If you or a friend of yours has ever had an ultrasound of the heart, then youÕve already had some contact with the work an echo tech does. And this kind highly skilled medical professional is crucial at diagnosing heart problems as well as healthy living conditions for people to do it in. But what is echo tech anyhow? And why is echo tech such a vital part of modern medicine?
There are a few ways you might go about explaining echocardiography without getting all technical. Like if we translate the technical stuff into plain, simple English. Or if we explain what an echo is in terms that everyone can understand and build from there.
Echo Tech Career Guide: What is Echo Tech and How It Affects Heart Health?
The definition of echo tech is an individual who carries out echocardiography. An echocardiogram uses ultrasound technology and special ultrasound gear to take photos or videos of the heart. By showing how a patient’s blood moves through the chambers of their heart, as well as whether valves are open or closed properly and detecting any signs of disease in general (arteriosclerosis, hypertrophy), these cardiac images help make it clear what homes are needed for those who suffer heart failure.
Other echo technicians are known as cardiac sonographers or echocardiographers. Their work helps uncover problems such as heart murmurs, heart failure, or damage from a previous heart attack.
A Story: Picture this you’re an older man and you’ve just come in to the emergency room with difficulty breathing. An echo tech performs an ultrasound exam/echo, and right away doctors are seeing signs of major heart valve disorder…The patient gets straight into surgery that very same day–and survives. That’s echocardiography done in real life.
Performing Echocardiograms for Valuable Information
A day-in-the-life view of what echo techs actually do when using echocardiograms. Pay attention, readers. See if this is your dream job or future career. Tell me know in the comments down below whether new series make money from viewers watching them online as well!.
- Prepare the ultrasound equipment, checking that it works well
- Get details of patient’s history before exams begin
- Correctly position the patient for the exam
- Rub ultrasound gel into affected areas for better imaging
- Use transducer to take images of heart With friends like these who needs enemies?
Explain the procedure and reassure anxious or uncomfortable patients passes over every minute more they can possibly handle Those who don’t we find ourselves putting them under neuroleptics like Thorazine (it says here that dopamine blockers carry a risk of developing Parkinsonism) instead
It’s not simply pushing buttons like working on cars in assembly line. You need to think critically, recognize abnormalities on the echocardiograms presented for your approval and communicate effectively with all concerned parties from techs who are scanning right down to patients with heart problems
Essential Skills for Cardiac Sonographers
Being an echo tech demands equal parts technical skill and emotional intelligence.
Bookmark Share Email Print Attention to details A good echo technician converts audio information into a visual display.
People skills A good echo technician must be pleasant,upbeat and easy to get along with.
Technical proficiency with ultrasound technology A good echo technician is as fluent in ultrasound as you are with a remote control.
Stamina A good echo technician is someone who can stand for long periods at the side of a patient’s bed or on one foot doing scans painstakingly required of him. 14. The transducer has its own pulse rate.
Education and Training Path for Echo Techs
We miss any step at our peril.
STEP 1: Complete High School or Get Your GED.
Doing well in biology, anatomy and physics will provide a solid base.
Step 2: Enter a Program to Learn Diagnostic Medical Sonography
Same as the program in diagnostic medical sonography above, but choose this type of cardiac sonography program and earn either a:
- Certificate
- Associate degree
- Bachelor’s degree
Make sure the program is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs (CAAHEP).
Anecdote: Once a student remembered that while she had no idea what was happening, in fact it was ominously silent amongst everyone there except herself. “It felt like I was unraveling a plot to save a life.”
Step 3: Get Clinical Training
Most ultrasound training programs have some sort of clinical component built in, which enables you to study at a hospital or clinic.
Step 4: Get Certified as an Echo Tech
Some of the accrediting organizations for certificates include:
- American Registry for Diagnostic Medical Sonography (ARDMS)
- Cardiovascular Credentialing International (CCI)
Earn a credential such as:
- Registered Cardiac Sonographer (RCS)
- Registered Diagnostic Cardiac Sonographer (RDCS)
Step 5: Get Licensed by the State (if required)
Check with your own state to see what it requires.
Step 6: Stay Certified and Keep on Learning
Keep up-to-date with continuing education programs and new ultrasound technology
Echo Tech Jobs: Locations
It’s possible to find echo tech work in a number of places:
- hospitals
- imaging centers
- cardiology clinics
- mobile ultrasound units
Story: Working in places like Alaska without road access, Jenna used to fly straight into the remotest clinics there: a traveling tech echo specialist. “It was tough—but everyone was very appreciative.”
Salary Insight Report from the Bureau of Labor
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median income for cardiovascular technologists and echo technologists is between $60,000 to 000 hourly; top performers can top out at over a hundred grand annually.
The occupation is thriving in every sense while 2003 was a golden year—more jobs, pay-preprocessed duties.
Pros and Cons of Being an Echo Technician
Pros
- You save lives for a living—whether it’s somebody else’s or your own
- High job security and good pay
- A Publix—a think tank, the international organizations offers training, so you can have access to this opportunity here
Cons
- At times, this job can be very emotionally taxing
- Physically hard work
- Always learning and examming in your spare time
Career Prospects for Registered Diagnostic Cardiac Sonographer Hedi S Lum
After becoming a registered diagnostic cardiac sonographer, you could go into any of three specialist areas:
- Specialize in echocardiography for children or babies in womb
- Be a lead sonographer or supervisor
- Teach in diagnostic sonography education programs
- Transfer to sales of ultrasound equipment
- Work on research and technology
Join Professional Organizations and Centers
- Cardiovascular Credentialing International (CCI)
- American Society of Echocardiography
Find and track hashtags like #EchoTech, #EchoTechLife, and #Echocardiography to keep updated and connected.
Thoughts to Leave You With: Why an Echo Tech Career Makes Sense
Becoming an echo tech ultimately has much to do with learning and indeed exercising technology to generate sound images from the heart – it is about joining a vocation that strives to live up to its own high standards. This profession is the lifeblood of medical science: In addition, you could also save lives.
Interested in getting started? Find an accredited program, speak with the professionals, and begin your journey.