asecho.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/ChamberQuantification2015.pdf ) was released in the January 2015 issue of JASE. One of the major roles of the sonographer in performing an echocardiogram is to provide information necessary to quantify cardiac chamber size and function. This guideline document recommends methods and normal values for various parameters of cardiac size and function.
A DVD project on proper echocardiographic measurements is under development. This project is chaired by Andy Pellett, PhD, RDCS, RCS, FASE and will provide a review of how to perform standard echocardiographic measurements. This product is expected to be available in the summer of 2015.
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