Curriculum

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The Ascension Sonography Program curriculum is carefully designed to facilitate student learning as they progress through the program. In the first year of the program, emphasis is on anatomy & physiology, patient care, fundamentals of ultrasound and learning to perform sonographic procedures while the second year of the program focuses on technical and theoretical aspects of medical imaging, pathology and applying knowledge of sonographic principles and instrumentation. The program curriculum adheres to the professional curriculum from the American Registry for Diagnostic Medical Sonography (www.ARDMS.org) and meets the required content of the American Registry for Diagnostic Medical Sonography (www.ARDMS.org) certifying exams.

The Sonography Program course credits and descriptions by semester are below. A link to an at-a-glance of the program curriculum is below.

Sonography Program Curriculum

General Education (Transferred In)

COURSE	CREDITS
Algebra, Statistics or Higher Math	3.0 credits
General Physics or Radiographic Physics	3.0 credits
Communication Skills	3.0 credits
Human Anatomy and Physiology	5.0 credits
Medical Terminology	1.0 credits

Junior Year: Semester I (Summer)

Junior Year: Semester II (Fall)

Upon completion of this course, the diagnostic medical sonography student will gain knowledge and understanding of the normal organ systems and vascular structures of the abdomen and superficial organs. The student will gain knowledge to recognize and identify the sonographic appearance of normal anatomic structures, including anatomic variants and normal Doppler patterns of the abdomen and superficial organs. This course unit contains educational objectives and learning activities directed toward aiding the student in obtaining this goal.
This course is designed to provide the diagnostic medical sonography student with a thorough understanding of normal and abnormal female pelvic anatomy, pathology associated with the female pelvis, conception, embryonic development and sonographic technique and appearance of the aforementioned topics. This course contains educational objectives and learning activities directed toward aiding the student in obtaining this goal.
This course is designed to provide the diagnostic medical sonography student with the knowledge of extremity venous and arterial systems to include anatomy, physiology and pathology of the aforemen tioned system. This course contains educational objectives and learning activities directed toward aiding the student in obtaining this goal.
This course allows the diagnostic medical sonography student to develop a fundamental knowledge of the physical and vascular principles that are used in the field of diagnostic medical sonography. This course unit contains educational objectives and learning activities directed toward aiding the student in obtaining this goal.
These courses provide the diagnostic medical sonography student with the clinical opportunity to develop their scanning techniques and patient care skills with the guidance of a staff sonographer.

Junior Year: Semester III (Spring)

Senior Year: Semester IV (Summer)

Senior Year: Semester V (Fall)

This course is designed to provide the diagnostic medical sonography students an understanding of normal and abnormal conditions associated with a pediatric patient, including normal and abnormal neurological development of neonatal head and spinal cord. This course will also give the students the knowledge of the ultrasound exams performed less often, such as MSK, GI Tract, abdominal wall and contrast imaging. This course contains educational objectives and learning activities directed toward aiding the student in obtaining this goal.
This course is a continuation of OBGYN Sonography II. This course is designed to provide the diagnostic medical sonography student with a thorough understanding of pathologies that can occur during fetal development and prognosis and treatment of such pathologies during pregnancy and after birth as well as medical ethics associated with pathological processes. This course contains educational objectives and learning activities directed toward aiding the student in obtaining this goal.
This course is designed to provide the diagnostic medical sonography student with the knowledge of the extracranial cerebrovascular and intracranial cerebrovascular systems to include anatomy, physiology and pathology of the aforementioned system. This course is also designed to provide an understanding of miscellaneous arterial and venous anatomic and pathological conditions related to the profession of sonography. This course contains educational objectives and learning activities directed toward aiding the student in obtaining this goal.
These courses provide the diagnostic medical sonography student with the clinical opportunity to develop their scanning techniques and patient care skills with the guidance of a staff sonographer.

Senior Year: Semester VI (Spring)

This course will review all subjects covered throughout the course of the program. The goal is to prepare diagnostic medical sonography students for taking the ARDMS registry examinations upon completion of the program.
These courses provide the diagnostic medical sonography student with the clinical opportunity to develop their scanning techniques and patient care skills with the guidance of a staff sonographer.