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Sonography Program Spotlight

Eastern Florida State College DMS

Created in 2015, Eastern Florida State College DMS earned accreditation through the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs (CAAHEP) in 2017. Located in Melbourne, Florida on the eastern coast, EFSC offers an abundance of degrees and certifications that involve technical and vocational training. With a program consisting of 19 major courses, 7 support courses and 6 general education courses totaling 77 credits, EFSC’s goal is to prepare competent entry level sonographers in cognitive, psychomotor, and behavior learning domains.

ARDMS: What sets your program apart from other programs in your community?

EFSC DMS: Eastern Florida State College created the program in 2015 and received CAAHEP General accreditation in 2017. Our program has created a “Civic Pride Initiative” in which our first-year students vote to present a local community organization with a plaque, recognizing their contributions to the community.

ARDMS: What is one defining moment or story that best represents what your program means to you and your community?

EFSC DMS: Our students are prepared to enter the workforce with both general sonographic registries (Abdomen & Obstetrics/Gynecology). In addition, they are prepared to sit for the ARDMS Breast registry by competing extensive breast sonographic competencies and objectives. Also, our school has established additional Advanced Technical Certificate programs in Vascular and Adult Cardiac sonography, to meet the imaging needs of our community. Thus, our graduates will have the ability to provide the highest quality care to our patients.

ARDMS: How does your program prepare students for a post-graduation career?

EFSC DMS: Our rules are simple:

“If you are on time, you are late”

“You are only as good as your last scan”

“Come to work fit, and educated”

“Don’t over-sell yourself. Know your limitations”

If our students live by these rules, they will (more than likely) succeed within the healthcare field.

ARDMS: How does your program adapt to and prepare for innovation in the Sonography field?

EFSC DMS: Our program prepares our graduates to fill the healthcare needs of the sonography field by providing our students with the proper tools to become a solid citizen.  Our goal is to have our graduates recognizes that hard work, coupled with compassion and empathy, along with the acquisition of multiple ARDMS registries, will allow them to provide the best care possible to our patients.

ARDMS: What will your program look like in 5-10 years?

EFSC DMS: ONE STOP SHOPPING

  • AS degree in General Ultrasound 77 credits ending in May (22 months)
  • Vascular Sonography Advanced Technical Certificate program 10 credits starting in Summer (12 weeks)
  • Adult Cardiac Sonography Advanced Technical Certificate program 17 credits starting in the Fall semester and ending in the Spring semester (Two semesters)
  • Students can apply credits to the bachelor’s in applied science degree

ARDMS: What else would you like the sonography community to know about your program?

EFSC DMS: 

  • Students must complete “Ultrasound Boot Camp” during their first professional phase semester (August to December):
    Ultrasound Boot Camp starts the first day of the first semester of the Diagnostic Medical Sonography program at Eastern Florida State College, ends on the last day of semester 1, and consists of passing all objectives and competences of the following courses:
    • SON 2000 – Introduction to Sonography
    • SON 1311 – Cross Sectional Anatomy
    • SON 2211 – Ultrasound Physics and Instrumentation
    • SONL 2211 – Ultrasound Physics and Instrumentation Lab 1
    • SON 2804 – Practicum 1

Based upon the student’s performance within the above classes, instructors of each course will vote unanimously on whether a student has completed the minimum requirements in order to be placed within a clinical rotation during the second semester.

If a student fails to gain enough votes to successfully complete Ultrasound Boot Camp, an action plan will be presented to that student so they may correct any deficiencies in order to be placed clinically within a timely fashion.

All final decisions regarding clinical placements will be left to the discretion of the Clinical Coordinator.

  • Community Service-Learning Partnership: Our program is working with the Community-Service Learning center by allowing students to perform 20 hours of volunteering/internship within our program. Participants are required to complete a project as part of the agreement Projects usually involve writing an article regarding ultrasound (personal experiences and or topics of interest of the writer). These articles may be included in our DMS Newsletter, which is archived on our EFSC DMS website. A junior student is chosen as the editor of this newsletter and most of the contributions are written by students and applicants.
  • Partnership with local animal hospital: Animal Emergency and Critical Care Center of Brevard – we rotate our students through the animal hospital, and as such, students’ complete objectives regarding the participation of helping with ultrasound scanning of cats and dogs.
  • Promote students to participate in our professional organization, the Society of Diagnostic Medical Sonographers (SDMS) – Students become members and partaking in Continuing Medical Education assignments.

  • Created an EFSC mock Healthcare Clinic (Clandorf Health): Assigning Junior students to a simulated clinic work environment utilizing our extensive skills laboratory facility. The program’s two Medical Directors take part in this mock clinic by “reading’ the student’s exams and providing a critique of their images.

  • We created a Student Mentoring Program: Senior (second year) students mentor Junior (first year) students.

To learn more about the Eastern Florida State College DMS program, please visit EFSC DMS.

**ARDMS is committed to highlighting the accomplishments and diversity of sonography programs. If you would like to have your program featured, please complete this form and submit the completed form to EducatorResources@inteleos.org.