Dr. Mark Bisanzo, MD DTM&H, FACEP, Director of Programming & Co-Founder. Stacey Chamberlain, MD, MPH Development Director & Co-Founder
Boston, May 30, 2017 – Two U.S. based non-profit organizations are collaborating to bring affordable, high quality, emergency health care and training to remote and underserved parts of the world.
Global Emergency Care (GEC) practitioners partnered with healthcare providers from Imaging the World (ITW) for a two-day training session to expand the use of ultrasound in the evaluation of patients with an emergency medical problem in Uganda.
GEC has been working for a decade to address the needs of emergency care in Uganda, through the development of a successful train-the-trainer program to train local nurses as Emergency Care Practitioners (ECPs). GEC built this program to address the current drastic shortage of physicians in this part of the world.
ITW has been doing similar work to GEC, by making basic life-saving diagnosis accessible in the poorest regions worldwide. The organization integrates technology and training to bring medical expertise and high quality health care to remote and under-served areas. The group focuses its mission on ultrasound technology, specifically OBGYN diagnostics and maternal/fetal care.
By partnering with GEC, the ITW providers were working to expand their knowledge of general topics in emergency medicine in order to use Point-of-Care (POC) ultrasound for acutely ill and injured patients. POC ultrasound has been a highly valuable addition to emergency rooms at hospitals in remote areas because it is a fast, convenient, and inexpensive way to make an accurate diagnosis.
This is especially important in resource-limited settings where patients often can’t afford the cost and the travel time to other clinics for a formal ultrasound. The travel not only delays their care, but can also prove to be dangerous for patients. By identifying complications in pregnancy, an ultrasound exam in an emergency department setting can mean the difference between life and death for a mother and baby in Uganda.
Both the GEC and ITW teams learned a lot from each other and agreed the training was inspirational and successful in helping to achieve their goals, and continue their mission to expand quality patient care in Uganda and other remote areas.
This collaboration was the first of many and GEC is looking forward to working with other similar NGOs as they continue in their dedicated efforts to reduce disparities in global health, and create access to quality emergency care in resource limited settings.
