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WIRED Partners with Australian Physicians to Bring Innovative Echocardiography Project to Doctors and Nurses Worldwide
BY KRISTEN GARABEDIAN
W
iRED International is partnering with a team of physicians in Australia to create a project with potential for global medical benefits. Funded by the Medtronic Foundation, this series of some 20 modules will train doctors and nurses around the world to read echocardiograms, helping them to save lives and provide better care to cardiac patients. These interactive training sessions will be distributed online and on thumb-drives, primarily in developing countries.
 An echocardiogram, known also as a cardiac ECHO or ECHO, is a widely used, non-invasive cardiac diagnostic test. This quick, highly accurate test is relatively inexpensive and uses ultrasound to create two- and three-dimensional images of a patient's heart, allowing doctors to assess the size and shape of the heart, the heart's pumping capacity, any tissue damage or abnormalities, and much more. By performing and properly reading an ECHO, doctors can determine whether chest pain or other symptoms are related to heart disease and can then decide on the best course of treatment.
This ECHO program is part of a larger rheumatic heart disease project coordinated by WiRED, which offers training modules for teachers, parents, and students; patient registry databases; and more.
The ECHO training programs created by the Australian cardiology team and WiRED will offer extensive training through interactive modules, which include 2,400 ECHO videos for use as study tools. Two ECHO projects are in development: one for nurses and one for doctors. While these programs are related, the materials for each are targeted to the roles and functions of the specific audience. After completing the course, participants can take an exam online that demonstrates competency in the subject.
This ECHO program is part of a larger rheumatic heart disease project coordinated by WiRED, which offers training modules for teachers, parents, and students; patient registry databases; and more. Upon the ECHO project's expected completion at the end of 2012, WiRED will provide it as part of our Community Health Information (CHI) program, which is available to doctors around the world.
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