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UCLA doctors train military physicians
An ER nurse at UCLA's Ronald Reagan Medical Center practices using the ultrasound simulator on her palm with the computer generated image on the laptop.
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Patricia Nazario/KPCC
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UCLA professor Eric Savitsky demonstrates the Combat Casualty Care Educational Program's radiology simulator. It draws from a library of healthy and diseased patient records that a medical provider can select at will.
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Patricia Nazario/KPCC
)
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1:12
UCLA doctors train military physicians
UCLA doctors train military physicians
UCLA doctors have developed a self-study course they expect to serve several purposes: save lives in Afghanistan, better train domestic first responders for potential terrorist attacks and improve patient care at hospitals in this country.
The multi-media course amounts to 40 hours of training. It includes a 700-page book, real emergency room video from a US Air Force hospital in Iraq, and hand-held wands that simulate ultrasound imaging techniques.
“That literally plugs into the laptop, so the same computer you’re using here for purposes of educating people on all the video cases, you can actually use the same computer to teach someone how to do an ultrasound," said UCLA professor Eric Savitsky, who helped develop the course.
He’s introducing the ultrasound component to emergency room nurses at the university’s Ronald Reagan Medical Center.
“Do you think that’s the bladder? HUM HUM…That is the bladder," said Savitsky.
He said that in war zones, ultrasounds help doctors triage critical patients and save lives.
In civilian settings, Savitsky suspects that the tool can help minimize patient infections. He hopes it will become more useful as hospitals look to save money under new healthcare reform laws. UCLA doctors say this educational system will hold special interest for civilian disaster preparedness officials in this country who want to prepare for surprise attacks.
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