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Web-Based Quality Assurance Process Drives Improvements in Obstetric Ultrasound in 5 Low- and Middle-Income Countries
Open accessAbstract
High quality is important in medical imaging, yet in many geographic areas, highly skilled sonographers are in short supply. Advances in Internet capacity along with the development of reliable portable ultrasounds have created an opportunity to provide centralized remote quality assurance (QA) for ultrasound exams performed at rural sites worldwide. We sought to harness these advances by developing a web-based tool to facilitate QA activities for newly trained sonographers who were taking part in a cluster randomized trial investigating the role of limited obstetric ultrasound to improve pregnancy outcomes in 5 low- and middle-income countries. We were challenged by connectivity issues, by country-specific needs for website usability, and by the overall need for a high-throughput system. After systematically addressing these needs, the resulting QA website helped drive ultrasound quality improvement across all 5 countries. It now offers the potential for adoption by future ultrasound- or imaging-based global health initiatives.
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Ultrasound training programs have taught non-experts either to independently perform obstetric ultrasounds to screen for high-risk pregnancies or to utilize tele-ultrasound.
“In an attempt to overcome such challenges, ultrasound training programs have taught non-experts either to independently perform obstetric ultrasounds to screen for high-risk pregnancies (52–55) or to utilize tele-ultrasound (29, 34, 37, 38).”
From Tele-Ultrasound in Resource-Limited Settings: A Systematic Review (2019) · cites this paper as [54]
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Metadata
- Authors
- Swanson, J. O., Plotner, D., Franklin, H. L., Swanson, D. L., Lokomba Bolamba, V., Lokangaka, A., Sayury Pineda, I., Figueroa, L., Garces, A., Muyodi, D., Esamai, F., Kanaiza, N., Mirza, W., Naqvi, F., Saleem, S., Mwenechanya, M., Chiwila, M., Hamsumonde, D., McClure, E. M., Goldenberg, R. L., & Nathan, R. O.
- Affiliations
- University of Washington Medical Center (US)
- RTI International (US)
- University of Kinshasa (CD)
- Institute of Nutrition of Central America and Panama (GT)
- Moi University (KE)
- Aga Khan University (PK)
- University Teaching Hospital (ZM)
- Columbia University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Swanson, Jonathan O
- ORCID
- Venue
- Global Health Science and Practice
- Published
- 2016-12-23
- Volume
- 4
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 675-683
- ISSN
- 2169-575X (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC5199182
- OpenAlex
- W2561488973
- Cited by
- 26
- References
- 16
- Citations by year
- 2025: 1 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 1
- FWCI
- 1.82
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- diamond
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by
- Locations
- Global Health Science and Practice (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
- University of Washington
- National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (U10HD078438)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Critical Care and Intensive Care Medicine › Ultrasound in Clinical Applications
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Global Health and Surgery
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Health Informatics › Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare and Education
- Keywords
- prenatal ultrasound, quality assurance, sonographer training, low- and middle-income countries, rural health facilities, portable ultrasound, internet access, website usability, global health, pregnancy outcomes
- MeSH terms
- Congo, Developing Countries, Female, Guatemala, Humans, Kenya, Obstetrics, Pakistan, Pregnancy, Ultrasonography, Zambia, Telemedicine, Internet, Quality Improvement
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