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COMPARING CTA TRAINING PROGRAMS |
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The quality of CTA training varies greatly |
Learning to read and interpret CTA requires the physician to learn a significant amount of hand-eye coordination coupled with exposure to numerous cases to understand how a variety of pathologies look when viewed on a workstation.
Some of our students have made the following observations and/or complaints about other courses they have attended before coming to one of our courses.
- We watched pre-taped videos of an expert reviewing cases and I did not feel confident in my ability to review the cases at the end of the course
- The instructor did not present a systematic review methodology – it was scattered
- The lecturer was not present during the entire length of the course, therefore I felt undertrained
- The instructor did not have significant experience with the workstation
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At CVCTA Education, our program specifically aims to correct these shortcomings of the other courses out there. We strongly advise you to do your research before investing your time and money into CTA training.
Have you done your research? |
We encourage you to compare training programs as the quality varies greatly. The merit of the training program you select will determine two things: 1) your comfort reading CTA and 2) your efficiency performing comprehensive reads.
We suggest you research the training programs by calling and asking the questions on this list:
Questions you should ask a CTA training program:
- Do I get to manipulate all the cases myself or will I only be watching a recording or watching someone else manipulating the images for all 150 cases?
- Do I have to share a workstation with another student?
- Is there a dedicated Level 3 teacher/lecturer present during the entire course and are students ever left to work unattended?
- How many students has the instructor trained on that specific brand of workstation? For how long?
- For Level 1 classes: Will I meet my live case requirement or will I need to return for more training?
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THE
FACTS |
Our courses always have 1:1 student to workstation ratio
Most courses cost between $9,000 and $18,000
Most courses range from 5 to 10 days |
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Competitive Pricing
Most courses cost between $9,000-$18,000 and range from 5-10 days. The SCCT website lists many courses that are available, however, here is a non-exhaustive list of some of the training centers in the US. All data is accurate at the time of posting:
COURSE LOCATION |
FACULTY |
COST
TO
LEVEL 2 |
ONSITE DAYS
TO
LEVEL 2 |
WORK-STATION |
SCANNER |
CONTACT |
Cabrini Med Ctr,
New York, NY
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Dr. Michael Poon |
$16,500 |
10 |
Siemens & Tera Recon |
Siemens 64 |
closed |
Tuscon, AZ |
Dr. Carter Newton |
$12,000 |
5
+ homework |
Tera Recon |
None |
http://www.cvinnovations.net/
843-524-2284 |
CVCTA EDUCATION |
Dr. Tony Defrance, Dr. R Schwartz, |
$12,000 |
3
+ software |
Tera Recon & Vital Images |
Toshiba 64 |
http://www.cvcta.com
800-728-2884 |
South Florida Medical Imaging, Boca Raton, FL |
Dr. Claudio Smuclovisky |
$12,000 |
8 |
Philips |
Philips |
http://www.sfmipa.com/
561-314-2500 |
South Carolina Heart Center, Columbia, SC |
Varies (no dedicated) |
$12,000 |
5
+ homework |
Tera Recon |
Siemens |
http://www.scheart.com/
800-714-3278 |
Baltimore, MD |
Dr. David Bush, Dr. Ed Shapiro |
$12,500 |
5
+ homework |
Vital Images |
Toshiba 64 |
410-550-0845 |
University of California, Irvine, CA |
Dr. Jagat Narula, Dr. S. Gurudevan |
$15,000 |
5
+ homework |
Vital Images |
Toshiba 64 |
http://www.scct.org
714-456-5667 |
Harbor UCLA Med Ctr |
Dr. Matt Budoff |
$10,000 |
10 |
GE, Tera (1), Vital (1) |
GE |
http://www.cvmg.com/
310-652-4600 |
Gainesville, FL |
Dr. Shen |
$10,000 |
5
+ homework |
Vital Images |
Toshiba 64 |
none |
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