If you’re one of the thousands of people wondering what to do with their lives but don’t have the time or money to get a 4 year college degree, you may be interested in becoming a cardiac sonographer.
If you’re like most people you’ve probably never heard of this profession. Actually it’s this lack of exposure that makes this job so lucrative. There are very few qualified cardiac sonographers which makes them extremely sought after and well paid.
First though let me describe what a cardiac sonographer does. Basically a sonographers’ job is to take detailed pictures of a person’s heart, using an ultrasound machine. Most people associate ultrasounds with babies. It’s the same technology but instead of a fetus the ultrasound is aimed at the heart.
The test is called an echocardiogram or simply, an echo. The test generally lasts about a half an hour and is completely non-invasive. The information obtained is detailed and can tell a reading cardiologist a lot about the function of a person’s heart. Since it doesn’t take long, and relative to other tests, doesn’t cost much, it’s very popular.
Echocardiograms are done in a variety of settings. The most common is a hospital. Many private cardiology offices also run their own echocardiogram programs. Recently, there are even traveling clinics that go from town to town and offer the tests for a flat fee.
A cardiac sonographer or echo tech, works individually with patients. Rarely will a cardiologist be in the room with the tech during the study. Because of this the doctors need to have complete faith in the techs. There’s no way for the doctor to know if the study is being done properly because the tech is in control of what images they show the cardiologist. Most echo labs us digital stills and short movie clips to save studies and these are what the cardiologist sees and “reads.”
Because of this autonomy the relationship of the tech with the doctor is based on trust and mutual respect. This is an unusual situation in the medical field. With this trust and respect, though comes a lot of responsibility. If the tech screws up and misses something that has adverse affects on the patient, it’s not the tech that gets sued but the doctor. You’d have a hard time finding work after something like that occurred.
The job is rewarding; the tech is working with patients that really need the test. Often the tech will see a problem in the heart and have to investigate why the problem is occurring. In a sense they are detectives, using their skills and deductive reasoning to find and point out heart problems to the cardiologist. They need to be sharp and attentive to deliver the best service to the patient. Sometimes it can literally be a life and death situation.
So how do you go about getting the skills to be a cardiac sonographer? The best way is to go to a two year college and get an associate of science degree in cardiac sonography. Many of these schools are actually community colleges, which mean they’re far less expensive than universities.
Be sure the college you choose is an accredited program. If it’s not you may have a hard time sitting for the national registry exam that most hiring hospitals and clinics require. The most recognized registry is Through the ARDMS. Once you’ve passed the registry exam, your official title becomes, Registered Diagnostic Cardiac Sonographer.
Since they are so sought after echo techs can live virtually anywhere they have a hospital. Once a person is registered through the ARDMS they can expect to receive job offers from around the country almost weekly.
Pay is very good and is usually based on an hourly wage. This is to the techs advantage particularly if they take a job in a hospital where they will be required to take call.
Taking call means techs carry a beeper and are available to do off hour echocardiograms in emergency situations. Most hospitals pay techs an hourly wage for carrying the beeper, usually in the 4 bucks an hour range. This doesn’t sound like much but they’re basically paying you to sit around waiting for a call. In fact half the time a tech’s on call, they’re sleeping.
If you actually get called to the hospital, they normally compensate you very well. They usually pay time and a half and give you a minimum of 2 hours. This means if you’re paid 20 bucks an hour, which is on the low side, and you get called in to do a study that takes you about an hour, you would still be paid for 2 hours but they’d be paying you 30 bucks an hour. If you get called in enough it really adds up.
Of course every situation is different, but echo techs are some of the highest paid medical technicians in health care. For only 2 years of schooling you gain huge benefits. You become a healthcare professional making good money while having the respect of your peers. To top it all off you can feel good about helping patients on a day to day basis.
