The need was great, the appetite was high, but how would they provide access to ultrasound experts to ensure effective longitudinal ultrasound education for the three Fellows in Dr. Dreyfuss’s Emergency Ultrasound Fellowship program?
To address this, Dr. Dreyfuss set up a clinical rotation exchange between the Fellows at Hospital Dos de Mayo and key physicians at Highland Hospital Emergency Department. While these efforts provide a great learning environment, there remained the challenge of having 24/7access to experts and mentors for on-going education and consultation in difficult cases.
Dr. Dreyfuss and Dr. Nagdev have now enlisted a new tool: Philips Lumify with Reacts, integrated tele-ultrasound. Lumify provides outstanding image quality, simplicity and mobility to facilitate ultrasound learning and diagnosis anytime, anywhere. Reacts directly connects physicians at Dos de Mayo with experts at Highland providing live tele-ultrasound at the bedside. It doesn’t matter where the physicians are – in the same facility, across town, in another city or on another continent. Lumify with Reacts allows them to share ultrasound images, two-way video and voice, virtually bringing experts to any clinical case.
For Dos de Mayo and Highland, this has already had a huge impact. In one case, real-time consultation with a remote expert helped the clinician in Peru determine that the patient was suffering cardiogenic shock, not sepsis due to pneumonia as originally thought. The clinician immediately changed the clinical management of the patient.
In another case, one of the residents came in to help out on her day off. She noticed a patient in the waiting room with a gunshot wound who looked seriously ill. The resident used Lumify with Reacts, and with the real-time guidance of the consulting physician, she was able to determine that the patient had a hemothorax that was not seen on x-ray. With ultrasound guidance they placed a needle in the chest and found blood and subsequently placed a chest tube. This is an example of the ease of using Lumify with Reacts to help make confident clinical decisions.
A new path for education
Dr. Nagdev is encouraged by the ability to have real-time consultation with experts as he feels this creates a model for longitudinal education that can be used worldwide. Having access to a POC expert provides an important element to any ultrasound training program, and is key to developing and retaining POC ultrasound champions. Lumify with Reacts facilitates longitudinal learning experience, and brings expertise directly to clinicians where and when it’s needed – in near or distant emergency departments, clinics and small hospitals.
