School of Vascular Ultrasound

Hands-On Noninvasive Peripheral Venous & Arterial Vascular Testing
Hands-On Carotid and Vertebral Duplex Ultrasound
Interpretation of Noninvasive Peripheral Venous & Arterial Vascular Testing
Interpretation of Carotid and Vertebral Duplex Ultrasound

 

 

Foundations of Hands-On Ultrasound for Beginners (Sat-Sun)

Most of our Guests have had some informal exposure to ultrasound before they come to class; many have not. We created this course to close this gap from uncertainty to confidence, for any area you’ll come to work in.

Exactly what its name implies, this course is best short-term preparation possible. Even if you are already experienced, the classroom instruction alone will demystify virtually all of the academic concepts of ultra-sound physics and instrument controls. We will focus on the common, universal applications of ultrasound technology, using different organ systems as test models. Accordingly, we do not target your experience to a single organ system. We’ll also make use of several different manufactured systems to help you gain confidence in the common operation of any machine you will come to work with. 

The difference between mediocrity and expert is in any career field usually only about 2%. Complete this course and you’ll come away with knowledge and skills that will boost you far above the rest in your field.

Class runs from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm over two days. One half of your time will be spent in classroom lectures and one half in instructor-guided, small group hands-on sessions. 

Our clinical hands-on instructors personally guide each Guest through specific exercises to accomplish maximum skills development. Our hands-on approach is focused on optimizing your performance for any specialized exam. In-depth techniques for specialized applications are covered in our dedicated hands-on courses, conducted separately.

See how this course fits in to our Recommended Career Training Plans

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Hands-On Noninvasive Peripheral Venous & Arterial Vascular Testing (Tues-Thurs)

Many meetings today offer training in vascular ultrasound, but not one of them share our depth of experience in teaching it effectively.

As early as 1983 we engineered our course objectives to exceed the performance criteria for the RVT or RVS credential.... We’ve been expanding its content ever since. 

It is here that we focus on helping you develop the critical skills and clinical mindset you require for the complete evaluation of peripheral arterial and venous disease, using both duplex and non-duplex techniques. 

Our expert faculty will patiently guide and support you throughout the course as we focus in each area on a single goal: the complete and unabridged workup of the authentic patient. 

We’ll practice the process whereby you can complete a study of the lower or upper extremity arterial or venous system, including the systematic process to analyze and report test findings. Optional videotapes for on-site study or purchase will train you in the complete physiologic picture, including all the difficult topics waiting for you on the Registry Examinations. 

We'll tailor our delivery to your individual needs as we work together in small group sessions. In lively, interactive classroom lectures we'll build together the careful mindset necessary to think through principles of both anatomy and physiology as vascular disease of any type develops. We’ll begin with the normal clinical state and explore systematically arterial and venous disease pathologies in the legs and arms. 

Class runs from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm over three days. One half of your time will be spent in classroom lectures, half in small group hands-on sessions. Our supportive approach will help you build confidence quickly as we master together the techniques to document and measure with precision all important findings.  Hands-on scan groups range from four to six per system.  

Eight to ten Guests usually comprise the class. Your peers will likely include a range from allied health professionals to physicians, all with limited or no formal hands-on experience in echocardiography. 

Upon completion of this course you should find yourself prepared to launch your own independent clinical experience with, or under the supervision of practicing professionals.

See how this course fits in to our Recommended Vascular Career Training Plans

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Hands-On Carotid and Vertebral Duplex Ultrasound (Fri-Sun)

Our Founder, and your instructor, has a longer continuous experience with high resolution carotid ultrasound imaging than anyone you'll ever meet in a classroom. And you will profit immediately as a result.

Here you’ll learn more than just the 'How' of vascular ultrasound, you will master the ''Why' behind the process. And this is information you will want to master: Certification is now becoming mandatory. 

But over forty percent of the technologists sitting for the Registered Vascular Technologist certification exam fail it each year. 

One of the greatest reasons is the lack of appropriate training in the clinical mindset underlying the test itself. This course includes both the comprehensive exam protocol AND the underlying clinical basis for it.

If you are new to ultrasound and find the instrumentation and physics principles unfamiliar, you may benefit from first attending our hands-on course for beginning sonographers, Fundamentals of Ultrasound, a two-day weekend course which often immediately precedes this one.

Class runs from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm the each day. Class size is kept small—usually from ten to twelve students—to ensure your comfortable and individualized support. We will cover all aspects of extracranial cerebrovascular disease as well as every element of the carotid/vertebral duplex exam protocol, including color Doppler. 

Your peers in class will likely be technologists and physicians from varied backgrounds and levels of experience. Upon completion you will be able to begin your independent clinical practice in an active environment

See how this course fits in to our Recommended Vascular Career Training Plans

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Interpretation of Noninvasive Peripheral Vascular Testing

The ensemble of tests that has evolved for peripheral vascular testing over the last twenty-five years has posed a daunting challenge to the experienced technologist of physician new to its use. To become successful, you’ll have to be able to integrate a broad range of physics, hemodynamic, clinical and technical factors together to create an accurate credible report.

Facilities credentialing is becoming more important to third party payers, and first on the list is the focused, formal training of the physician director.

But this tide of change in health care offers opportunity as well: the chance to serve a broader segment of our patients through the expanded use of such cost-effective testing on the primary care level.

Master each element of every test, and learn how to put the complete anatomical and physiologic picture together, quickly and without compromise. In addition to our intensive in-class instruction, you’ll have our post conference support forever, for free.

Class runs from 8:30 am to 4:00 pm on day one and from 8:30 am to noon on day two. We conduct the class in three overlapping modules: Lower extremity arterial workup, lower extremity venous assessment, and upper extremity applications. Unique in this course is the systematic approach to each scenario. We analyze completely each recommended test and incorporate each into the composite workup process, focusing all the while on the final report.

We’ll also update you on the most recent changes that will have transpired in the political and business climate affecting the field. Eight to ten Guests usually comprise the class. Your peers will likely be physicians and accomplished technologists from differing fields. Note that our Hands-On course in this area is held separately.

See how this course fits in to our Recommended Vascular Career Training Plans

Note: This course runs all day Friday and concludes at Noon on Saturday, followed immediately by Carotid Interpretation, described below

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Interpretation of Carotid and Vertebral Duplex Ultrasound

Some important facts have already altered how we will perform vascular ultrasound: 

1) Medicare has recommended that effective January 1, 1998, all fifty states require credentialing of all technologist staff as a prerequisite to facility reimbursement; 

2) Already, more and more HMO’s, PPO’s and private insurance carriers are requiring ICAVL (Intersocietal Commission for Accreditation of Cardiovascular Laboratories) facility credentialing as a prerequisite to reimbursement; and 

3) ICAVL expects the physician director of the lab to undergo a formal program of targeted instruction in the interpretation of tests and maintain continuing education in the field.

New patient selection criteria from the NASCET (North American Symptomatic Carotid Endarterectomy Trial) and ACAS (the Asymptomatic Carotid Atherosclerosis Study) multicenter studies have pushed the threshold for aggressive patient management to lower and lower levels of disease, requiring of us more than just a working knowledge of "hemodynamically significant" stenosis. Update your knowledge quickly in a friendly, small-class-size setting stimulated by didactic and inter-active discussion. Our Cast faculty has worked with the technology from the time it was an experimental prototype, and have made significant contributions to the directions it has taken. In fact, this course has been conducted continuously since its debut in 1983.

This is not a hands-on seminar. Your entry-level or advanced hands-on skills can be refined in our Hands-On Carotid and Vertebral Duplex Imaging course conducted continuously at our facilities in Dallas and Orlando.

Class runs from 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm the first day and from 8:30 am to 4:00 pm the second day (which includes a working lunch). Interactive classroom lectures emphasize the basic science and mindset necessary to interpret and report complex pathologic processes as they occur. Fifteen to twenty-five Guests usually comprise the class. Your peers will likely include both physicians and experienced technologists, representing every related area of the field

See how this course fits in to our Recommended Vascular Career Training Plans

Note: This course convenes at 1p.m. on Saturday and concludes on Sunday afternoon.  It is preceded immediately by PV Interpretation, described immediately above.

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