Equipping doctors and nurses with the right mobile technology and sending them into rural communities can make prenatal care significantly cheaper, safer and more efficient, a new study has found.
This combination led to dramatically reduced costs on ultrasounds per patient – from $80 to $2, according to the report.
It also found that mobile technologies shortened the delivery of medical data for review from four days to two seconds, while it also shortened the time patients had to wait for a medical opinion from two weeks to less than 24 hours.
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Qualcomm Incorporated and Trice Imaging collaborated on the project, which focused on at-risk mothers in rural Morocco. The Mobile Ultrasound Patrol program took place in three villages and tested portable ultrasound units. The project used 3G-enabled smartphones and phablets – a tablet/phone combination, remote diagnostic software and 3G connectivity.
The report also found that providing this kind of care can:
- Reduce the time needed to get a second opinion from two weeks to less than one day
- Improve the technical skills of local medical workers in delivering ultrasounds from 20 percent sufficient to 92 percent sufficient
- Increase the number of patients who sought care at health houses, which in turn reduced the number of dangerous at-home births
The same strategy could be used to manage high-risk pregnancies around the world, including in the U.S., the companies said in announcing the findings. Mobile ultrasound could also address a seemingly intractable global health issue: Some 800 women die every day from preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth, and 99 percent of all maternal deaths occur in developing countries, with the rate being higher among women in rural and poor areas, according to the study.
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Dr. Katof oversees a health clinic in Morocco and described his experience with the project, which initially drew more women than the clinicians could see on the first day:
…we were able to help all of those women. They each got an exam and a prenatal diagnosis with the help of physicians who gave us their opinion through the wireless technology. We found a lot of high-risk pregnancies and were able to avoid unnecessary travel for those pregnant women. I am still using the portable ultrasound device I received during the project … I transfer the images through the Web to review them and to send them for a second opinion or to share them with other colleagues. Since I gained the opportunity to provide ultrasound to my patients there has been a significant increase of women coming to our Health center in order to get follow-up visits during their pregnancy. I am convinced that in the long-term this will help us to increase delivery in our facilities instead of having mothers giving birth at home.
The project took place at “health houses” — small rural clinics in the villages of Oulmes, Boulemane and Ribat el Kheir. In total, 575 exams were wirelessly transmitted to clinicians; 94 exams exposed potential at-risk pregnancies; and 158 patients were flagged for a second opinion.
The team included midwives, nurses and general practitioners, who captured the images with Sonosite’s “m-turbo” portable ultrasound system. The images were then wirelessly transmitted through a Wi-Fi connection to Sony Xperia smartphones. The phones were pre-installed with San Diego-based Trice Imaging’s DICOM encryption application. Images were then transmitted via the 3G mobile network to the company’s cloud-based platform.
Specialists at hospital clinics in Paris and Casablanca and Fez, Morocco then used mobile devices to review images and complete a report. Health workers were able to use devices to access the system and collaborate with the remote physicians, the study noted.
The images captured easily met quality standards, with 86 percent of images considered “excellent” and 92 percent “could be used for professional diagnosis,” the report said.
“This project proves that new technology can provide high quality, affordable and timely health care services under really tough circumstances and to people who would not normally have access to quality care,” said Asa Nordgren, CEO of Trice Imaging.
