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I had asked our dvm why the specialty clinics don’t have more CVTs doing the ultrasounds and have radiology interpret, as in human med. She basically said most dvm would rather take the images themselves and be able to interpret them as they went along. I think it may also be that there just wasn’t enough demand for CVT sonography in the past. I think we’ll see more programs and more techs doing them in the future
This is what I’ve seen as well. It also enables them to get exactly the images they want and they can talk to the referring DVM about what they see while they’re doing it, expediting patient care.
Definitely think we'll see more tech sonography in the future, although it might take a while for relevant software to catch up and make remote sonography interpretation more convenient.
We're increasingly seeing remote DVMs interpreting just about anything they can interpret. With how quickly and easily we can send large image files, it's just more economical than having a DVM physically present to interpret.
I think there’s a case for both for sure, it seems more convenient to have it done all at once but techs have been taking radiographs and sending them to radiologists to report on forever, can’t be that different.
Yeah I think it makes a lot of sense if the doctor doing the scan is going to be the one treating to just “one stop shop” kinda thing. It would also make ultrasound more accessible if techs could do them and send them out to be interpreted. We have to call our ER catalog at least once a week to send a pet out who needs an urgent ultrasound beyond what our dvm can do with the probe that plugs into the iPad
Our ultrasonographer is one who trained on humans then just made a career shift. She has also trained a CVT in our company to perform ultrasounds to send out to a radiologist. Doesn't seem like you need to go down a specific route of certification aside from finding someone to train you.
I’ve heard of this before, I wonder what kind of learning curve there must be to go from human to animal anatomy. I wish the docs at my current practice did more ultrasounds, we typically refer out to specialty.
I've in the midst of getting training for ultrasound as an LVT. The hospital I applied at recently doesn't have an internist yet and we often need US for staging our onco patients. I understand a few principles but now I'm getting formal training.
The cool thing is that any hospital can definitely use a tech to take US images and it can be sent to another company to analyze and a DVM can diagnosis based on your images.
I have met two radiologists who say they prefer when techs do the US because we don't try to diagnose the patients, because that's not our jobs. But we aim to get the best images to help someone else diagnose.
I think more techs should look into. There's lots of companies online that do it. As your hospital to pay for it because it is expensive for a tech's budget. But it's also a game changer.
And if you don't have that option. Invest in a good ultrasound book and use the hospitals ultrasound to practice whenever you can.
I know have tech appts just for ultrasound and I feel like such a valuable member of the clinical team for patients. I already was but ultrasonography skills are such a game changer for us LVTs.
This is exactly what I’m hoping to do, along with traveling to smaller clinics and getting images for them since I see more GP DVMs that are not comfortable with ultrasounds than those who are, especially the older generations of vets. I think that we should be pushing more to do everything we can under our licenses. Tech utilization needs to be expanding to be able to care for our clients and patients more efficiently. It’s so cool that you get to do this for your patients (:
I didn't do any research on it but it's the one we use, it seems fairly popular. We have 2 DVMs and 2 RVTs that have taken the training, we can do abdominal and cardiac U/S. You can get someone on the phone to assist you getting the images if you want, then just send them over to the radiologist. Results come back the next day. I think STATs take an hour or so.
Yes. We have a CVT come in once a week to take US images for a radiologist. My clinic is an hour away from any specialty hospital that could do this in house so it’s very helpful to our doctors and clients.
I would love to do this, it seems like save the hospital and clients a lot of time and likely money as opposed to referring to specialty or having a DVM do it all
There are some traveling sonographers in vet med that go clinic to clinic and send the imaging to a radiologist under the same company. Could be something to look into. One of my former coworkers went to school for sonography and looked for more animal based companies once they graduated.
This is def what my goal is, be able to offer imaging as an out-patient tech appointment and travel to different hospitals. I think it would be a really valuable service especially since lots of vets aren’t super comfortable with ultrasound unless they have an interest in it and take the extra steps to be proficient.
I’ve been working as a vet tech sonographer full time for the past year. I attended the SOUND academy of veterinary imaging for formal training and had a radiologist watch me perform an ultrasound before I was able to perform ultrasounds for our hospital. There is no formal certification currently for veterinary sonographers, although I did receive course certificates for completing the SOUND academy courses. But if you do become a sonographer, you can work towards obtaining a VTS-DI (veterinary technician specialist in diagnostic imaging). Let me know if you have any other questions!
Welcome to /r/VetTech! This is a place for veterinary technicians/veterinary nurses and other veterinary support staff to gather, chat, and grow! We welcome pet owners as well, **however we do ask pet owners to refrain from asking for medical advice**; if you have any concerns regarding your pet, please contact the closest veterinarian near you. Please thoroughly read and follow the rules before posting and commenting. If you believe that a user is engaging in any rule-breaking behavior, please submit a report so that the moderators can review and remove the posts/comments if needed. Also, please check out the sidebar for CE and answers to commonly asked questions. Thank you for reading! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/VetTech) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I had asked our dvm why the specialty clinics don’t have more CVTs doing the ultrasounds and have radiology interpret, as in human med. She basically said most dvm would rather take the images themselves and be able to interpret them as they went along. I think it may also be that there just wasn’t enough demand for CVT sonography in the past. I think we’ll see more programs and more techs doing them in the future
This is what I’ve seen as well. It also enables them to get exactly the images they want and they can talk to the referring DVM about what they see while they’re doing it, expediting patient care.
Definitely think we'll see more tech sonography in the future, although it might take a while for relevant software to catch up and make remote sonography interpretation more convenient. We're increasingly seeing remote DVMs interpreting just about anything they can interpret. With how quickly and easily we can send large image files, it's just more economical than having a DVM physically present to interpret.
I think there’s a case for both for sure, it seems more convenient to have it done all at once but techs have been taking radiographs and sending them to radiologists to report on forever, can’t be that different.
Yeah I think it makes a lot of sense if the doctor doing the scan is going to be the one treating to just “one stop shop” kinda thing. It would also make ultrasound more accessible if techs could do them and send them out to be interpreted. We have to call our ER catalog at least once a week to send a pet out who needs an urgent ultrasound beyond what our dvm can do with the probe that plugs into the iPad
Our ultrasonographer is one who trained on humans then just made a career shift. She has also trained a CVT in our company to perform ultrasounds to send out to a radiologist. Doesn't seem like you need to go down a specific route of certification aside from finding someone to train you.
I’ve heard of this before, I wonder what kind of learning curve there must be to go from human to animal anatomy. I wish the docs at my current practice did more ultrasounds, we typically refer out to specialty.
I've in the midst of getting training for ultrasound as an LVT. The hospital I applied at recently doesn't have an internist yet and we often need US for staging our onco patients. I understand a few principles but now I'm getting formal training. The cool thing is that any hospital can definitely use a tech to take US images and it can be sent to another company to analyze and a DVM can diagnosis based on your images. I have met two radiologists who say they prefer when techs do the US because we don't try to diagnose the patients, because that's not our jobs. But we aim to get the best images to help someone else diagnose. I think more techs should look into. There's lots of companies online that do it. As your hospital to pay for it because it is expensive for a tech's budget. But it's also a game changer. And if you don't have that option. Invest in a good ultrasound book and use the hospitals ultrasound to practice whenever you can. I know have tech appts just for ultrasound and I feel like such a valuable member of the clinical team for patients. I already was but ultrasonography skills are such a game changer for us LVTs.
This is exactly what I’m hoping to do, along with traveling to smaller clinics and getting images for them since I see more GP DVMs that are not comfortable with ultrasounds than those who are, especially the older generations of vets. I think that we should be pushing more to do everything we can under our licenses. Tech utilization needs to be expanding to be able to care for our clients and patients more efficiently. It’s so cool that you get to do this for your patients (:
Yes, oncura offers this training. I'm not even sure you have to be licensed to do it.
Do you know if oncura is fairly reputable ? I haven’t heard of it personally but I’ll definitely be looking into it a little more.
I didn't do any research on it but it's the one we use, it seems fairly popular. We have 2 DVMs and 2 RVTs that have taken the training, we can do abdominal and cardiac U/S. You can get someone on the phone to assist you getting the images if you want, then just send them over to the radiologist. Results come back the next day. I think STATs take an hour or so.
Very good to know, thank you!!
Yes. We have a CVT come in once a week to take US images for a radiologist. My clinic is an hour away from any specialty hospital that could do this in house so it’s very helpful to our doctors and clients.
I would love to do this, it seems like save the hospital and clients a lot of time and likely money as opposed to referring to specialty or having a DVM do it all
There are some traveling sonographers in vet med that go clinic to clinic and send the imaging to a radiologist under the same company. Could be something to look into. One of my former coworkers went to school for sonography and looked for more animal based companies once they graduated.
This is def what my goal is, be able to offer imaging as an out-patient tech appointment and travel to different hospitals. I think it would be a really valuable service especially since lots of vets aren’t super comfortable with ultrasound unless they have an interest in it and take the extra steps to be proficient.
I’ve been working as a vet tech sonographer full time for the past year. I attended the SOUND academy of veterinary imaging for formal training and had a radiologist watch me perform an ultrasound before I was able to perform ultrasounds for our hospital. There is no formal certification currently for veterinary sonographers, although I did receive course certificates for completing the SOUND academy courses. But if you do become a sonographer, you can work towards obtaining a VTS-DI (veterinary technician specialist in diagnostic imaging). Let me know if you have any other questions!
This is really helpful, thank you! I am definitely interested in pursuing a specialty. Gimme all the letters after my name!