VCU Health addressing cardiac sonographer shortage

RICHMOND, Va. (WWBT) - As the nation grapples with a shortage of people who can perform echocardiograms, VCU Health is coming up with a solution to counteract this shortage by focusing on community colleges.

Dr. Greg Hundley, director of the Pauley Heart Center at VCU Health, said echocardiograms, which use sound waves to produce images of your heart, are vital for cardiovascular care.

“One out of every two individuals suffers from cardiovascular disease, heart attack, stroke, advanced heart failure. The numbers in the population experiencing that are growing,” Dr. Hundley told 12 On Your Side. “The demand is increasing because as our population ages and our population grows in number, more of these procedures are needed.”

The growing demand for the test is also met with a nationwide shortage of those who can perform it, including Virginia.

“Due to some of the workforce aging out, and part of it is we really haven’t had training programs sufficiently, certainly within the state, to produce the workforce that’s needed to deliver the procedure,” Dr. Hundley said.

VCU Health also faces a shortage of cardiac sonographers but hopes to change this by partnering with community colleges in Virginia to create new cardiac sonographer training programs.

“There are four-year positions within our colleges, but that’s a minority of the workforce that’s needed,” said Dr. Hundley. “What are needed are two-year positions and our community college system is ideally suited to provide this training.”

The VCU Health Pauley Heart Center partnered with Rappahannock Community College to start a program this past fall.

“There’s a huge shortage of echo sonographers and sonographers in general,” said Harsha Sharma with Rappahannock Community College.

Sharma said that during this program, students will be able to sharpen their skills in echocardiography to prepare for a career in this field.

“Our students are actually in the field at VCU and other hospitals getting hands-on experience while they’re still in school learning, so once they’re graduated, they’re ready to work in the field and just hit the ground running,” said Sharma. “We are doing service to the community, and I remind the students you will need this service someday as well.”

A partnership Dr. Hundley believes is pivotal to creating a pipeline for the next generation of cardiac sonographers.

“Locating these in the community colleges, that allows the workforce training to take place in some of the locations where the workers are needed and also provides opportunities for individuals coming out of high school across the state,” said Dr. Hundley.

The partnership with Rappahannock Community College is currently the only cardiac sonography training program at Pauley Heart Center, but VCU Health is in discussions with between four and five community colleges across central and southern Virginia to expand.

To learn more about the sonography program at Rappahannock Community College, click here.

Copyright 2024 WWBT. All rights reserved.