We extend our congratulations to ASE and ASEF Treasurer Cynthia Taub, MD, MBA for being named Edward C. Reifenstein Professor of Medicine and Chair of the Department of Medicine at Upstate Medical University!
View the press release from Upstate Medical University here.
Support the ASE Foundation in its first ever March Games fundraiser! This donation competition runs until April 2. Support your team of choice by donating online.
The March Games teams are:
These four ASE groups are competing to see who can raise the most money. Does your team have what it takes?! So far, the Cardiovascular Sonography and Interventional Echocardiography Council Steering Committees are tied for first place, both raising $100!
March is not only host to the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s Men’s and Women’s Basketball Championship Tournaments, but it’s also Women’s History Month. When you make your donation, we encourage you to think of the women in your life who have supported you, whether emotionally or professionally. Make your donation in honor or in memory of an important woman in your life.
ASE is proud to announce a new Sonographer Career Day initiative that will take place at the upcoming Scientific Sessions in National Harbor, Maryland, on Saturday, June 24, 2023. Apply now to participate! ASE developed this initiative to help address the shortage of sonographers in the field and create a space for recruitment during ASE 2023 to a targeted audience in the field of echocardiography. Labs and institutions are encouraged to apply now to participate!
There will be two recruiting sessions on June 24 from 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM and 1:30 to 3:30 PM. A table and two chairs will be set-up in a main hallway and up to six recruiting institutions can participate in each session. Institutions can apply to participate through April 21, 2023, by completing this application. Selected institutions will be assigned on a first-come, first-served basis, and must pay the $500 registration fee by May 15.
Sonographer students who are enrolled in a sonography school program are encouraged to attend on Saturday free of charge. Pre-registration is required, and students must register using their school email address. (This registration does not include CME or access to recorded content.)
Join the AMA by April 1, 2023
ASE needs your help to ensure your voice is heard on issues related to legislative, regulatory, and coding matters. We are currently undergoing a five-year review to maintain our representation of two seats in the American Medical Association’s (AMA) House of Delegates. To keep our seats, a significant number of our U.S. Physician members must also be members of the AMA.
We’re asking our U.S. Physician members to consider joining the AMA by April 1, 2023, if you have not already done so. Your AMA membership empowers ASE to continue directly engaging, impacting, and leading discussions regarding fair and accurate valuation for echocardiography and related clinical services. Make our voice matter for echocardiography and learn more at ASEcho.org/AMA.
Register now to attend ASE’s upcoming live webinar on the Recommendations for the Use of Echocardiography in the Evaluation of Rheumatic Heart Disease guideline published earlier this year. This document provides recommendations for the comprehensive use of echocardiography in the diagnosis and therapeutic intervention of RHD.
The guideline webinar will take place on Thursday, March 23, from 5:00 to 6:00 PM ET. Hosted by lead author and Guideline Chair Natesa G. Pandian, MD, and Guideline Co-Chair Jin K. Kim, MD, PhD, FASE, the webinar is free for ASE Members. Earn 1.0 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™ for participation.
Available Now in the ASE Learning Hub
ASE offers an array of products to help individuals prepare for the Advanced Cardiac Sonographer (ACS) Registry Examination, and its newest offering, ACS Registry Review Guide Mock Exams, is available now in the ASE Learning Hub. The next exam window for the 2023 ACS Registry Exam is coming up in August, but you can start preparing now!
This product contains two mock exams. Mock Exam 1 is a timed simulation of the exam that can be taken up to five times. Mock Exam 2 offers the opportunity for unlimited practice. It is not timed and allows you to view your incorrect answers. Both exams contain 150 questions that are based on the seven sections that will appear on the ACS Registry Exam.
ASE members can purchase this product today for only $199 USD ($240 USD for nonmembers). Log in to the ASE Member Portal and then purchase this product from the ASE Learning Hub to receive special member pricing.
The March JASE includes “Recommendations for Cardiac Point-of-Care Ultrasound in Children: A Report from the American Society of Echocardiography“, endorsed by the Society of Critical Care Medicine. Jimmy C. Lu, MD, FASE, lead author said that, “Although the clinical scenarios for someone in the pediatric emergency room, intensive care unit, or operating room may vary dramatically, there are common technical factors to consider when imaging children and the same need for appropriate training and quality assurance. Previously, there were not uniform recommendations for utilization in the pediatric population, leading to variation among specialties, sometimes even within the same institution. This guideline aims to define those common considerations and to emphasize the importance of collaboration across specialties to optimize pediatric patient care.”
Dr. Patricia A. Pellikka, MD, FASE, JASE Editor-in-Chief, writes in her editorial, “Relevant to the aforementioned guidelines document and also published in this issue are the results of a survey from the ASE Task Force on Cardiac POCUS in Children. This survey of North American pediatric echo lab directors was conducted to understand perceptions and challenges related to clinical use of cardiac POCUS in children. Challenges identified were related to collaboration between pediatric echo labs and others providing cardiac POCUS in children, and difficulties in defining and measuring competency of providers.”
In addition, other clinical investigations explore POCUS, diastolic function and prognosis, pediatric normal values and Z scores for ventricular strain, and echocardiography in infant congenital heart disease. Two editorials address left ventricular diastolic dysfunction and reference standards in quantitative Pediatric Echocardiography. The Brief Research Communications describe echocardiographic reporting of the aorta in young competitive athletes, utilization of an ultrasound-enhancing agent use in evaluating the right ventricle in patients with left ventricular assist device, left atrial volumetric/mechanical coupling index in the general population (from the Copenhagen City Heart Study), and a novel index of right ventriculoarterial coupling in adult patients with repaired Tetralogy of Fallot using 3D speckle-tracking echocardiography. A letter to the editor addresses exercise-induced cardiac remodeling and atrial fibrillation in female endurance athletes.
The President’s Message, “Sonographer Challenges Today,” from Stephen H. Little, MD, FASE, is co-authored with Keith Collins, MS, RDCS, FASE, the current Council Representative on the ASE Executive Committee of the Board of Directors. The authors start off the column, “As we move beyond the global health crisis caused by COVID-19, we must adjust to a changing healthcare delivery environment, a significantly altered workforce, and the seismic shifts that have changed how we educate, train, and mentor cardiovascular sonographers.”
The March ASE Education Calendar lists education opportunities far and wide.
Make Our Voice Matter for Echocardiography
ASE needs your help in ensuring your voice is heard on issues related to legislative matters, regulatory issues, coding and reimbursement. We are asking our U.S. Physician members to consider joining the American Medical Association (AMA) by April 1, 2023. Your AMA membership enables ASE to maintain our two seats in the AMA’s House of Delegates (HOD), and empowers us to continue directly engaging, impacting, and leading discussions regarding fair and accurate valuation for echocardiography and related clinical services.
To maintain our two seats in the AMA HOD, 25% of ASE’s U.S. physician members must also be members of the AMA. One way to help us reach our goal is to encourage the Residents and Fellows in your lab, who are also ASE members, to join. Physicians can also “gift” an AMA membership to their Residents and Fellows. The AMA membership rate for the category is only $45 USD.
The AMA provides a powerful voice in Congress, the courts, and federal agencies. Full delegate status provides ASE with a vote on important AMA policy within the HOD. ASE delegates take part in the HOD meetings where the AMA’s HOD sets its legislative and regulatory priorities based on the issues that were considered by the HOD, and these issues are vast. It is imperative that ASE maintain our two seats in AMA’s HOD. Learn more and see how you can join AMA at ASEcho.org/AMA.
The ASE Foundation is hosting its first ever March Games fundraiser from March 1 – April 2. Four ASE Council Steering Committees and Specialty Interest Groups will be competing to raise the most money for ASEF! Does your team have what it takes?
Support your team of choice between March 1 – April 2 by donating online. You may be wondering who is competing… Let’s hear it for the teams!
March is not only a big month for basketball, it is also Women’s History Month. When you make your donation, we encourage you to think of the women in your life who have supported you, whether personally or professionally. Make your donation in honor or in memory of an important woman in your life.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Angie Porter
919-297-7152
aporter@ASEcho.org
ASE Publishes New Guideline on Cardiac POCUS to Help Optimize Pediatric Patient Care
The guideline provides recommendations for consistency in utilization of cardiac POCUS in children through collaboration across specialties
(DURHAM, NC, March 2, 2023)—Cardiovascular ultrasound is a powerful tool for evaluating cardiac structures and function, and technological advances and education have led to widespread bedside use of cardiac point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS). POCUS is a problem-oriented imaging tool enabling practitioners to evaluate and diagnose ventricular function and physiology, but its application to children requires consideration of anatomic and physiologic differences from adult populations and corresponding technical aspects.
A new guideline document from the American Society of Echocardiography (ASE) establishes a framework for indications of cardiac POCUS in the pediatric population. Recommendations for Cardiac Point-of-Care Ultrasound in Children: A Report from the American Society of Echocardiography provides more uniform recommendations that address specific considerations of cardiac POCUS in children.
The guideline recommendations were developed by a diverse writing group comprised of experts from different specialties offering an array of perspectives and approaches. The document is intended to facilitate collaboration among subspecialties and pediatric echocardiography laboratories by identifying key considerations regarding indications, imaging recommendations, training and competency assessment, and quality assurance.
“Although the clinical scenarios for someone in the pediatric emergency room, intensive care unit or operating room may vary dramatically, there are common technical factors to consider when imaging children and the same need for appropriate training and quality assurance,” said lead author Jimmy C. Lu, MD, FASE. “Previously, there were not uniform recommendations for utilization in the pediatric population, leading to variation among specialties, sometimes even within the same institution. This guideline aims to define those common considerations and to emphasize the importance of collaboration across specialties to optimize pediatric patient care.”
This document is published in the March 2023 issue of the Journal of the American Society of Echocardiography. View all guidelines published by ASE by visiting ASEcho.org/Guidelines.
About American Society of Echocardiography
The American Society of Echocardiography (ASE) is the Society for Cardiovascular Ultrasound Professionals™. ASE is the largest global organization for cardiovascular ultrasound imaging serving physicians, sonographers, nurses, veterinarians, and scientists and as such is the leader and advocate, setting practice standards and guidelines for the field. The Society is committed to advancing cardiovascular ultrasound to improve lives. For more information, visit ASE’s website ASEcho.org or social media pages on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or Instagram.
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