Overview of the Cardiovascular Program

Cardiovascular Technology is an allied health profession utilizing skilled techniques for the diagnosis and treatment of patients with cardiovascular diseases. Sixteen students are selected to enter the program each year (eight each track).

The Cardiovascular Technology Program consists of a non-invasive cardiovascular and an invasive cardiovascular emphasis. In the first year of study in the cardiovascular program, emphasis is placed on teaching the basic sciences and cardiology to both the non-invasive and invasive cardiovascular programs together. In the second year, the program instruction centers on the students chosen track of study, either the invasive cardiovascular or the noninvasive cardiovascular field. The students will receive mainly dedicated didactic training the first year. While throughout the second year, students will receive clinical instruction and internship in either noninvasive or invasive cardiology, as well as continuing didactic training.

What is a Cardiovascular Technologist?
A cardiovascular technologist is an allied health professional who performs highly specialized procedures leading to the diagnosis and treatment of congenital and acquired heart disease. The cardiovascular technologist possesses technical and cognitive skills necessary to provide quality care practices for the evaluation of varied pathophysiologic states.

You may specialize in either the Invasive or the Noninvasive field of practice:

Noninvasive Cardiovascular Technologist:
The non-invasive cardiology technologist is an allied health professional who utilizes ultrasound images for the diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment of patients with cardiovascular diseases. The non-invasive technologist, often referred to as a cardiac ultrasound sonographer, performs an ultrasonic examination for specific disease states ordered by a referring physician. The technologist will systemically assess the anatomical and physiological data with evaluation of the pathology, during the exam, resulting in a diagnostic echocardiogram for the interpreting physician.

The major role of a non-invasive technologist is to apply a strong knowledge base of cardiovascular hemodynamics with a combined ability to obtain high quality ultrasound images of the heart and related structures for a diagnostic examination. The echocardiogram is a technologist dependent exam and requires a highly skilled operator to obtain imaging data adjusting proper instrumentation of the ultrasound equipment. An echocardiogram is an interactive procedure involving the patient, the ultrasound system, the instrumentation (production of images with applied knowledge) and the interpreting cardiologist. Non-invasive technologists will adapt or perform specific protocols to obtain all the images/data based on the pathology to provide a comprehensive and diagnostic echocardiogram.

Several modalities of echocardiography are performed by the technologist such as M-mode, Two-Dimensional, and Doppler echocardiograms which is a comprehensive exam. Other procedures performed in the echocardiography lab, involving a team, are stress or Dobutamine echocardiograms and trans-esophageal echocardiograms. These procedures may also be performed in the cardiac catheterization lab, electrophysiology lab, or the cardiac operating room.