Clearfield Hospital’s Ultrasound/Echocardiology Department was recently granted accreditation by the Intersocietal Commission for the Accreditation of Echocardiology Laboratories.
The ultrasound/echocardiology team includes, from left, Brenda Folmar, RDMS, RVT, RDCS; Rhonda Jones, RDMS; Nicholle Guenot, RDMS; and Susan Custaney, RDMS, RVT, RDCS.
Clearfield Hospital’s laboratory is one of the first one thousand echocardiology laboratories in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico to be recognized for its commitment to high quality patient care and its provision of quality diagnostic testing.
The ICAEL’s accreditation program evaluates the quality of the physicians, sonographers, equipment and other critical elements of an echocardiography laboratory.
“I’m very proud of our Ultrasound/Echocardiology Department. The ultrasound technologists at Clearfield Hospital are trained in general and vascular ultrasound as well as echocardiograms. Adding the ICAEL accreditation to our American College of Radiology general and vascular accreditation is quite an accomplishment,” stated Audra Sidelinger, imaging manager for Clearfield Hospital.
She continued, “Participation in the accreditation process is voluntary. Accreditation status signifies that we have been reviewed by an independent agency and that agency recognizes our commitment to quality testing for the diagnosis of heart disease.”
How an Echocardiogram works
An echocardiogram is a type of ultrasound test that uses high-frequency sound waves that are sent through a device called a transducer. The device picks up echoes of the sound waves as they bounce off the different parts of the heart. These echoes are turned into moving pictures of the heart that can be seen on a video screen.
Cardiac structure and flow information provided by echocardiographic testing is useful in the detection and management of many types of heart disease. This noninvasive test has become one of the standard diagnostic tools in cardiology with an estimated 10 million echocardiograms performed annually in the United States.
Ultrasound and Echocardiology at Clearfield Hospital
Clearfield Hospital’s ultrasound/echocardiology team includes Susan Custaney, registered diagnostic medical sonographer, registered vascular technologist and registered diagnostic cardiac sonographer; Rhonda Jones, registered diagnostic medical sonographer; Brenda Folmar, registered diagnostic medical sonographer, registered vascular technologist, registered diagnostic cardiac sonographer; Nicholle Guenot, registered diagnostic medical sonographer; Tricia Malloy, registered diagnostic medical sonographer; and Sarah Leitzinger, registry eligible.
Cardiologist Ralph A. Cardamone, M.D., is medical director of the service.
The ICAEL was established with the support of the American Society of Echocardiology, the American College of Cardiology and the Society of Pediatric Echocardiology to provide a peer review mechanism to encourage and recognize the provision of quality echocardiographic diagnostic evaluations.