Publish date: 17 March 2025
In our latest blog, we hear from Clinical Physiology Services manager, Megan Anderson and her team about their award-winning echocardiography service and its pioneering learning hub.
A few years ago there was a national shortage of echocardiologists nationally, partly down to the fact there was no progression route into echocardiology. As a service, we discovered there were training grants available to support those interested in the specialty to progress in this area of healthcare. There was financial support for the department providing the training which supported any gap in capacity, as well as longer appointment times for protected supervision time for mentors.
We began the accreditation process which gave us an opportunity to celebrate the great parts of our service that we wanted to build on and reflect on the areas which needed more consideration. Those with a special interest in training enrolled on formal training, making them recognised training officers. It resulted in a brilliant training package being delivered and thankfully the National School of Healthcare Science (NSHCS) agreed. We received endorsement from NSHCS in Feb 2023 and had our first learner in position by October 2023. We were then made aware of funding to support collaborative projects. Recognising the regional pressures with training, we submitted a bid for funding to support a training hub at Northumbria. This was to allow trainees from around the region to attend our hub 1 day a week. The grant was approved and also covered funding for 2 practice educators.
The learning hub is made up of a loan echo machine and an additional reporting station. We run as close to normal working circumstances as possible, scanning real patients under direct supervision to build confidence and competence under real working conditions. The learning space is an extension to the existing department, though we create bespoke training lists with the booking teams based on patient consent.
Where there are barriers to learning or different teaching styles needed, we utilise the immersive suite within the health and wellbeing academy and a model patient simulator which adjusts the teaching style.
Since Covid cardiology diagnostics across the region were under pressure and recruitment was difficult as all trusts were ‘fishing from the same pond’. The introduction of schemes like the ETP/STP around the region have made healthcare science more accessible and supported development of staff into the highly specialist areas where they are needed. Having additional support with the training hub has been incredibly useful to fill our own vacancies, as well as support the regional demand for echocardiographers and healthcare scientists. As the training hub uses real patients, it supports patient experience by increasing our capacity through training meaning waiting times are reduced.
When I applied for the role I was working on the department as an assistant technical officer. I loved the department and the people I was working with, but I was ready for a new challenge. While training I had the chance to shadow a couple of echo clinics. I found echo such an interesting concept and took a huge interest in learning about the huge range of pathology it can be used to assess. I also loved how practical it was and saw it as an exciting challenge. This placed it on my radar as a future career goal and so when the ETP came up I saw it as a great opportunity to stay with the team, while developing a new skill and progressing within my career.
The biggest highlight for me has been growing within the department and getting to work alongside so many amazing people. We’ve had such a great experience and this is owed to everyone who has made the process so enjoyable. We’ve been really lucky to have such great trainers. Stacy Cooper and Matthew Tye as our predominant mentors have been a huge part of our learning journey, and have always made the environment so fun and positive.
Our usual day involves spending time in clinic with real patients. Initially, we spent a lot of time developing the skill of scanning and progressively learned how to scan a full dataset, while under the close supervision of our trainers. We spent a lot of time learning / recognising pathology and eventually were able to apply our knowledge into practical application. Once we were more confident, we were able to scan more independently, while asking for help when needed. This progressed into us having our own clinic lists, with a member of staff on hand to help if needed and all of our reports being checked and signed. This was great as it allowed us to get used to a typical working day within the role, while receiving feedback in a safe environment. We are now fully BSE accredited and scanning our own patients with longer time slots. Our next goal is improve our speed and achieve seeing patients within the standard time slots for our department.
I decided to apply for the ETP as I am a visual learner and thought carrying out and interpreting heart scans would be a great fit for myself. Echocardiography allowed me to accelerate my career with the echocardiography trainee programme, which will enable individuals such as myself who are not from a cardiac physiologist background to train intensively for 18 months to become autonomous in both carrying out an echocardiogram and reporting the images.
There have been many highlights from the journey, such as meeting healthcare professionals from other trusts, and university blocks and being able to see what difference I make in a patient's pathway through cardiology and other specialities. Passing my British Society of Echocardiography accreditation exam 2 months early was a particular high, as this is a particularly difficult process and to pass it early was an amazing feeling. This would have not been possible without the help of our incredible mentors Stacy and Matt, along with the whole cardiac investigation's team.
Echocardiography is an amazing career and would recommend it to anyone who was interested in cardiology, especially the training programme as it can accelerate career progression with in-service training. The course can be challenging at times, however due to the team having extensive experience and knowledge they make it manageable.