Implementing point of care ultrasound to save lives of women and children in Yemen
THE CHALLENGE
Yemen’s health system is on the verge of collapse due to a critical shortage of healthcare providers and functional health facilities, disproportionately impacting vulnerable populations such as women and children. Additionally, diagnostic imaging is rarely accessible in Yemen, leaving healthcare providers unable to proactively detect pathologies and take preventative measures to mitigate risks of disease progression and complication. This leads to excess preventable morbidity and mortality, which adds to the already dire humanitarian crises faced by Yemen’s large conflict-affected population.
THE SOLUTION
To improve the critically inadequate diagnostic services in Yemen, Bridge to Health Medical and Dental USA, in collaboration with MedGlobal, developed a point-of-care ultrasound training program. The innovation aimed to strengthen the healthcare system by training local healthcare providers in Yemen in the use of novel ultrasound technology with cloud-based monitoring, focusing on pneumonia, trauma, and complications of pregnancy. Healthcare providers were trained to use the innovation in hard-to-reach conflict zones and to upload scans to a cloud-based system for remote viewing by experts who could provide quality assurance and mentoring. In total, 620 patients received scans and were reassured with normal scans or referred for care. A total of 132 patients were referred to the emergency department for further testing and treatment, including antibiotics, pleural drainage, and other interventions. In over 400 cases, the innovation improved patient care by informing preventative action, potentially saving 222 lives according to external estimates. This included, for example, 33 patients whose pathologies (e.g., pneumothorax, hemothorax, or intra-abdominal bleeding) were identified using trauma ultrasounds and who subsequently got referred to a lifesaving intervention. Throughout the project, results demonstrated that the innovation greatly improved healthcare providers’ diagnostic capacity and enhanced chances of survival, offering compelling evidence of its promise as a diagnostic service model in other low-resource and conflict-affected settings.
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