The American Society of Echocardiography (ASE) has announced that it is the initial organizational sponsor of the new Advanced Cardiovascular Sonography (ACS) professional career designation, offering senior-level cardiovascular sonographers a new pathway for career advancement.
The designation will officially recognize sonographers who receive advanced education from a Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs (CAAHEP)-accredited program (beyond a bachelor's degree) and complete the associated clinical internship.
The new educational curriculum and the Committee on Accreditation for Advanced Cardiovascular Sonography (COA-ACS), which will develop the standards, have been approved by CAAHEP. Once the new ACS standards are vetted by the commission, which is expected in 2012, educational institutions may apply to the COA-ACS to receive accreditation to provide this education to advanced cardiovascular sonographers.
The curriculum will involve rigorous education and training in preparation for an advanced level of practice. The advanced curriculum will include areas such as advanced cardiovascular hemodynamics/physiology and pathophysiology, surgical and medical options, comparative imaging analysis, research methods and biostatistics, pharmacology, and others, with a complementary required clinical internship.
