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Department of
Medical Imaging Sciences
Vascular Technology Program
Frequently Asked Questions
WHAT
CAN I EXPECT TO EARN?
This Is
always a tough question to answer. Based upon our graduates, the yearly
starting income has increased to over $45,000.00 in area hospitals. As you
may expect this is highly variable. Within the last three years there seems
to have been a sudden upward push in salaries because of the lack of
trained technologists. Private physician laboratories probably pay less.
Large multi-laboratory companies and temp agencies pay more. Many
laboratories also have on-call schedules which can boost salaries
considerably. Part-time and per diem jobs are also available for those
seeking flexibility.
WHY
IS THE FIELD CALLED VASCULAR TECHNOLOGY?
Practitioners
use ultrasound for 80% of their patient testing but a wide range of other
instrumentation is also used for the remaining 20%. The incorporation of
other instrument modalities produces an interesting mix of technologies for
non-invasively testing the vascular patient.
HOW
ARE THE TESTS PERFORMED?
Ultrasound
is very different from other diagnostic modalities. A vascular ultrasound
examination is not a matter of taking a series of ultrasound pictures. It
may be difficult to believe but the complexities in the exam often make it
difficult for an experienced sonographer to stand behind another and
determine the disease state of the patient. The sonographer needs to have a
hand on the probe to feel fully comfortable with the results. This is
because the ultrasound exam is a multi-step puzzle-solving process with
each step requiring probe manipulation to obtain a correct assessment. Each
subsequent step in an ultrasound exam is determined by the previous steps.
The operator has to interpret each step before moving on. The examination
is complete only if the sonographer is able to combine all elements to form
a coherent impression of the disease state. In vascular ultrasound, the
procedure is complicated by using dynamic images to determine physiology.
This is not easily documented.
It
should be clear that unlike most forms of diagnostic testing, the
ultrasound work-up is largely based on the skills of the
technologist/sonographer. If the person manipulating the ultrasound probe
misses disease, the disease will be missed by anyone reviewing the exam.
This means that the vascular sonographer/technologist is the one who
identifies the presence or absence of disease.
HOW
DOES THE VASCULAR SONOGRAPHER INTERACT WITH THE PHYSICIAN?
In a
typical Vascular Laboratory, the Vascular Surgeon is a phone call away but
is not often present in the laboratory. Surgeons spend the bulk of their
time in the operating room or evaluating patients. Surgeons are typically
not able to perform ultrasound studies and depend upon the sonographer for
the results and a preliminary interpretation. Still, Vascular Technologists
are often the first to detect a vascular problem and surgery is
increasingly based on the studies performed in the vascular lab. In an
active lab. Technologists also help in
the preoperative planning of certain operations. Postoperatively, they can be
asked to determine if a patient has to be taken back to the operating room.
Hopefully you can see that a good technologist/sonographer becomes a
valuable complement to the surgeon and should be someone that can be depended
upon to help in the care of the vascular patient.
While
vascular technologists are diagnostic sonographers, they play an important
role in the long-term management of vascular patients. They often see the
patient before the surgeon at each office visit and were often the ones to
determine that a patient was a candidate for surgery. Technologists seeing
a significant problem in a patient will alert the physician immediately to
initiate an action. The working relationship between technologists and
vascular surgeon or a referring physician can be very close.
IS
THIS THE RIGHT FIELD FOR ME?
This is
a multi-pronged question.
- People are concerned because they haven't heard
about vascular technology or vascular ultrasound. It is relatively new
and not a well known but it will be around for a long time. As long as
there are vascular diseases and vascular surgery, there will be a need
for Vascular Sonographers. Most diagnostic modalities are anatomically
based. Procedures performed by Vascular Sonographers are evaluating
physiology as well as anatomy, making their jobs unique among forms of
diagnostic testing.
- Is it too specialized? Hospitals want more
cross-training among personnel and laboratories also appreciate
broader coverage. However, there will always be a need for
specialization. Sonographers are too often performing vascular studies
on patients when they are not trained in the procedures. It is
unavoidable that as ultrasound equipment and more diagnostics are
performed non-invasively, testing will become more sophisticated. Good
sonographers highly specialized in vascular procedures are well
respected in the hospital. Accrediting bodies recognize this need for specialization
and set minimum lengths of education for each specialty. Cross-training is not readily
feasible in entry –level clinical education
- Does it match my personality-type? This is
important. We ask all potential applicants to tour the Vascular Lab.
This gives them the opportunity to see first hand whether they could
enjoy this line of work. People in this line of work must enjoy
problem-solving challenges and have good hand-eye coordination. Those
who do not feel comfortable with hand coordination skills may have
difficulty. Those who thrive enjoy developing their analytical and
technical skills to solve complex problems.
Our workers must enjoy working
with patients. They will be directly in the flow of patient care, making
decisions that have important consequences to the patient. They will also
be interacting with many physicians who had referred the patients to the
lab. Confidence is important when discussing cases with physicians. The
daily work experiences are not boring. They can be as exciting and
challenging as any that an individual is willing to meet. Workers must also be team players,
depending on each other to solve difficult cases.
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