Expanding Access to Ultrasound in Tanzania

​BY CHLOE MCCOY, MDI knew I wanted a global health experience that offered the opportunity to have an impact on patients but also on the health care infrastructure and local physicians. This led me to research trips that involved teaching opportunities, specifically ones involving ultrasound.As a resident at Palmetto Health Richland, we learn how to use ultrasound in our daily practice to make quick and accurate decisions about clinical care. Our program's emphasis on its use made ultrasound a standard-of-care component of emergency medicine for me over the past several years. Teaching ultrasound seemed like a great opportunity not only to hone my skills as a resident but also to share my knowledge and training with others in resource-limited settings that would benefit greatly from that skill.​The Mbeya Zonal Referral Hospital in Southwestern Tanzania has been making strides toward improving emergency medical care, including expanding access to emergency ultrasound. Mbeya Hospital serves as a tertiary referral facility overseeing the care for more than six million people. Mbeya Hospital has inpatient services for medical, pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology, surgical, and trauma care, but it is not equipped with a CT scanner.Patients requiring CT imaging or a higher level of care must be transferred 12 hours on the ground to the coastal city of Dar es Salaam. This barrier permits only a small number of patients from this area to get CT scans and never on an urgent basi...
Source: Going Global - Category: Emergency Medicine Tags: Blog Posts Source Type: blogs