Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Jorge Han, MD, RDMS,RDCS,RVT on July 21, 2011 at 5:30pm

I celebrate this initiative to network teaching Ultrasound around the world and helping developing communities to get the best of this innovative and amazing imaging modality. I am more than glad to share and participate in these efforts.

Permalink Reply by Glenda McLean on August 5, 2011 at 6:56am

This is a great initiative to connect those of us who are involved in developing ultrasound around the world. I have been a visiting examiner from Australia to Vision College in Malaysia where sonography is a relatively new profession. I would really like to hear from any sonographers who are working in Malaysia and hear of the types of examinations they are performing. Also any problems they encounter.

I am an Australian sonographer with over 20 years experience and it is great to be involved and helping to promote ultrasound. I enjoyed attending the AIUM convention in New York earlier this year and welcome any of you who plan to attend the ASUM conference in Melbourne in September.

Glenda

Permalink Reply by Sachita Shah on August 7, 2011 at 3:10pm

I think it would be great to have folks chime in about the types of ultrasound applications they have found useful in their experience in the developing world vs low resource settings. Queries regarding that specific concern, "Im going to X developing country, what should I plan to teach?" are really common, and the answer is always come prepared but be flexible based on your first few days of seeing what the common patient presentations and disease patterns are. For example, in TB endemic countries, learning to differentiate pericardial effusion and dilated cardiomyopathy on bedside echo (which can both cause cardiomegaly on chest film in a patient with shortness of breath but are treated clinically very differently) is a hugely useful application. Any other thoughts from those of you who have worked in resource limited settings so we can generate a list of useful applications that any sonography teacher should be prepared to teach in the developing world? This can include disaster type exams....development of health care provider skills in rural district hospitals.....

Permalink Reply by Darla J Matthew on November 15, 2011 at 8:05pm

I just returned from a two week training mission in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam where we have been teaching OB/Gyn physicians  "Level II" OB ultrasound. Last year was our first trip. We lecturered everyday for 4 hours and then practiced in the lab for the rest of the afternoon.  We left the physicians with AIUM protocols and standards and returned this year to assess their scanning skills and also deliver more lecturers in GYN, 1st trimester sonography as well as ultrasound physics.

I am collaborating with Project Vietnam Foundation and IFSER (International Foundation for Sonography Education and Research) with hopes to establish a formal fellowship training program there.

http://ifser.squarespace.com/

 

I would be interested to learn more about global training efforts and needs.

 

 

 

 

 

Permalink Reply by Jorge Han, MD, RDMS,RDCS,RVT on February 4, 2012 at 10:57pm

It would be interesting and more efffective if within this group we could elect a leader to coordinate plans and efforts to help teaching and practicing ultrasound in developing countries. Let's get organized.

Permalink Reply by Sachita Shah on February 5, 2012 at 12:23am

Thanks Jorge for the input. I am the current chair for this community group, and as it is a brand new community group I was appointed rather than elected to start us off. We will be meeting during AIUM in Phoenix, Apr 1st, and part of the agenda for this group is to get others to volunteer to take on more leadership roles (eg. research/journal watch updates, twitter updates, creation of a database for ongoing known global health projects by AIUM members etc), so this will be the best opportunity to get others more heavily involved. I look forward to seeing you all there! Details for the community groups meeting will be published in the agenda and on this site as we know exact time and place details...

Jorge Han, MD, RDMS,RDCS,RVT said:

It would be interesting and more efffective if within this group we could elect a leader to coordinate plans and efforts to help teaching and practicing ultrasound in developing countries. Let's get organized.

Permalink Reply by Jorge Han, MD, RDMS,RDCS,RVT on February 6, 2012 at 11:58pm

Hi Sachita,

 

Glad to know you are the Chair for this community group. I will try to be at the AIUM meeting in Phoenix. I am really interested and enthusiastic about promoting development of ultrasound around the world. Hope to meet you in Phoenix. Thanks for your reply.

Sachita Shah said:

Thanks Jorge for the input. I am the current chair for this community group, and as it is a brand new community group I was appointed rather than elected to start us off. We will be meeting during AIUM in Phoenix, Apr 1st, and part of the agenda for this group is to get others to volunteer to take on more leadership roles (eg. research/journal watch updates, twitter updates, creation of a database for ongoing known global health projects by AIUM members etc), so this will be the best opportunity to get others more heavily involved. I look forward to seeing you all there! Details for the community groups meeting will be published in the agenda and on this site as we know exact time and place details...

Jorge Han, MD, RDMS,RDCS,RVT said:

It would be interesting and more efffective if within this group we could elect a leader to coordinate plans and efforts to help teaching and practicing ultrasound in developing countries. Let's get organized.

Permalink Reply by Elizabeth Krebs on February 15, 2012 at 4:51pm

Hi Everyone, just joined this group.  I'm finishing my emergency medicine residency this year and then heading to Duke to complete a fellowship in global health.  However, I've gained a huge appreciation for point-of-care(POC) ultrasound in my own practice here and have recognized the even great value it could have in a resource limited setting.  Along those lines, and based on some of Sachita's prior work with POC ultrasound training of Rwandan physicians in Partners in Health affiliated district hospitals, I'm working with an awesome group of people as part of a nonprofit organization named the Physicians Ultrasound in Rwanda Education initiative(PURE).  Please check out our website or get in touch with me if you're interested in learning more.  Alternatively, I was able to upload a PDF with a comprehensive overview of our work and plans.

We're aiming to launch our pilot-program in ultrasound training in September of this year, and we're actively recruiting ultrasound trained physicians who are able to spend at least two weeks serving as trainers.  The entire training program will span five months, so we're looking for people with time between Sept 2012 and Feb 2013.  We will educate other physicians in scanning techniques/interpretation as well as indications, limitations, pathophys of relevant disease processes, procedural guidance, and appropriate therapeutic responses to findings we are trying to use primarily physican trainers who should be qualified to teach all of the above.  However, we're definitely interested in trying to find ways to integrate interested sonographers in this work, so please get in touch if this is something you want to know more about or get involved in!

take care,

Liz

Attachments:

• PURE_action_plan_1:12:12.pdf, 371 KB

Permalink Reply by Jorge Han, MD, RDMS,RDCS,RVT on February 15, 2012 at 10:39pm

Dear Elizabeth,

 

It sound very interesting. I will check you website and get in touch with you. If there is another more direct way to get in touch with you, let me know. Thank you.

Elizabeth Krebs said:

Hi Everyone, just joined this group.  I'm finishing my emergency medicine residency this year and then heading to Duke to complete a fellowship in global health.  However, I've gained a huge appreciation for point-of-care(POC) ultrasound in my own practice here and have recognized the even great value it could have in a resource limited setting.  Along those lines, and based on some of Sachita's prior work with POC ultrasound training of Rwandan physicians in Partners in Health affiliated district hospitals, I'm working with an awesome group of people as part of a nonprofit organization named the Physicians Ultrasound in Rwanda Education initiative(PURE).  Please check out our website or get in touch with me if you're interested in learning more.  Alternatively, I was able to upload a PDF with a comprehensive overview of our work and plans.

We're aiming to launch our pilot-program in ultrasound training in September of this year, and we're actively recruiting ultrasound trained physicians who are able to spend at least two weeks serving as trainers.  The entire training program will span five months, so we're looking for people with time between Sept 2012 and Feb 2013.  We will educate other physicians in scanning techniques/interpretation as well as indications, limitations, pathophys of relevant disease processes, procedural guidance, and appropriate therapeutic responses to findings we are trying to use primarily physican trainers who should be qualified to teach all of the above.  However, we're definitely interested in trying to find ways to integrate interested sonographers in this work, so please get in touch if this is something you want to know more about or get involved in!

take care,

Liz

Permalink Reply by Alicia Martin-Hirsel, MD, RDMS on March 4, 2012 at 11:13am

Hello to all!!

I'm Alicia Martin-Hirsel, I'm an OBGYN sonologist from Venezuela that emigrated to the US back in 2000.

I work doing ultrasounds for Salud Family Health Centers (we have 7 clinics in north Denver area). Before I emigrated I was working in a project called Developing a Healthcare for Women. It was directed to serve women from rural areas. The project included teaching ultrasound and easy surgical techniques to the family physicians working in these areas. The group was small: 1 physician surgeon/OBGYN/sonologist, 1 physician epidemiologist, and 1 nurse/anesthesiologist. This group went into the selected area and taught the physicians and medical technicians: US, detection of STDs, easy surgeries, taking biopsies (even Leep procedures for CxCa), and when to send the patient to the nearby hospital. 

Since I emigrated to the US: I've been doing only ultrasounds. In 2009 I went to Zanzibar for 2 weeks to teach US. I went with an Italian ONG that donates the equipment plus physicians to teach too to use it. I loved it!!!  and I want to do this again.  So I'm gain for whatever comes my way.

I was looking at the PURE website, I'm gain for this too. I might add that I'm fluent in Spanish and French, and have all my powerpoint presentations according to the protocols used in the US sonographers' schools. 

Thanks for reading all this,

AMH

Permalink Reply by Alicia Martin-Hirsel, MD, RDMS on March 11, 2012 at 1:52pm

Hi Sachita,

E-mail me back: What could I do to help?

I'm fluent in French, don't need a transalator.

Alicia