General, Vascular, or Cardiac?

Need some feedback!! I found an online CAAHEP accredited program & need a little help deciding on a concentration. Is one in higher demand than the others? Does one pay more or less than the others? As far as I'm concerned, no particular modality strikes me...ultrasound in general is fascinating. So it really comes down to salary & demand.

just curious, What school?

CURE, Center for Ultrasound Research & Education is a NY licensed school that offers 1 year General, Vascular or Cardiac programs. It's a great school. They have machines for each student and computers and itouches and lots of state of the art brand new equipment. I think they are fairly new, but really good. I wish I could afford the $12,000 a year cost, but maybe next year. I think the website is www.cureultrasound.com.

I would recommend starting in General and then specializing from there. You can always specialize into what you already know you enjoy, but until you work at it for a while you won't know for sure. Several of my classmates thought they would love OB, however, by the time they graduated they were NOT going to work at an OB clinic. Don't box yourself into a specialized field too early.

Hope this helps!

Which pays more? General and vascular or general and cardiac? Sorry for the questions. Thanks in advance.

i actually don't know. I would think that it would depend on where you decided to work. As a general rule, doctors offices pay more per hour but because they don't require as many techs, those positions are harder to find. Hospitals tend to want a tech that is more well-rounded vs. one that has limited experience in a specific field. Vascular is less specialized than cardiac. Also, i remember hearing one of my professors mention that some health systems are attempting to make echo something that cannot be cross-trained into (like how Ultrasound was originally a cross-training program from x-ray), because in many hospitals the reading radiologist is either present when or is the one that actually performs the echo. This is to expedite the process from scan to diagnosis to surgery (if required).

Hope this helps!

Really help!! Thank you.

em0ti0nz1086 in Newton, New Jersey said: just curious, What school?

Jackson community college. It's in Michigan, but they have a CAAHEP accredited online AAS degree. You are responsible for securing your own clinical site, but other than that the application process is fairly simple. I think I want to do Vascular first, and then maybe go back for Cardiac.

Golden, if you want to work in Ohio, please consider going with cardiovascular. There are eleven general ultrasound programs in Ohio that are accredited by CAAHEP, so general sonographers are a dime a dozen. There aren't nearly as many cardiovascular programs, so they are more in demand.

Thanks Lily. I Think I'm going to start with Vascular. Initially I thought I should go into General Sonography but after more research I realized that it is very saturated. I've found a school but their Cardiac program doesn't start until January of 2011. The Vascular program starts this May. So I figured I'd go with the one that starts sooner. Any feedback on Vascular Sonography?

Decided today to pursue an AAS in Diagnostic Medical Sonography. The local college here in Las Vegas is CAAHEP accredited and is the only place here that is so thar she blows, that's where I'm going. They offer General and Cardio and I'm wondering which one I should take. Anyone have any suggestions here as 2012 is approaching?

G in Sincity in Las Vegas, Nevada said: Decided today to pursue an AAS in Diagnostic Medical Sonography. The local college here in Las Vegas is CAAHEP accredited and is the only place here that is so thar she blows, that's where I'm going. They offer General and Cardio and I'm wondering which one I should take. Anyone have any suggestions here as 2012 is approaching?

I graduated from this school and program and was so impressed with this education I received. The machines in their lab are more advanced than most high profile hospitals and the staff are great.

vegasregina in Henderson, Nevada said: I graduated from this school and program and was so impressed with this education I received. The machines in their lab are more advanced than most high profile hospitals and the staff are great.

That's great to hear! I'm sold on the school and have attended the orientation and met with a counselor. Not sure which program I should do. Any idea where the higher job demand is for? Cardio, General?

truth is, the more universal you are, the better you can market yourself. I believe general has alot to it and you have to get credits in each aspect. Vascular seems to be interesting and so does cardiac. and cardiac is broken down to adult, pediatric and fetal.

different places want different things. You can probably find a job in each modality in majority of the cities.

I would say that Cardiac is way over crowded with new graduates and getting a job as a new graduate who has passed my exams and become a RDCS is all but impossible. I have applied to jobs locally, across the state and from Alaska to Florida with only a few interviews two of which were not good fits at all and only one got to a second interview. I have yet to even reach the point where I scan for a potential employer. My graduation was in May and while I could then do a complete scan in 30 min I can not any more for lack of regular practice. My situation is talked about on Link In by others all the time. I do not know if general is better but cardiac is a no go at this time. I will agree that the more areas you learn the better. Recruiters and other recent graduates in Cardiac Sonography can confirm this. The key is recent graduates experienced people are still in demand.

Sincerely, Lowell

Hi Lowell, I appreciate your observations. I have to say it paints a less than rosy picture of the industry and potential job prospects. It would seem like many professions, getting the foot in the door is one of the biggest challenges. Any regrets having gone through the exercise of getting the education and certification with no job in site?

One thing I have read about is the gender discrimination that evidently exists in the medical community w/ regard to sonographers. I have been reading that the industry leans toward female techs. I have not experienced that first hand just yet but there is a lot of blogging about it and if true, is definitely a little disheartening.

I am very excited about going forward with this. Cardiac is probably what I will study. I see what you wrote about that. I can only hope I am not making a tremendous error in choosing this. I think my chances may be better there than with General.

TY for your comment.

G in sincity

G-

I am also applying to the same prog in Vegas. I have been struggling with the general/cardiac track descision too. I have little interest in general, but everyday I scan cardiac job postings and none come up for Vegas and that kind of scares me. To go through all of this drama and end up with not even an interview would be ridiculous. Are you applying 2012 or 2013? Did you do your observation hours yet? that could help the descision process too, I spoke with one general sonog and she said card def paid more but no jobs :( best of luck to you!

jessiek

I've been a sonographer for over 15 years and I must say do both programs! General sonography will always be needed, but I'm not saying cardiac isn't. However, the demand to do general is much greater because you cover, abd, ob,small parts, thora and paracentesis etc. I would personally start with general first and then cardiac!

Either of u guys get accepted into the program for 2012? If so I will be seeing you there, got into the General track. I too was wondering the differences of the potential outlook after graduation and ARDMS certification. It really depends on what a hospital/outpatient facility needs. However, I went with the General decision because I was guided by a local tech that showed me that echo is simply monotonous whereas General is a lot more diverse day to day which in my mind seems to only make oneself more versatile to an employer, I'll have to wait and see though.