COVID-19 is a highly infectious virus which has caused a global pandemic, resulting in many deaths worldwide, including Australia. Due to COVID-19, workplaces have had to change the way they work to reduce spreading the virus. These changes in health care include the use of personal protective equipment, sterilising equipment between each patient and shortening patient to worker contact. Recent studies solely focus on the changes being made within the workplace; however, they do not review the protocol changes from the start of the pandemic (March/April 2020) compared to twelve months on (March/April 2021).

The aim of this research is to evaluate whether echocardiography workplaces have implemented COVID-19 recommendations at the beginning of the pandemic and to determine whether the recommended protocols remain in place.  

You have been selected to participate in an anonymous online survey which consists of (46) multiple choice and Likert scale questions.
Completion of the survey will take around 15 minutes. Participation in this project will not affect your employment, academic standing or association with the University.  

There is no direct benefit to you for participating in this project. However, it is expected that this project may benefit sonographers and the health care workplace.

There is some potential risk for the participants to experience discomfort/anxiety when thinking back to the situation 15 months ago.
You may experience inconvenience in giving up your time to complete this online survey. We do not anticipate that participation in this research will cause you any undue discomfort beyond that experienced in normal day to day living. However, if you are concerned, please consider viewing the support available at www.lifeline.org.au or contacting your General Practitioner or accessing professional support through your employee assistance program.

The survey will not collect your age, gender and years of experience however none of this information will be identifying information; your responses will be anonymous.

Data will be securely stored for five years after the publication date of the last publication based upon the data in accordance with the CQUniversity Code of Conduct for Research.

Data will be securely stored for seven years after the last use of the data (e.g. publication/submission of thesis) in accordance with the Australian Psychological Society Guidelines.

The data will be securely stored in accordance with CQUniversity policy. It is anticipated that the data may be of value to future research, as such the data is not intended to be disposed of.

As the project is recruiting children, data will be retained until the youngest participant reaches 21 years of age in accordance with the Australian Psychological Society Guidelines.

The results of this research will be incorporated into an assessable piece by the student in the form of a dissertation or report. Publication is not the primary intention of this research, but a journal article or conference paper may arise out of this work.

Your consent to participate in this project will be obtained through your agreement to the Electronic Consent below.

Your participation in this research survey is voluntary. You may withdraw at any time prior to completing the survey simply by closing the survey window on your web browser. If you wish to withdraw after submitting the survey, the information you have already provided cannot be deleted. This is because we will not be collecting any identifiable information from you and therefore, will not be able to identify your information.

Once all data has been collected, analysed, and completed in writing the results will be available via the ASA discussion forum for the participants to access.

If you have any questions about this project, please contact the Project Supervisor Kate Russo via katelouise23@hotmail.com  or the student Savannah Monkhouse via savannah.monkhouse@cqumail.com

Please contact Central Queensland University’s Research Division (Tel: 07 4923 2603; E-mail: ethics@cqu.edu.au; Mailing address: Building 32, CQUniversity, Rockhampton  QLD  4702) should there be any concerns about the nature and/or conduct of this research project.

This project has been approved by the CQUniversity Human Research Ethics Committee, approval number << xx-xxx (this will be the number shown on your approval letter)>>.  

Clicking on the “I agree” button below indicates that:  

• You have read the above information
• You voluntarily agree to participate; and
• You give your consent for the data you provide in the following survey to be used for the
        assessment and research purpose described above


If you do not agree to the above, unfortunately you are unable to continue with this survey. Please close your web browser.