The work doesn’t end here: Day Five of Outreach in Oman

After a long and intensive week training in Muscat, Phase I Trip II of the Outreach program in Oman comes to an end. Reflecting on her experience is ISUOG Outreach Trainer, Dr. Valeria Angioni from Estonia who writes today’ closing blog:

“The week went by really quickly and it’s hard to believe today is our last day already.As usual, the day began early with much to complete for this second trip of the Outreach Program at Royal Hospital in Muscat.

 

Outreach Trainer Dr. Valeria Angioni pictured with Local Project Liaison Dr. Mouza Al Samani (in white lab coat) and with trainees for a selfie

(Image courtesy of V. Angioni for ISUOG Outreach)

Work began promptly 7:30 in the morning where we held lectures on the assessment of long bones and extremities and evaluating the scan findings and decision making. 

After the lectures, we had a short session of hands-on training session to give our trainees the chance to master their skills in the ultrasound – all before it was time to head towards the final evaluation.It’s a moment that gets everyone both excited and a little bit anxious at the same time. The final day is always a hard one for trainers and trainees because it is the time we all need to use in order to evaluate the effectiveness of the work we did together in the past days.

 During the practical assessment, the trainees had the opportunity to demonstrate some new planes which they learned during the week – all before the lunch break anticipated the long-awaited theoretical test that was distributed earlier during the week and that would show how much everyone learned during the time we spent together.

 Once all the assessments where done, we then moved towards one of the most important parts of the whole week, the evaluation of the trainees and the personal feedback.

 The Outreach team also had a chance to discuss on the performance of all the trainees that participated in the program with Dr. Mouza Al Salmani (ISUOG’s Local Project Liaison) and Dr. Fatma al Hinai from the Omani Ministry of Health and to then give personal feedback to each participant.

 This discussion turned out to be particularly useful, since it made possible to discover that some of the trainees didn’t get the same opportunity to have a regular scanning session in between the Trip 1 and Trip 2, which ultimately prevented them to develop their skills to a much higher level.

 Luckily, the Ministry of Health immediately set up a plan to increase the exposure of ultrasound for the junior trainees under the supervision of more senior ones.

 All in all, we had an exciting and challenging week that – once again – and it has seen everyone committed to working as hard as possible to bring this step of the program to completion.

Final picture with Outreach Team, Ministry of Health and several trainees

(Image courtesy of V. Angioni for ISUOG Outreach)

As it happened after Trip 1, all the participants are encouraged to work hard on developing their scanning skills and to prepare the final week of the program by making the most out of our lively and active Whatsapp groups. So as usual, the work is not going to stop tomorrow when our planes will leave Oman and we will return to our home countries.”

Take part with us as we celebrate 10 Years of ISUOG Outreah! Follow our campaign and use the hashtag #OutreachTurns10 to share your experience and what you love about ISUOG Outreach.

 

 

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Day 4: Tireless efforts for Omani Women

It’s the second to last day of ISUOG Outreach in Oman as Week 2 slowly wraps up. As a returning trainer, Dr. Nimrah Abbasi from Canada shares her insight not just on the week but on the trainees and culture”.

 

“It’s hard to believe week two of the Phase 1 ISUOG Outreach program in Oman is already coming to an end.  Today was another busy day in the Outreach curriculum, covering aspects of common gynecological pathology with review of the International Ovarian Tumour Analysis (IOTA) classification, discussion of the use of Doppler in fetal medicine and high-risk pregnancies, fetal urinary tract abnormalities and finally an overview of critical aspects of documentation in ultrasound reporting. 

 

Hands-on training continues to be the most prized time for trainees, as this provides the opportunity to practice attaining the various 20+2 planes of foetal anatomy introduced at the start of the second week.  Trainees’ improvement in probe movements with smooth transition between planes is more apparent with every session.    In today’s workshop, learners are in awe as they perform Doppler assessment of the umbilical artery for the first time and appreciate the complexity of obtaining an adequate midsagittal plane for visualization of the lumbosacral spine.  This further motivates the trainees to learn to perfect probe motion and orientation. These sessions have also been instrumental in identifying the natural leaders and educators among the trainees, who are quick to recognize the less experienced scanners and provide them with guidance and direction during the practical sessions and online discussion groups.  These individuals represent potential future trainers for phase 2 of the ISUOG outreach program.  Means to further develop and nurture these skills over the upcoming months as well as potential ways for increasing scanning time for less-experienced trainees are outlined in regular discussions with Dr. Mouza, ISUOG’s Local Project Liaison.

 

What is particularly touching is the hospitality and appreciation expressed by the trainees as they continuously thank us for guiding them through the principles of women’s imaging.  We are particularly moved by the patients volunteering their time to provide opportunities for the trainees to scan, and their expression of gratitude to the ISUOG trainers for helping improve ultrasound quality and access for Omani women.

 

Despite the early morning starts and busy days of lectures, workshops and assessments, motivation and enthusiasm remain high among the trainees.  We are amazed by the distances so many of these women have travelled and the time they have taken from their busy family life and clinical practice to develop and improve their ultrasound skills.  As this week concludes, we are continually inspired by Dr. Mouza’s tireless efforts along with the enthusiasm of our trainees and the Ministry of Health to improve the quality of women’s healthcare in Oman, reinforcing our belief in the sustainability of this project long-term. “

Catch our posts this week as Week 2 Phase I of the Omani program comes to a close.

Check ISUOG Website for more information about ISUOG Outreach and to volunteer or donate.

Day 3: About ultrasound we care! Reflections in Oman

We’re halfway through week two of our Oman program and with the fun comes the slight nostalgia that we’re approaching the end of week two. During this trip, an additional trainer joined the team to accommodate the large number of trainees (30 last time). Reporting from the field is our new addition to the team – Dr. Divya Singh who shares not only her experience of the day but also her newfound experience as a volunteer for Outreach.

 

“Marhaban! I am Dr Divya Singh from India recounting my experience as a first time ISUOG Outreach trainer in Oman.

The team woke up to another bright sunny morning in Muscat. After a quick breakfast, we were on our way to the Royal Hospital. It is heartening to see the eager faces of the trainees each morning looking forward to the ultrasound feast in store for them.

 

Dr Divya Singh lecturing to the Oman Trainees (Image courtesy of F. Mates for ISUOG Outreach)

 

I marvel to see how ISUOG Outreach brings together people from diverse regions and cultures who share a common passion to use ultrasound to improve women’s health outcomes. Different folks, different strokes, one thing we share, about ultrasound we care! It was another eventful day at Hogwarts with our young ultrasound wizards (trainees) flicking their magic wands (ultrasound probes) trying to get their spells (images) correct. Never a dull moment here!

 

Dr Divya Singh scanning (Image courtesy of D. Singh for ISUOG Outreach)

 

We had an animated discussion on determination of the fetal abdominal situs using the right-hand thumb rule with zesty participation from the trainees. The evening was made extra special as we had the pleasure of dining with our gracious host Dr. Mouza Al Salmani, ISUOG’s Local Project Liaison in Oman. It was a vast spread of delectable Omani dishes. I finally got to taste the much-acclaimed Arabic bread pudding Umm-e-Ali (please refer to previous blog from Trip 1 Oman for more details). It lived up to its reputation. The Persian zafran (saffron) tea was a nice touch at the end.

 

The ISUOG Oman Outreach team (Image courtesy of D. Singh for ISUOG Outreach)

 

Though this day comes to an end here, looking forward to new beginnings, new challenges and more memories of days well spent with the Outreach team and trainees at Oman.”

 

Inspired to join the team? Apply to become an ISUOG Outreach volunteer today by visiting our website to find out more. Stay tuned as we begin to wrap up Trip 2 in Oman!

 

A sweet Omani end to the second day

It’s day two for ISUOG Outreach in Oman and keeping with the Arabian tradition of storytelling, we are inviting our trainers to tell their tales on the field to you all, highlighting the adventure to really make an impact on women’s health in the country. The following blog is from our trainer Pauline Schut from the Netherlands:

Local Project Liaison Dr Mouza Al Salmani delivering a lecture to the Oman Trainees (Image courtesy of P. Schut for ISUOG Outreach)

“Day Two of the program went by very smoothly; the trainees were motivated to start early, the GE Voluson ultrasound machines were ready to use and several volunteer patients had arrived. We very much appreciate the fact that these women are willing to visit the hospital for this teaching purpose and it greatly improves the hands-on training sessions as we only need to concentrate on teaching and not on patient care simultaneously.

Omani mahalabia (Image courtesy of P. Schut for ISUOG Outreach)

During the morning, we continued repeating the six-step approach to obstetric ultrasound. For the more skilled trainees, who were able to finish these steps quickly, assessment of the fetal brain, face and profile was added. In order to acquire these images, trainees need to understand how to move the probe to obtain the correct coronal and sagittal planes, which made this a challenging and very useful practice. After the lecture about the technical aspects of Doppler on the first day, trainees also got the chance to measure the Doppler of the umbilical artery and see what happened when they changed different settings. We were pleased to see the trainees were engaged and tried to help each other. This also gave us the opportunity to get an impression of their potential to become a trainer.

Oman Trainees (Image courtesy of P. Schut for ISUOG Outreach)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The afternoon session covered fetal anatomy, including the 20+2 planes, longitudinal plane, assessment of the head and the face. We heard a lot of “ahh’s” and “ohh’s” from the trainees, showing the understood the messages in these lectures.

Dr Nimrah Abbasi going over some unique applications of Voluson machines with trainees to customize their experience in scanning (Image courtesy of P. Schut for ISUOG Outreach)

After the debriefing of this satisfactory day, accompanied by our favorite Omani lemon-mint juices, we had a nice dinner to end the day with. Our new team members were introduced to a variety of tasteful Arabic specialties. Just like last time, we were impressed by the portions, especially of the delicious Omani version of Mohalabieh dessert. I have to disappoint the regular followers of this blog who might expect an Umm Ali-like story of its origin (see blog week 1), since the origins of this dessert remain unknown. Inspired by the WHO-quotes on the stairs of the Royal Hospital, trying to convince people to use the stairs, we took the stairs up to our rooms.”

The ISUOG Team for Oman Phase I Trip II (Image courtesy of P. Schut for ISUOG Outreach)

Stay tuned for more stories from Oman throughout the week!

Under the Omani Sun – Outreach returns to Muscat

Under the warm Omani sun – as warm as the hospitality of the people of this gracious country, ISUOG Outreach returns to Muscat for Week 2 of Phase I of the program here. With the 28 trainees from all across the Sultanate having returned, it was a wonderful reunion for the ISUOG Outreach trainers to catch up with the trainees whom they’ve been engaging with for the past 6 months remotely as they hone in on their scanning technique.

Dr Titia Cohen-Overbeek delivering a lecture to the Oman Trainees (Image courtesy of G.A Baez for ISUOG Outreach)

Reflecting on the day with optimism for the rest of the week is the Oman Project Lead, Dr. Titia Cohen-Overbeek who shares her experience on the blog:

“With great pleasure we returned after six months to the Royal Hospital of Sultan Qaboos for our second week of the ISUOG Outreach program for training in obstetric and gynecological ultrasound. In the past half year, the previous four trainers – Dr Nimrah Abbasi from Canada, Dr Valeria Angioni from Estonia, Pauline Schut and myself from the Netherlands – have kept weekly contact with our groups of seven trainees. Images concerning biometry, early pregnancy, twins and a variety of abnormal pregnancies were shared. This medium guaranteed that we were always available for questions and could reply swiftly but even more importantly the trainees kept contact among them selves. As some work in remote areas without easy access to other colleagues the digital connection provides a good opportunity for consulting and sharing knowledge.

Oman Outreach (Image courtesy of G.A Baez for ISUOG Outreach)

This time, our team has expanded with new additions joining the team – Dr Divya Singh, radiologist from Chandigarh, India and Flora Mates ISUOG’s Project Development Assistant to both coordinate the data collection from the trainers but also to assist Gesu Antonio Baez, ISUOG’s International Development Coordinator on site. As women run solely obstetric and gynecological medicine in Oman, Flora will be in a more comfortable position to monitor the requirements in our ultrasound rooms. The addition of Divya to our team ensures that our trainee groups are now smaller to facilitate more hands-on teaching time for the trainees. Dr. Theodora Pepera, ISUOG’s Special Representative to Ghana also joined the team to observe the Omani program at first glance and learn from its successes in order to bring back to Ghana, following the end of the Ghana program back in December.

Our first day worked out to be great. First of all, the happy reunion with our trainees and especially with Dr Mousa who runs her department with 10.000 deliveries a year very effectively. Her ability to organise many meetings and courses, run a large department and keep smiling all the time while her phone is buzzing is an example for everybody.

Oman Outreach trainees (Image courtesy of G.A Baez for ISUOG Outreach)

The lectures this week will cover a variety of subjects, from Doppler ultrasound to fetal anatomy and gynecological ultrasound. And as always, a pre- and post-theoretical test was administered to assess their retention of last week’s material.

Most particularly during the practical assessment, before we started the hands-on teaching session, we could easily see that those who had had weekly regular scanning time had greatly improved and were incorporating the systematic approach to scanning which was taught in the first week. After a full day starting at six in the morning and finishing with a debrief at seven in the evening, we detected a beach restaurant only 15 minutes away from our Omani base – The Platinum Hotel. The ambience was sublime with 37 C (98 F) in the evening much to the delight of those of us from colder Northern Europe and Canada. Feeling satisfied with the way training went today, we look forward to the next four days.”

Oman Outreach (Image courtesy of G.A Baez for ISUOG Outreach)

Be sure to continue to follow our blog for more updates and stories from the team in Muscat throughout the week! And don’t forget to join ISUOG as it celebrates 10 years of ISUOG Outreach on Twitter with the hashtag #OutreachTurns10.

The perfect union: ISUOG and WHO partner for global women’s health

ISUOG Outreach is committed to ensuring that every woman throughout the world has a quality ultrasound scan – and that is evidently assured via training and quality education. With such a mandate, it is with no surprise that the the World Health Organization (WHO) finds an ally in ISUOG Outreach, with whom it has been working as a close partner in the Partnership for Maternal Newborn and Child Health. Recently, the two organizations joined forces to support the WHO Action trails (a multi-site randomized trial of antenatal corticosteroid use for women at risk of imminent preterm birth in hospitals in low-resource countries ) where ISUOG Outreach recruited two of its volunteers to provide training accordingly. Reporting from the field are ISUOG Outreach Trainers Dr. Lynn Coppola (USA) and Dr. Sandhya Maranna (Australia) who share their experiences taking part in the Action Trails in multiple countries – from India to Kenya.

“The ISUOG Outreach is supporting the World Health Organization (WHO) for the ACTION Trails (Antenatal CorticosTeroids for Improving Outcomes in Preterm Newborns) which will be conducted in a total of 28 sites spanning 5 countries.  The study is designed to address current concerns regarding the efficacy and safety of antenatal corticosteroid use in low-resource settings.  Accurate gestational age assessment will be an important component of the study, and the WHO has thus provided an ultrasound machine for each of 28 sites.  ISUOG Outreach trainers are providing the associated fetal biometry training.  Thus far, training has been conducted in India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Kenya.  Training in Nigeria is scheduled to occur in May.  Here are some of the highlights!

India:  Sandhya Maranna, an ISUOG Outreach Trainer with academic and clinical background in medicine, radiology and ultrasound, collaborated with WHO as a temporary adviser in the trials.  She trained ten obstetricians and gynaecologists in a 2400-bed tertiary, referral research and teaching hospital in Belgaum in Southern India. ‘Train-the-trainer’ model was employed to standardise protocol with estimating gestational age or patient recruitment into the trials. She and Dr Lynn Coppola will be continuing their collaboration with the quality assurance of the ultrasound component of the project.

Dr. Sandhya Maranna observing training in India (Image courtesy of Dr. S. Maranna)

Teaching hospital in Belgaum, India (Image courtesy of Dr. S. Maranna)

Bangladesh: Training sessions (both didactic and practical) were conducted in both Dhaka and Sylhet, with approximately 10-12 trainees at each site.  ISUOG training materials and Dr. Alfred Abuhamad’s eBook entitled Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology: A Practical Approach were the primary didactic materials used.  As common with all sites, the trainees in Bangladesh had a wide range of prior experience with fetal ultrasound.  Due to their excitement to participate in the study and to improve their personal ultrasound skills, it was fun and amazingly rewarding to facilitate their learning process. Their enthusiasm to work together as a group and to help each other was obvious.  This picture is of Dr. Maritza Gonzalez (MFM fellow, University of Arizona Health Sciences Center) as she works with some of the trainees in Sylhet.  In the other picture, you can see that the love for selfies shows no national boundaries!  Dr. Saima Sultana and Dr. Salahuddin Ahmed were gracious and kind hosts.

 

Training in Bangladesh (Image courtesy of Dr. L. Coppola)

Dr. Lynn Coppola and the trainees in Bangladesh (Image courtesy of Dr. L. Coppola)

Pakistan:  Approximately 10 trainees from 2 sites met at Aga Khan University in Karachi for the training.  As evidenced by the fact that some trainees even travelled for 8 hours by overnight train, they showed great dedication to preparing their site for the ACTION trial.  Some attendees were motivated enough to even attend the didactic sessions for a second time when conducted in Hyderabad!  Although some of the trainees had prior ultrasound experience, this was the first time that others had ever received formal ultrasound training.  The improvement in their skills, the evolution of their questions, and their expressions of appreciation were all a great reward.  The group picture shows our Pakistan ultrasound trainees, accompanied by local ACTION trial leaders Dr. Shabina Arif, Dr. Farrukh Raza, and Dr. Sajid Soofi.

Dr. Coppola with the trainees in Pakistan (Image courtesy of Dr. L. Coppola)

Hands-on training in Pakistan (Image courtesy of Dr. L. Coppola)

Kenya: Training was conducted at the Reproductive Health Unit of Thika Level 5 Hospital and was attended by approximately 15 providers, representing 4 study sites.   Local flooding from an unusually wet rainy season significantly delayed our arrival on the first day, but the weather subsequently improved.  Again, the dedication of the trainees to the trial and to improving their personal ultrasound skills was readily apparent.  The trainees were tireless in their desire to spend time on the ultrasound machines and to stretch the practical sessions for as long as possible.  They additionally created a short list of extra questions for didactic review on the last day.  Also on the last day, we had a small bit of excitement and practised “speed scanning” for one patient as she was apparently in active labor and we were not in physical proximity to the maternity ward.  Dr. Joshua Vogel (WHO) and Dr. Zahida Qureshi (University of Nairobi) were in attendance to support the training process and to encourage the trainees to share their new skills with others when they return to their home study sites.

Group picture in Kenya (Image courtesy of Dr. L. Coppola)

Dr. Coppola going over a scan with trainees (Image courtesy of Dr. L. Coppola)

Trainees scanning in Kenya (Image courtesy of Dr. L. Coppola)

Participation in the ISUOG Outreach program has been an amazingly rewarding experience for me.  While writing this blog and thinking about my most favorite memories, these are the benefits that I continue to treasure the most:

• Making a small contribution to an important international efficacy and safety trial
• Witnessing a clear international dedication to maternal and child health
• Strengthening obstetric ultrasound capacity at various sites by “training the trainers” (a benefit that will extend beyond the actual WHO ACTION trial)
• Meeting new friends and establishing opportunities for future collaborations

 In gratitude to ISUOG Outreach (and to Sandhya Maranna for contribution of the India portion of this blog submission)

Lynn Coppola, MD, MPH
Assistant Professor OBGYN, Maternal-Fetal Medicine
University of Arizona College of Medicine

 

Outreach returns to Oman!

Oman Outreach (Image courtesy of G.A Baez for ISUOG Outreach)

The Outreach Team will be returning to Muscat next week to carry out Phase I, Trip II of the Oman Program from 8-12 April 2018. Led once more by Dr. Titia Cohen-Overbeek (Netherlands), the team (Dr. Nimrah Abbasi of Canada, Dr. Valeria Angioni of Estonia, Ms. Pauline Schut of the Netherlands and Dr. Divya Singh of India) will be training 28 trainees from across the country in OB/GYN ultrasound so they can then take on their new roles as local trainers within the Sultanate of Oman. Joining them on the field will be both ISUOG’s International Development Coordinator (Mr. Gesu Antonio Baez) and Project Development Assistant (Ms. Flora Mates).

ISUOG Outreach is looking forward to partner again with the Omani Ministry of Health, Royal Hospital of Muscat, GE Healthcare and Medaphor in efforts to bring this program to life. Stay tuned for more updates from the field!

To learn more about our previous work in Oman, visit our website to read about our work during Phase I, Trip I this past November.

Supporting Outreach work in Yangon – round two!

 

Dr. Philippe Jeanty and team in Yangon (from left to right: Dr Gwan Ju, Dr. Jeanty, Dr. Ya Chiao, Dr. David Berck and Dr. Federico Badano)

Last year, ISUOG Outreach supported the work of dedicated Outreach Committee Member and renown expert, Dr. Philippe Jeanty in launching a program in Yangon, Myanmar. Now returning for Trip II with his team (Federico Badano from Argentina, Gwan Ju of South Korea, Ya Chiao from Taiwan and David Berck from USA), Philippe reports from the field midweek to share with our followers some updates from training.

“The second course to Myanmar has started, with all the previous students minus four, delivery, maternity leave and two who were not able to get replacement (the obstetrician who came to the course had to be cross-covered by a surgeon for the emergency C-section section). One of the students, whom I like very much, is one of six obstetricians for a city of 4 million people!!

We had asked the students to fill a spreadsheet with all the findings they made during the year and they did a remarkable job at it: probably a first in ISUOG Outreach history!

I like how no one could find cardiac or skeletal dysplasia ( so not a defect on me 😊 )

This table is big, but it shows the constant efforts they did during the year.

Today, we started with the second set of lectures we were provided by from ISUOG, of which Federico enriched very substantially with many video clips. I added some cases related to the lectures and to insure participation, we got four students to come to the front of the class and answer each case. Nothing like being in the hot seat to focus attention! They did pretty well.

The afternoon and the end of the morning we actually did scan. We had not pre-selected the students and some were still fairly hesitant, so we redistribute them into basic, intermediate, advanced level so that the teaching could be more focused; that worked out to be better.

Most of the patients had not undergone ultrasound in pregnancy before.  Our cases included numerous twins, suspected growth restriction, and placenta accreta.

The more interesting case was a hydranencephaly with retinal detachment and it was their first time seeing retinal detachment (a nice case )

On the second and third day, we went on with the lectures. We had asked all the students ahead of time to prepare a 5-minute presentation and with the firm hand of Dr Yin Yin Soe and Dr. Khin Latt (our local contacts) they had all prepared one or several cases, including many ectopic pregnancies, ovarian masses and pre-eclampsia with IUGR. The 2 more striking cases were an abdominal pregnancy and a 38 weeks tubal pregnancy in which the location had not been correctly recognized. This was great way to re-emphasize the routine exam: after the first sweep always document the cervix, size, competence and vasa previa.

The students were very comfortable giving the presentations and very organized in doing so. Mostly their images were poor, often too gained, with depth too far, and captured with cell phone. To remedy this, we went over the depth setting, the gain, and Ya Chiao Hu gave them a short presentation on how to save images digitally on a memory stick!

Dr Gwan Jun Kim, who was with us last year and participated during all trips of the Outreach program in 3 Mongolia, gave the CNS and cardiac lectures with his usual brand of humor and animated descriptions. He is always popular!

Dr. Federico Badano also lectured with great calm and a ton of videos to the ISUOG.

Dr. David Berck, who is also a veteran from Mongolia, was with us as well. In the end, we ended up all adapting Gwan Jun technique of abundantly moving around, using the many dolls that Dr Khin Latt had prepared.

We had a very large supply of patients, and even an extra ultrasound machine. The course is sponsored by Mindray and the local distributor “Concordia” and Dr Than Win had really gone out to make sure we had all that we needed. The extra machine allowed the students to practice under less time constraint. Ever efficient Justin Liu was going from machine to machine making sure everyone was alright with the knobology. He was part of it group last year too but was much less shy this year and has remarkably improved his fluency in English. By the way, all the students speak perfect English but with a British flair (liquor.. for amniotic fluid) and an accent sometime difficult for my deficient ears.

The only really problem was that it is incredibly hot here and the Air Conditioning could not keep up with the 30 people in the room, plus the patients and six ultrasound machines. I was dripping over my students who would provide me wipes and water every three minutes. So sweet!

The students are very comfortable with us. Last year, being shy, I had asked them to write their questions on paper and leave the questions on our desk for us to answer. This year, there was no problems at all. I think that getting them to come answer the cases in front of everyone, although terrifying at first, gave them much more confidence. It helped that Thao and Ya rewarded the correct answers with a gold medal of chocolate. A old trick I used in Mongolia too.

On to the fun part where David was interested in the local dress that men wear here, called Longi. Dr Khin Latt generously gave one to each of us!! Resulting in a rather unique picture (as see at beginning of blog).

Tomorrow is it last day and we are already nostalgic about leaving our students for a year.”

Follow our blog for more stories from the field!

Final stages of ISUOG’s training mission in Ghana

Outreach continues in Kumasi today and we’re following the group in Old Tafo as local trainee to become Trainer, Abekkah Adam Jonah, leads the lectures this morning under the supervision of ISUOG Trainer Dr Janet Horenstein.

Abekkah Adam Jonah giving a lecture under watchful eye of Dr Janet Horenstein

The morning was full of lectures on fetal anomalies, with multiple ectopic pregnancies identified and referred.  Scanning resumed for the majority of day as usual, but as the second phase of the funeral ceremonies were taking place in the evening with a required curfew imposed at 6:00 PM, the day ended early at 2:30 PM in order to facilitate the trainees’ long return home.

Tammy Anderson from GE Healthcare with trainees

Outreach Chair Anthony Johnson with star trainees

Group photo

Tomorrow will mark the end of the Ghana Program and a handover to local actors. Stay tuned for this final chapter in ISUOG Outreach in Kumasi in the coming blog!

Gesù Antonio Báez
International Development Coordinator

Rising stars in ultrasound training: Day 3 of Outreach in Ghana

It’s Day 3 of ISUOG Outreach in Kumasi. To change up the scenario a bit and given the large group numbers, six of our trainees conducted training with Local Trainer Dr Buah Hamilton in Manhyia Hospital, which sits right beside the official residence of the Ashanti King, Manhyia Palace (where the team visited early on the week).

ISUOG Trainer Dr Theodora Pepera-Hibbert and local Trainer Prince Owusu explaining a scan

New local Trainer Osei Bonsu guiding trainees during a difficult scan

If one word could describe this group of trainees, then it’s ownership. Many of the Trainers (both local and international) were very impressed at the ongoing desire to learn from the trainees and the newfound confidence of the new trainers. Some trainees, such as Anita from the Kumasi South group, felt confident enough to even guide the trainees in scanning alongside local Trainer Prince Owusu.

Trainee Anita feeling confident to coach trainees on scanning – clearly a rising star!

Theoretical lectures proceeded practical training, but it was perfect timing for as the Multiple Pregnancy lecture at Kumasi South was given, a twin pregnancy was then detected, heightening excitement among trainees.

As this is the last trip of the ISUOG Ghana Program, it goes without saying the extreme gratitude of both the ISUOG Trainers and trainees have on the presence of GE Healthcare, both with the three donated Voluson machines and the presence of GE Healthcare reps (Ms Tammy Anderson from Trip 1 and 3 and Ms Sarah Stephens from Trip 2). The passion they bring for the technology is apparent and has made such a difference in training.

Voluson ultrasound machine

GE Healthcare’s Tammy Anderson guiding trainees

 

Images from Kumasi

Stay tuned for more journeys on the field. 

-ISUOG’s International Development Coordinator, Gesù Antonio Báez