YUKON – Angela Siegrist believes the new electrocardiogram curriculum at Canadian Valley Technology Center is a potential game-changer for students seeking to enter the health care industry.
Siegrist recently completed the nine-week course with a limited group of second-year high school students. All eight who took the subsequent exam passed and are now certified EKG technicians. Each qualifies to administer EKG examinations in a lab, hospital or clinic.
”The only limiting factor is that most hospitals will require such employees to be both 18 and a high school graduate,” said Siegrist, who teaches Health Careers at CV Tech’s Cowan Campus south of Yukon.
Some within the group are already 18, and in May, they will also be graduates.
An EKG is a test that measures the electrical activity of the heartbeat. An electrical wave or impulse travels through the heart. This wave causes the muscle to squeeze and pump blood from the heart, Siegrist said. An EKG tech also is authorized to place EKG leads on patients and is instructed how to correctly interpret recorded heart rhythms for doctors.
High school students can now receive four health careers certifications. First-year students are prepped for taking the Certified Nursing Aid exam. Students also are prepared to take the Advanced Unlicensed Assistant (AUA) exam and the Phlebotomy Technician exam, in addition to the EKG technician exam.
As for adults, CV Tech also now provides a short-term Monitor Technician course. Students are prepared for the certification exam that would enable them to seek employment as a monitor tech, a job that requires monitoring multiple hospital patients and alerting appropriate staff with abnormal occurrences.
This new adult course is open-entry, with individualized study and flexible days and hours starting weekly, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Thursday. Classes begin Jan. 27. Cost is $244. Tuition is waived for anyone who meets Next Step Scholarship criteria that includes being under age 24, living within the district and being a high school graduate (or equivalent).
For more information on these or other health-related classes, visit cvtech.edu or call (405) 345-3333.
