2010-2011 Cardiovascular Sonographer Workforce and Salary Survey

ASE is conducting a cardiovascular sonographer survey to collect information on demographics, education, workplace information, compensation, benefits and job satisfaction.  Please take a few minutes and help us gather the most current data!  To access the survey, please click here.   The summary of this survey will be posted on ASE's Members Section of the website later this summer.

ASE's 2010 Sonographer Salary Survey contains information gathered from almost 2,000 U.S. Cardiovascular Sonographers.  This report is a helpful tool for practicing sonographers and healthcare recruiters alike.  ASE Members - take advantage of your member benefits and download this for FREE at www. asemarketplace.com.

Advocacy Update on Sonography Licensure Issues

New Jersey

 ASE Supports Sonographer Credentialing
ASE supports sonographer credentialing, and has taken a pro-active position in assuring that high quality standards are established for cardiovascular sonographers.   The CARE bill (Consistency, Accuracy, Responsibility and Excellence in Medical Imaging and Radiation Therapy) ensures individuals performing all aspects of medical imaging and radiation therapy are qualified by mandating appropriate credentialing.
  
In today’s climate of health care reform the CARE bill will:
• Reduce health care costs. Accurate diagnosis and fewer repeat exams and delays in treatment will save the Medicare program millions of dollars.
• Maximize patient safety. Certified individuals perform exams and treatments safely, accurately and effectively while minimizing radiation exposure.
• Increase quality. Competent, educated and certified sonographers, technologists and therapists increase overall exam and treatment quality. Patients’ satisfaction is increased.

We are asking for your help in moving this legislation forward during the current legislative session. 
1.  Call or e-mail your congressman and ask him/her to contact the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and encourage the agency to score Senator Wyden’s amendment to Senator Max Baucus’ Healthcare Reform bill as soon as possible. His amendment would include the CARE bill in healthcare reform legislation.
2.  Ask your congressman and ask him/her to cosponsor H.R. 3652, the Consistency, Accuracy, Responsibility and Excellence (CARE) in Medical Imaging and Radiation Therapy bill.  Ask your congressman to contact Hill Thomas in Rep. John Barrow’s office to be listed as a cosponsor.
3.  Ask your senators and congressman to include the CARE bill in the health care reform discussion because CARE provides for high-quality medical imaging and radiation therapy patient care and saves Medicare dollars!

New Mexico Governor Signs First State Sonographer Licensure Bill Into Law On April 6, 2009, Governor Bill Richardson signed HB 498 into law in New Mexico.
This bill represents a significant first step towards ensuring quality patient care and safety in Sonography through mandating a minimum standard of education and training for sonographers.  The ASE will be working alongside the other Sonography organizations to ensure that the administrative rules necessary to implementing this new legislation are written properly with respect to requiring sonographer credentialing (ARDMS or CCI) and provide for a delayed implementation period to allow time for practicing sonographers to challenge an examination and obtain a cardiac credential.  ASE, as part of the Sonography Licensure Coalition, worked to ensure that our members' interests were reflected in the language of the bill. ASE members in New Mexico responded to a call to action from ASE in support of this legislation. A letter of support, signed by ASE President William Zoghbi, MD, FASE, was also sent to the Governor’s Office. 
 

Advanced Cardiovascular Sonographer: A Proposal of the ASE Advanced Practice Sonographer Task Force
Echocardiographic examinations require a well-trained and competent sonographer to obtain proper anatomic and physiologic data to establish an accurate diagnosis for clinical decision-making and patient management. Although the formal education and training of cardiovascular sonographers are evolving, many entry-level and staff sonographers may not have sufficient practical or clinical knowledge of the necessary components of the Echocardiographic study for the individual patient’s clinical presentation. In many clinical settings, echocardiograms are read after the patient has left the laboratory. Thus, there is a role for a sonographer who can practice at an advanced level in a cardiovascular ultrasound laboratory to ensure a proper echocardiographic examination is performed on every patient. In this setting, an Advanced Cardiovascular Sonographer (ACS) would be able to review the indication for and quality of the examination. If additional images were need, the ACS would assist the sonographer in obtaining these images, which would lead to the performance of a complete and fully diagnostic examination before the patient had left the echo lab. In clinical practice, the quality of the examinations performed would improve, advancements in echocardiographic methods could be taught and incorporated into daily practice, and patients would be better served.   

The full article was published in the Journal of the American Society of Echocardiography, December 2009.

NEW - ASE Sonographer Lifetime Achievement Award (Bi-annual award to be rotated with the Cardiac Sonographer Distinguished Teacher Award). 
The ASE Sonographer Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes a cardiac sonographer who has played a luminary role in the field of echocardiography.  This individual is an ASE sonographer member with FASE recognition who has a minimum of 20 years in the field.  The first Sonographer Lifetime Achievement Award will be presented to David B. Adams, RCS, RDCS, FASE, during ASE's Annual Scientific Sessions, June 11-14, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

2011 Alan D. Waggoner Student Scholarship  (click here to download application)
The Alan D. Waggoner Sonographer Student Scholarship program was established in 2001 in recognition of Mr. Waggoner's professional achievements and service to ASE.  Award amount:$1,000 (also includes 1 year complimentary membership in the ASE; 1 complimentary registration for ASE's 22nd Annual Scientific Sessions, June 11-14, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada; and annual meeting travel support not to exceed $500).  The ASEF is pleased to announce the availability of 5 scholarship support grants for students enrolled in cardiac ultrasound programs.  Visit our Awards page for more detailed information.   Deadline for application submission is November 30, 2010.

National Education Curriculum for Sonography
The National Education Curriculum for Sonography (NEC) is the work product of a national consensus conference involving eighteen sonography-related professional organizations (including ASE). These organizations, working collaboratively and representing the sonographic professional community, produced a national sonographic educational curriculum guide for use by developing and existing sonographic educational programs. The objective of this project was to produce a curriculum outline that, when implemented, may assist in the achievement of educational objectives to produce an entry-level sonographer.  To view the document, click here. 

ASE Sonographer Workbook
ASE Sonographer Workbook has been a work in progress since 2005.  Sally Dunn initiated the concept of the workbook for the Sonographer Track at ASE's Annual Scientific Sessions in Boston, MA.  Since then, it has been expanded and included for all subsequent Scientific Sessions.  Many of the ASE Sonographer Scientific Sessions faculty has made contributions to the document.  Currently the topics include:

• Aortic Stenosis
• Mitral Stenosis
• Diastolic Function for the Sonographer
• Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy (CRT)
• AV Delay Optimization and CRT

Sonographer Volunteers of the Month
Congratulations to Kathleen Kendall, BA, RDCS, (PE), FASE,  ASE's volunteer of the month.   
 

 ASE Rules of Governance