Blogs

As a first time conference attendee, I didn’t realize how tight-knit the vascular community was! I was impressed with everyone’s welcoming nature, and I was happy to have made some amazing memories with my teachers, friends and many other technologists there! Before I mention the list of everything that I learned, I wanted to thank SVU for giving me this amazing opportunity. No only did I learn so much, but I also met so many people that are there to help and encourage me in my journey to become a vascular sonographer! Without further ado…here we go with that list! I learned… Where exactly to measure that carotid artery IMT. How plaque itself ...

I hope that everyone had a blast at the Hands-on session that took place on the second day of the conference, I know I sure did! There were so many sessions that I personally benefitted from. I have some pictures below for you to see what it looked like! I liked Kayla Weiseckel’s booth, where I learned to look for soleal and gastroc veins. She gave us a few tips and tricks to find them, such as looking for them in the mid calf and then moving proximally to their origin. Next, I visited the Proper Cuff Placement booth by Paula Walsh, who showed us how to place the cuffs, where to place them, and how to make them stay. I’m very new at this and when I place my cuffs, ...

Today was the last day of the conference and boy, was it a good one! We started the day off with the Young Professional panel, where the discussion was geared towards the newer technologists. Kayla Wieseckel talked a lot about transitioning from a student to a sonographer, which was particularly helpful for a student like me. Next, Dr. Polak and Ann Marie Kupinski did an amazing job talking about multiple modalities such as CTA and MRA, how they work, what the pros and cons are and finally, related them to a few cases. Those cases were amazingly done and taught us a lot about how to read them! Next, various awards were given out to several physicians, technologists ...

Day 2 of the conferences was power packed with great case presentations about popliteal artery stents, TCD collateral flow and pediatric arterial trauma. Topics such as research in ergonomics, AAA repairs, mesenteric ischemia, and the educational role of sonographees were covered as well. It was great to see a lot of vendors come with different reporting systems and ultrasound machines. I started off the morning in technology theatre. I rotated through the various vendors to get a brief overview of what they had to offer. In the late morning I was able to walk around and talk to several vendors about their product as well as demo the machines. It was great to ...

Today was the first day of the conference and so many exciting and amazing events took place. To begin with, a keynote address took place. Dr. Eugene Zierler MD RPVI , took us on “An Interprofessional Odyssey” where he talked about the beginnings of vascular ultrasound (image below). He talked a lot about the vascular technology correlating well with vascular surgery. He also mentioned ARDMS and the history behind the organization. He received an award with a standing ovation today at the conference for his research on the clinical applications of noninvasive diagnostic techniques for vascular disease. Just within that first hour, I learned a lot from Dr. Zierler! ...

Nothing beats the picturesque view of the Chicago sky line and the best way to experience this is through the architectural boat tour. So get your cameras ready for this amazing tour. Along with this captivating view comes a guide that will give you a lot of great history about the buildings and the city along the Chicago River. If the weather doesn’t cooperate there is an indoor lounge where you can still enjoy the view and tour. A cash/credit card bar with an assortment of beverages and snacks is also available on the boat to enhance your viewing experience. You can check out the website for further details at www.wendellaboats.com .

Welcome to the SVU 2016 Annual Conference! My name is Amina Ahmed and I’m here to give you a couple of tips for this upcoming event, but before that I’m going to give you a couple of tidbits about me as your guide… I’m a Vascular Sonographer in the Chicagoland area. I am an alumni of Rush University as well as Edward Cardiovascular Institute for Cardiac Sonography. I feel that the SVU conference is a great opportunity for educational and professional advancement. In the past it has helped me with networking when I was new to the field. Now I feel that it has enhanced my education as well as kept me up to date on the latest research. I hope your experience will ...

The Chicago Scene The possibilities of places to go and things to do are endless in the summertime. Here are some suggestions from a Chicago native…. If you are the sight-seeing kind of person… 1. Millenium Park: this area has so many great things to see from the beautiful landscaping to the Crown Fountain, which is water wall with interactive video art. Don’t forget about the famous Bean. This is a ten minute walk from the hotel. 2. The Chicago Cultural Center is another site you don’t want to miss. An eight minute walk from the hotel will lead you to the beautiful Tiffany ceilings and grand staircases within the center. 3. Grant ...

Hello SVU members! Welcome to Chicago, it’s great to have you! Chicago’s food scene is the one of the best in the world – every type and flavor of food is so readily available in this amazing city. My personal favorite is breakfast food. I can eat breakfast food all day, every day! I love a good omelet with some roasted potatoes and a cup o’ Joe in the morning. If I’m not seen eating breakfast food, you’ll probably find me at a local Mexican place eating tacos with lots of salsas! Below, I’ve listed some restaurants that are fairly close to the hotel. I mapped each one out for your convenience, so each location should be less than a 15-minute walk from the ...

For those of you who don’t know too much about me, I am Kruti Soni. I’m currently a student at Rush University, enrolled in the vascular ultrasound program. Since I mentioned Rush, I have to give a shout-out to all of my amazing teachers there for teaching us so much, in such little time! I just started my clinical rotations and I have to say, it is exhausting! As excited as I was for my rotations, I realized there is still so much I don’t know. While I was ready to apply all the theory that I learned, I learned that it is not always what it looks like. While Rush University did an amazing job in teaching me so much about the vascular world, there is ...