Important Information About Your Training Day – Terms and Conditions

What we will provide

1. Training is provided as half-day sessions, approximately five sonographers can be trained in each session with a maximum of 10 sonographers per full day.
2. The training will include practical hands-on tuition using your own equipment and also a short presentation.
3. Our training covers all five views, supported by FASP’s fetal cardiac protocol:

• Abdominal situs
• Four chambers
• Left ventricular outflow tract
• Right ventricular outflow tract/3VV
• Three vessel trachea

4. Tiny Tickers’ sonographer training is designed for antenatal sonographers performing 20-week anatomy scans. If training is required for consultants and specialists this can be arranged separately. Please contact training@tinytickers.org for more information.
5. Tiny Tickers employs a network of sessional trainers based across the UK. All of our trainers are experienced in fetal cardiac scanning.
6. Certificates will be provided via email following the training.
7. We will ask for your feedback on completion of the training and welcome any ways in which you think we can improve.

Preparations for training and booking volunteers

1. A separate scanning room is required (away from normal bookings), approximately from 9.30am-4.30pm.
2. A room large enough in which to provide the presentation, free from interruptions. Up to 5 sonographers can attend the morning presentation and 5 sonographers to attend the afternoon presentation providing the room is large enough.
3. You will need to recruit patients as volunteers. It is suggested that all patients booked for anatomy scans on the day of the agreed training be contacted prior to their visit and asked if they would kindly stay a little longer at their appointment to help us facilitate the hands-on training. This ensures that the volunteers do not have an additional appointment and any unnecessary/extra travel. 
4. A consent form can either be sent prior to their appointment or they can give written consent on the day. They must have a singleton pregnancy and will only be suitable for training if they have a normal anatomy scan on the day. 
5. All volunteers need to sign a consent form.
6. If a patient has had a previous scan where potential abnormalities have been identified then they are not suitable as a volunteer and will not be seen.
7. If patients have been booked as a ‘repeat anatomy’ to obtain views not seen at their anatomy scan, then they are not suitable as a volunteer and will not be seen.
8. In the event of discovering suspected abnormalities during the training session, the patient will require a referral from your hospital’s lead sonographer as per your usual protocol.
9. Recruit approximately six patients per half day session, one for each of the sonographers to scan, also allowing for a no show. This ensures the patient is coming into contact with minimal staff to allow for training to take place.
10. Each volunteer patient will be scanned by one sonographer with the trainer present in the room. (There should be no more than 4 people in the scan room for practical hands-on training. This includes the trainer, the sonographer, the volunteer patient and her partner)
11. The sonographer and trainer are to wear appropriate PPE in line with current guidelines and the volunteer and partner to wear a facemask if required at the time of training.
12. Sample timings for the day:

• Morning session (up to 5 sonographers)
• Presentation from trainer – 9.00am
• First volunteer patient 10:15 am
• Afternoon session (up to 5 sonographers)
• Presentation – 1.00pm 
• First volunteer patient 1:45pm

13. A contact number and directions to your department are required prior to training.

Payment and fully funded training

1. A number of fully funded training days are available as part of Tiny Tickers’ National Training Fund. These will be allocated to hospitals fulfilling the application criteria.
2. Where Tiny Tickers provides training paid for by the National Training Fund, training will be provided free of charge.
3. Tiny Tickers will offer one day of training per 10 sonographers. If your department has very few sonographers you may wish to consider joining up with another hospital or contact us to discuss your requirements.
4. Tiny Tickers will assess applications for fully funded training based on a number of criteria including current CHD detection rate, location and recent training carried out.
5. In order to show the impact of our training, we would like to compare the hospital’s antenatal detection rates for CHD prior to the training taking place, with those in the years following training. Hospitals applying for fully funded training will be asked to share their NCARDRS report / detection rate with us. Data supplied will remain confidential and be used to target and develop our training and to produce anonymised data for the purpose of reporting requirements to our funders.
6. Further follow-up training or additional sessions required will be charged a fee to cover the charity’s costs. 
7. Training that is requested by individual hospitals and is not part of a regional project or covered by the National Training Fund will be charged a fee to cover our costs. A quote can be provided upon request.
8. A purchase order from your Trust is required for all paid for bookings prior to training taking place.