Echocardiography
Echocardiography, more commonly known as an ultrasound of the heart, is a painless test that uses sound waves to create moving pictures of the heart. It is most commonly used to detect possible clots or masses within the heart, fluid around the heart, or stiffness of the heart.
IAC Accreditation
Since achieving national accreditation for our echocardiography lab in 2013, OSF St. Francis Hospital & Medical Group remains one of a small number of hospitals in the Upper Peninsula with this prestigious distinction.
Our echo lab is accredited by the Inter-societal Accreditation Commission (IAC). As the overseeing accrediting site in the United States, the IAC is an organization of doctors, nurses, and paraprofessional who review every aspect in the delivery of echocardiogram service to patients, ensuring high quality on every level.
The process of accreditation includes:
- Ensuring all team members were properly credentialed with up-to-date continuing education
- State-of-the-art equipment with electronic data storing and reporting
- Board certified director of echocardiography
- Documented quarterly meetings and educational programs
- Sonographers with demonstrated proficiency in acquiring images in patients with pathology
- Accepted protocols
- Timeliness in completing studies and notifying referring physicians
- Self-monitoring process to evaluate consistency and variability
- Proper size and cleanliness of exam rooms
- Documented calibration of echo equipment
The IAC grants accreditation only to those facilities that are found to provide quality patient care in compliance with national standards.