DETROIT -- Using medical diagnostic technology developed by GE Healthcare and educational techniques developed by NASA and Henry Ford Hospital, Wayne State University School of Medicine (Detroit, Mich.) and Henry Ford have partnered to train medical students on the use of portable ultrasound equipment.

GE Healthcare has provided 30 of the lightweight ultrasound devices - the size of a computer laptop - for students to learn how to diagnose a wide range of ailments and Henry Ford coordinates the training.

"We see this form of ultrasound as an important tool to help state-of-the-art medicine grow," said Robert Frank, M.D., executive vice dean of Wayne State's medical school. "It is an empowering technology that will provide care to underserved areas - urban and rural - by putting ultrasound in the hands of all physicians."
"This portable ultrasound project is an innovation of technology and partnership between organizations," he adds.

As one of the first medical schools in the country to explore this new technology, Wayne State hopes to further integrate the devices into the curriculum, using the medical school class that began last year as the pilot study group. The students familiarized themselves with the portable ultrasound machines during twelve training sessions. Now, as second-year students, they will continue to work with the devices in classes such as patho-physiology.

When these students reach their 3rd and 4th years they will see patients on a regular basis. At that point in their education, it is anticipated that they will begin to use the lightweight ultrasound devices in clinical practice and utilize the devices to their full potential.

In a survey of the 112 first-year medical students, more than 82 percent agreed or strongly agreed that their educational experience with the lightweight ultrasound technology education was positive. In addition, more than 90 percent of the students agreed or strongly agreed that they would benefit from continuation of this education throughout their four year medical school curriculum.

Medical students participating in the pilot study also helped GE Healthcare to determine how medical students learn, to gather data from the "new ultrasound user" in order to improve the design of the ultrasound equipment, and to determine whether the use of the ultrasound device during medical training will have beneficial effects on medical training itself.

"With the rapid pace of clinical discovery and technological advancement, these medical students will have access to more new technologies and treatment options in their first year of practice. They have just begun an amazing four-year journey that will shape the future of healthcare, and we're thrilled to be part of it," said Dr. Bob Honigberg, GE Healthcare's Chief Medical Officer. "Technologies such as ultrasound can be used to help detect diseases earlier, when they can be more effectively treated. These pilot studies may provide support for more primary care physicians to utilize miniaturized ultrasound technology."

Ultrasound is a fast and safe technique that uses sound waves to gain information about medical conditions ranging from gallbladder disease to kidney stones to muscular and skeletal problems.

"Ultrasound is a medical imaging procedure that has usually been confined to hospital or physicians' offices," said Scott Dulchavsky, M.D., Ph.D., chair of surgery at Henry Ford Hospital and principal investigator for Advanced Ultrasound for NASA. "In recent years, the technology has become miniaturized to the extent that diagnosis of human ailments can be performed remotely and transmitted to a radiologist for interpretation.

"This is another step taking medical equipment typically stationed in a hospital or physician's office - and making it available to patients anywhere," he says.

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