Clinical Affiliate Partnership Request
A student cannot identify and initiate a clinical affiliation partnership. Requests to initiate a clinical affiliation partnership is limited to clinical site personnel, program director or program clinical coordinator.
If you are a Lab Supervisor or Lab Manager and are interested in becoming a clinical affiliate of Jackson College DMS Programs and entering into an affiliation agreement, please complete the following two forms and submit them to Lindsay Mercer, BS RDCS, Cardiac Sonography Program Director, by email at mercerlindsayl@vbj4.com on or before the application deadline of September 15.
Please note: New clinical affiliation agreements can take approximately four-six months.
An appropriate clinical, educational site will need to meet the following requirements:
- There is an ARDMS (RDCS) or CCI (RCS) credentialed cardiac sonographer on staff that is willing to serve as the student’s clinical instructor. This individual should have previous experience in training sonographers and/or students.
- The echo department performs a minimum of 1,000 adult echocardiograms per year. There is a dedicated echo or cardiovascular department for adult echocardiography procedures.
- TEE and stress echo are performed in the facility.
- We prefer that the facility can provide a variety of patient care settings in which sonographic procedures are performed on in-patients and outpatients. These settings may include the following: ambulatory care facilities, specialty centers, emergency/trauma, intensive/critical/coronary care, surgery, angiography/cardiac catheterization. Please note that the facility does not need to be all inclusive in the above.
Clinical Education placement
Jackson College Program Director and Clinical Coordinator in collaboration with current, approved clinical sites, determine which clinical sites are available annually and how many open placements will be for the Jackson College sonography programs. Clinical site placement is based on annual clinical site availability and geographic location, awarded by points (highest-lowest earned). Clinical site placements will not be announced prior to the admission process timeline.
If a student lives within a 2-hour driving radius of another CAAHEP-accredited program, they should apply to the local program. Visit www.caahep.org to find programs nearby. The program directors will provide state locations for clinical sites that agree to become major clinical affiliates (sites agreeable to a regular clinical education site).
Potential students can contact the Allied Health Department Coordinator to learn whether an affiliated clinical site is in their geographical area (city, town) at sonographyinquires@vbj4.com . The email will be managed by the Allied Health Department Coordinator. The sonography program directors will also have access to the email inbox.
Unique program details and processes can be found on the Cardiac Sonography program website.
Understanding the Mandatory Preclinical Lab Course (DMS196) Requirement
All students admitted to the Jackson College Cardiac Sonography program must complete the preclinical lab course Introduction to Cardiac Clinical (DMS196), which is delivered in the first semester of the program prior to the start of the clinical rotation. This is a face-to-face lab course delivered at Jackson College’s Central Campus, in Jackson, Michigan. Students must complete the preclinical lab course (DMS196) on campus unless the student’s assigned clinical site requests hosting the student for that experience. It should be noted that this is rare, and most clinical affiliates do not request this responsibility. The following circumstances will be considered to determine the eligibility of the hybrid delivery method of the preclinical lab course (DMS196) requirement:
- Clinical Site Request
- Review and confirm the clinical site’s ability to facilitate educational needs and experience.
- Program Director approval
The following conditions must be met once eligibility status has been approved:
A clinical site must meet the minimum requirements of a clinical affiliate listed below:
- A current affiliation agreement
- Completed, submitted, and approved CC and CV forms by the clinical instructor.
- Appropriately credentialed sonographers willing to facilitate the course requirements.
- The sponsoring clinical site must be willing to work with students to complete the preclinical lab course (DMS196) competencies for the course.
- A cleared background check, drug screen and physical health form including immunization forms must be updated in the Allied Health Office one month prior to the start of the course.
- Signed Clinical Instructor Acknowledgement (Contact the Program Director for this document)
The Cardiac Sonography clinicals are unpaid educational experiences. If you have any questions, please contact the Health Sciences Office at 517.768.7007.
Due to the State Authorization Reciprocity Agreement (SARA), at this time we cannot offer online courses and/or clinical externships in the following states: California. If you can only attend a clinical externship (a requirement of all DMS programs) in the states listed above, and you are unable to relocate to a participating SARA state, you will be unable to complete a degree in any of our DMS program offerings. If you are willing to relocate to a SARA member state, please contact the Allied Health office at 517.768.7007.