Sonography - Kennebec Valley Community College

Sonography from Kennebec Valley Community College is a Campus Certificate Medical Sonography and Ultrasound degree that prepares you for a Healthcare career. DESCRIPTION This specialized training combines clinical and didactic diagnostic medical ultrasound experience in a 16-month certificate program. The majority portion of the experience is "hands-on‖ at appropriate clinical sites under the supervision of qualified and registered ultrasound staff called Preceptors. The program delivers a competency-based dedicated ultrasound curriculum with novice-level clinical experience at the start of the program followed by increasing clinical responsibility and accountability over time. This underscores the importance of the clinical scanning experience and serves to enhance the ―connectedness‖ of the didactic (on campus) to the clinical component (at clinic) at the outset of the program. The clinical practicum parallels clinical competencies based on a program entitled the SCAN. This program is a nationally accepted tool serving to standardize the clinical experience in a graduated way so that competencies over a timeline can be assessed. The SCAN program has been designed and implemented by the Society of Diagnostic Medical Sonographers (S.D.M.S.) and its educational arm, the Educational Foundation. The Sonography program is being funded in part by a Community-Based Job Training Grant in the amount of $955,831 awarded to KVCC and in part by a grant awarded to Coastal Counties Workforce, Inc. in the amount of $1,846,409 by the U.S. Department of Labor's Employment and Training Administration. PROGRAM MISSION The mission of this newly designed 16-month continuous diploma program in Diagnostic Medical Sonography is to train qualified Maine students for entry-level competency positions in a diagnostic ultrasound setting within a hospital, clinic, or office where abdominal and/or obstetrical gynecological diagnostic ultrasound studies are performed, and to promote quality care and patient safety through ARDMS certification. Successful students receive dedicated clinical and didactic training particular to the field of diagnostic medical ultrasound allowing them to sit for registry examinations offered by the American Registry of Diagnostic Medical Sonographers (ARDMS). Responding to labor shortage feedback from the Maine health care community, Kennebec Valley Community College offers the first college-based Sonography program in the State of Maine in order to help meet the high demand and low supply needs for entry-level sonographers . Therefore, improving the level of health care delivery in the State of Maine through the training of qualified sonographers is a valuable goal for this program. EDUCATIONAL OUTCOMES Successful graduates will be eligible to sit for the following examinations as administered by the ARDMS: (UPI) Ultrasound Physics and Instrumentation, (AB) Abdominal/SS, and (Ob/Gyn) Obstetrics and Gynecology. ARDMS credentials document personal achievement of recognized professional standards. Upon successful completion of the Sonography program, graduates are expected to: 1. Demonstrate expertise and proficiency in a wide variety of sonographic procedures by applying classroom theory to the actual practice of technical skills at specified levels of competency. 2. Demonstrate developed and practiced professional work habits and appropriate interpersonal relationships with patients, families, and other members of the health team. 3. Demonstrate expertise in the application of ultrasound principles, instrumentation, and scanning technique proficiency. CAREER OPPORTUNITIES Employment in hospitals, clinics, physicians' offices, public health facilities. There are various branches of specialization, i.e., Abdomen, Ob-Gyn, Breast, Echocardiography, Vascular technology, and Neurosonology. There are career opportunities in education, administration, research, and in commercial companies as education/application specialists, sales representatives, and technical advisors. View more details on Kennebec Valley Community College . Ask your questions and apply online for this program or find other related Medical Sonography and Ultrasound courses.