MUSC Health in Columbia trains in-demand cardiovascular technologists

Like a lot of college students, Kat Kicinski struggled to decide what she wanted to focus on at the University of South Carolina. Then she heard about a major that would lead her to a training program at the Claude W. Smith M.D. School of Cardiovascular Technology at MUSC Health in Columbia.

“After talking to a couple of girls in my sorority who were studying CVT, I started looking into it. I really loved the direct nature of the major. You take the classes, go to the hospital; you're in the hospital, then you get a job within the hospital,” Kicinski said.

She gravitated specifically toward what’s known as invasive cardiovascular technology. It’s a hands-on specialty where students learn how to:

• Help heart doctors do catheterizations, procedures that involve running tiny tubes through the body to explore heart valves, muscle and tissue.
• Work with life-saving teams to stop and/or prevent patients from having ischemic attacks (temporary blockages of blood to the brain) caused by a heart attack, stroke or peripheral artery disease.
• Interpret patients’ hemodynamic (how blood flows through vessels) and physiological states through monitoring and X-ray systems.

The MUSC Health program accepts students from not only the University of South Carolina but also other schools as long as they meet its admission requirements. Nikki Cobb, Ed.D., director and instructor of Invasive Cardiovascular Technology in the Claude W. Smith M.D. School of Cardiovascular Technology, said they’ll be prepared for a field with a lot of job opportunities. That demand is what motivated MUSC Health to start the program.

“It's very difficult to fill positions, and hospitals are tired of waiting on colleges to do the programs. So hospitals are pulling the trigger, and they're like, ‘We're going to do it ourselves,’” Cobb said.

 

There were four students in the first graduating class at MUSC Health in Columbia. That included Caitlyn Boone, who’d been enrolled in MUSC Health’s Echocardiography and Vascular Technology Program. It focuses on training students to do noninvasive testing. But when Boone learned about the new Invasive Cardiovascular Technology option, she shifted her focus.

“It's a lot more fast-paced and unpredictable than the echo-vascular side. There was just something about it that I wanted to explore further. I wasn't 100% convinced when I went into it, but I'm glad that I did it.”

 

Boone now works at MUSC Health Columbia Medical Center Downtown – and loves it. “Basically, you scrub in with a physician, and you're working side by side, helping with the procedure and the equipment. We give our opinions on what the course of treatment could be.”

Her satisfaction with the job aligns with the program’s description of the field as “one of the highest-paying, rewarding, in-demand and adrenaline-filled careers in health care.” 

As for the logistics, Kicinski said USC students who study invasive CVT through MUSC Health spend their last four semesters at a medical facility instead of the USC campus. She welcomed the change – and the chance to train for a career that changes lives.

“I liked not only the book side of the program but also the fact that you get to see patients. You can really make a difference, even as a student."