Mission:
The mission of Cardiovascular Technology Training, Inc. is to train the highest quality practitioners in two medical curriculums: Cardiovascular Technology and Medical Assisting.
Medical Assisting Curriculum:
Our Medical Assisting program is brand new. We are currently accepting students for the first class scheduled to begin the first full week of October. It is a seven month curriculum with a new class accepted 6 times per year in Febuary, April, June, August, October, and December. Between 6 and 10 students are accepted for each new class.
The role of the Medical Assistant is crucial to any physician’s clinical practice. Clinical medical assistants have various duties. Common tasks include taking medical histories and recording vital signs, explaining treatment procedures to patients, preparing patients for examinations, and assisting physicians during examinations. Medical assistants collect and prepare laboratory specimens and sometimes perform basic laboratory tests. They dispose of contaminated supplies, and sterilize medical instruments. As directed by a physician, they might instruct patients about medications and special diets, prepare and administer medications, authorize drug refills, telephone prescriptions to a pharmacy, draw blood, prepare patients for x rays, take electrocardiograms, remove sutures, and change dressings. Medical assistants also may arrange examining room instruments and equipment, purchase and maintain supplies and equipment, and keep waiting and examining rooms neat and clean.
Cardiovascular Technology Curriculum:
The Cardiovascular Technology program teaches students to perform diagnostic ultrasounds of the heart and vascular system. It is a two year curriculum and we begin a new class only once a year in September. Between 8 and 12 students are accepted for each September class.
Our program of Cardiovascular Technology has been programmatically accredited by the Committee on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs (CAAHEP). This means that the training our students receive meets certain standards that have been approved by professionals in the field of echocardiography and vascular ultrasonography and is consequently of the highest quality in the country.
In contrast to an electrocardiogram (EKG) that measures the electrical currents in the heart, an echocardiogram shows a real-time image of a beating heart on a display screen as the cardiovascular technologist (CVT) performs the test. The electrocardiogram tells about the electrical health of the heart while the echocardiogram tells the structural health of the heart, its motion, and its valves.
Technologists specializing in echocardiography or vascular technology use ultrasound instrumentation to run noninvasive tests that do not require the insertion of probes or other instruments into the patient's body. Ultrasound is sound that is so high pitched it is beyond the range of normal human hearing, above a frequency of 20,000 cycles per second. The echo machine sends sound waves to a hand-held sound-sensitive device called a transducer placed on the patient's chest. The heart walls and valves reflect back the sound waves through the transducer to the machine. High-powered software puts together a picture of the heart and information about the heart's function from the returned sound for interpretation and diagnosis by a physician. The setting for the test is usually a clinic or hospital.
About Cardiovascular Tech:
Our program is strategically located in Louisiana north of New Orleans on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain. It is geographically diverse, with administrative offices and classrooms in Lacombe, and clinical sites located at various locations in Mandeville, Covington, Hammond, Lacombe, Slidell, and Bogalusa.