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Returning home and Reflecting on the 2014 Annual Conference

By Asia Bull (Biles) posted Tue August 12, 2014 08:24:19 PM

  
I hope everyone had a great experience at the 2014 SVU Annual Conference and that everyone had safe travels returning home. 

Looking back over the past week that was spent preparing for and attending the conference, it is very obvious that a lot of hard work at been put into making the experience an educational and enjoyable one. I want to send a special "thank you" to all of the wonderful sponsors that helped make it all come together, such as Philips and General Electric. Below are my top 10 highlights from the 2014 SVU Annual Conference in the light of a recent OIT graduate.

1. Many of the visiting sponsors and vendors provided ultrasound equipment for hands-on use during the breakaway sessions, which was a great way to get familiar with the different models and machines. As a recent graduate that started a new job not long ago, that was one of the most difficult parts of the transition. Thank you to all of the fantastic ultrasound system companies that attended this years conference! 

2. The Oral Case Study Papers Presentation, moderated by Heather Gornik, and the Evaluation and Treatment of Upper Extremity Arterial and Venous Disease session, moderated by Michael Lilly. The oral case studies were a great way to learn about unusual disease processes and presentations by looking directly at ultrasound images. Sometimes an abnormality can appear quite differently on ultrasound than it appears in a text book or in photographs, so it was very helpful to see first hand ultrasound images. While I was able to see a lot of abnormal situations during my externship, there is always something new to learn! 

3. David Williams lecture on Arterial & Venous Hemodynamics & The Heart included fascinating examples of some of the commonly seen cardiac disease processes and how they appear on Doppler flow imaging. As technologists we often see these abnormalities but aren't always sure what the source may be or what the specific abnormality may be.

4. Student poster presentations. This year we had a large number of student poster presenters. Great job all of you! It was inspiring to see so many students working hard to be involved in SVU.

5. The student/ new graduate luncheon was full of highly knowledgeable vascular experts (some of which have written our school textbooks!). It was wonderful to have a designated time to interact with these individuals and gain some of their advice for moving forward as a student. 

6.  The SVU Attendee Reception was a great way to meet many of the SVU Board members, such as LeAnn Maupin and Tish Poe. As a recent graduate it was inspiring to talk to these individuals and to learn more about how I can become more involved in SVU, such as joining committees. 

7. My favorite part of attending the 2014 SVU AC was that it allowed me to reflect on each session immediately after attending it, which made the information really "sink in," rather than flying "in one ear and out the other" as sometimes it can be a lot of information to get all at once. Actively blogging and writing about the events of the conference helped me make the experience into the most that I could make it. 

8. As a blogger and SVU AC attendee, I was also able to sit down on numerous occasions with both our current Student Representative Kayla, and our incoming Student Representative, Agnes. Both of these ladies are remarkable individuals that have so much to offer the SVU Board. It was a pleasure to have the opportunity to get to know each of these ladies on a personal level. 

9. Something that was new (to me, at least) at this years conference was the Technical Tips held during lunch and refreshment breaks throughout the duration of the conference. A large thank you to Cardiovascular Credentialing International (CCI) for supporting these fantastic mini lectures. Because these were held during breaks from the general sessions, the audience was very intimate and close to the speaker, which made discussion and questions much easier. Many of the topics touched upon during the Technical Tips sessions were those that had surfaced earlier in the year on the UConnect discussion board, such as Distal Augmentation and what students should be learning, refilling gel bottles, and correct probe orientation. 

10. Last but not at all least, it was exciting to be involved in presenting a poster case study. This was my first experience with poster case studies and submitting for presenting at a conference, so it was very rewarding to be able to share my case study with other technologists and conference attendees. I very much hope to have another opportunity like this in the near future. 

Once again, I would like to thank the SVU Staff members (Thomas Stefaniak, Jeanette Brown, Missi McLean, Kathryn Saba, Frank West, Debra Bass, and Pam Fitzgerald) for all of their hard work and dedication to help make this conference such a success. 

Don't forget to practice safe scanning, and I hope to see you all again next year in Las Vegas! 

Until next time, 

Asia 




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