The Power of Mobile Health: The Girl With the Gadgets in Uganda

Abstract

Medical-grade ultrasound devices are now pocket sized and can be easily transported to underserved parts of the world, allowing health care providers to have the tools to optimize diagnoses, inform management plans, and improve patient outcomes in remote locations. Other great advances in technology have recently occurred, such as artificial intelligence applied to mobile health devices and cloud computing, as augmented reality instructions make these devices more user friendly and readily applicable across health care encounters. However, broader awareness of the impact of these mobile health technologies is needed among health care providers, along with training on how to use them in valid and reproducible environments, for accurate diagnosis and treatment. This article provides a summary of a Mayo International Health Program journey to Bwindi, Uganda, with a portable mobile health unit. This article shows how point-of-care ultrasonography and other technologies can benefit remote clinical diagnosis and management in underserved areas around the world.

Keywords: HFpEF, heart failure with preserved ejection fraction; MHU, mobile health unit; MIHP, Mayo International Health Program; POCUS, point-of-care ultrasound.

Figure 1

Mobile Health Unit. (A) Backpack; (B) portable ultrasound; (C) handheld ultrasound; (D) digital otoscope; (E) stethoscope with 1 lead electrocardiogram capacity; (F) iPhone; (G) neuro bag with reflex hammer, tuning forks, flashlight, and medical scissors.

Figure 2

Active clot in the femoral vein and noncompressible femoral vein.

Figure 3

Bedside ultrasound of the heart. (A) Severe aortic valve stenosis (arrow). (B) pericardial effusion (arrow).

Figure 4

Uganda health care providers’ feelings about the mobile health unit used during the Mayo International Health Program experience.

Supplemental Figure 1

Optic nerve sheath ultrasound in comatose patient.

Supplemental Figure 2

Calcification in the left ventricle attached to the inferoposterior wall.

Supplemental Figure 3

Ultrasound of the heart of a 13-year-old boy presenting with hypertension.

Supplemental Figure 4

Providers at Bwindi community hospital performing paracentesis with ultrasound, performing bedside cardiac ultrasound on their own.

Supplemental Figure 5

The Eko duo digital stethoscope (Eko Devices, Inc.).