Journal of Telemedicine and Telecare > Volume 15, Number 4 > Pp. 191-195

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RESEARCH Original articles

A comparison of telesonography with standard ultrasound care in a rural Dominican clinic

James Eric Sutherland ^*  , H Dean Sutphin ^*, Fred Rawlins , Kerry Redican  and John Burton 

^* Department of International and Appalachian Outreach, Edward Via Virginia College of Osteopathic Medicine, Blacksburg, Virginia; Department of Emergency Medicine, Edward Via Virginia College of Osteopathic Medicine, Blacksburg, Virginia; School of Education – Learning Sciences and Technology, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia, USA

Correspondence: James Eric Sutherland, 900 S Wabash Ave, Chicago, IL 60605, USA (Fax: +1 708 503 3241; Email: jamess{at}vcom.vt.edu)

We compared telesonography to usual patient care in a rural clinic in the Dominican Republic. A total of 108 low-income Dominican and Haitian patients volunteered to participate. The patients were randomly assigned to either telesonography or control groups. Patients in the telesonography group were scanned and sonographic images and Request for Interpretation (RFI) forms were sent by email to six volunteer radiologists in the USA. Completed RFI forms were transmitted back to the clinic at the radiologists' earliest convenience. Patients in the control group received an ordinary ultrasound referral, which required travel to a tertiary medical centre where their scans were completed by a local sonographer. Sonographic reports from the control group were hand delivered to the referring physician at patient follow-up. The telesonography system provided a four-fold increase in the proportion of patient follow-ups and a six-fold increase in the proportion of returned radiological reports. In the telemedicine group, the median total elapsed time from referral to report return was 17.8 h (interquartile range, IQR 12.2–27.1) and the median time to patient follow-up was 67.1 h (IQR 45.9–113.7). The latter was similar in the control group, where the median total elapsed time was 76.7 h (IQR 65.8–144.7). The pilot study demonstrated that store-and-forward telesonography reduced time to diagnosis and increased the continuity of care compared to the usual ultrasound referral system in the region of the Dominican Republic which was studied.

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