How can Ukrainian doctors receive online consultations from foreign colleagues

[ad_1]

During the war, Ukrainian doctors face completely new challenges. You have to work in extreme conditions, provide care to the wounded and deal with a large number of patients. It is especially difficult for those who work in the war zone and even in the occupation. A vivid example is the paramedics on “Azovstal”, who performed operations under conditions of an enemy siege under constant fire. To help Ukrainian doctors, the Global Medical Knowledge Alliance organization, which was created by Ukrainian doctors from Harvard Medical School in cooperation with the Ukrainian startup studio Empat, developed the HealUA mobile application and a resource with translations of international trauma treatment protocols for Ukrainian colleagues. Domestic doctors can receive remote consultations from colleagues around the world to help patients even in extreme conditions. “Ukrainian Pravda. Life” explained how the mobile application and directory work and how Ukrainian doctors can use them. HealUA mobile application as an “emergency aid” for doctors HealUA is a free mobile application that allows Ukrainian doctors to get advice from colleagues from all over the world, in particular, those who work in leading clinics. First of all, it is necessary for those doctors who are forced to provide assistance in extreme conditions and face difficult cases. As Ali Dzhemiliev, a researcher at Harvard Medical School, director of the HealUA mobile application, told “Ukrainian Pravda. Life”, the idea of ​​creating the application was inspired by the story of a therapist from Mariupol, Sofia. HealUA is an application that allows Ukrainian doctors to receive advice from colleagues from all over the world. The doctor removed 25 fragments from the bodies of the wounded and performed 6 amputations with the help of a surgeon she knew, who gave her advice over the phone. Any doctor or paramedic can download the application to their phone. HealUA is available for free on the App Store/Play Market. To get a consultation, you need to describe the patient’s condition and, if possible, attach photos of tests, research, etc. It is also necessary to select the specialty of the colleague to whom the request is addressed. How the application works: a doctor’s question and a colleague’s answer. After receiving a question, all doctors of the relevant specialty registered in the system will receive a notification and give advice online. Currently, HealUA is used by about 2,000 doctors. Among them are doctors of various specialties both from primary care and from leading hospitals of Ukraine and the world, namely the Shalimov Institute, Okhmatdyt, Harvard Medical School, Mayo Clinic, Johns Hopkins Hospital, etc. The application works in English and Ukrainian. To receive a response from foreign colleagues, it is better to formulate the request in English. Currently, the developers are working on a new version, where the Ukrainian cases will be translated into English. Dermatology consultation “I understand the needs of Ukrainian doctors now. During the war, we see that people are moving, hospitals are being destroyed. If a doctor has a question and has no one to consult, he can consult his colleagues in the HealUA application,” says Ali Dzhemiliev. According to the doctor, HealUA can be not only a kind of “first aid” for doctors who have to help the wounded or give birth in extreme conditions, but also in planned situations. For example, many family doctors who do not understand dermatology can improve their knowledge and receive specific advice on a case-by-case basis. Ali Dzhemiliev says that Ukrainian doctors who use the application send requests related to various fields of medicine. Most often, it is about family medicine, pediatrics, therapy, dermatology. There are also requests for surgery, obstetrics-gynecology, oncology and even psychiatry. “Bible” for the treatment of injuries from American surgeons In addition to the application, the GMKA organization translated a manual for the treatment of injuries of various severity for Ukrainian colleagues. As Ali Dzhemiliev told, before the war, surgeons from Harvard of Ukrainian origin Nelya and Serhiy Melnychuky founded the educational platform “Global Medical Knowledge Alliance”. The main goal of the platform was to give doctors in Ukraine and the world free access to modern educational materials on oncology treatment. “There is a lack of modern educational materials for doctors in Ukraine. Especially in oncology. Most Ukrainian doctors cannot read new protocols and are based on old ones. We cannot wait for Ukrainian doctors to learn English. Translations have been posted on the website so that Ukrainian doctors can master new knowledge in their native language, which should improve the quality of assistance,” says Ali Dzhemiliev. At the request of the Global Medical Knowledge Alliance, doctors from leading clinics in the USA and Europe (Harvard Medical School, Mayo Clinic, Johns Hopkins Hospital) provided practical recommendations for the treatment of various oncological diseases for free access and publication. Photo: pressmaster/Depositphotos Representatives of the “Global Medical Knowledge Alliance” asked doctors from the best hospitals in the world (Harvard Medical School, Mayo Clinic, Johns Hopkins Hospital) to write practical guidelines on 10 pages. The recommendations were written “purely for doctors”, they related to screening, diagnosis and prevention of cancer. Then the instructions were translated into Ukrainian and made publicly available. After the start of the war, the alliance slightly changed the vector and added a manual on the treatment of injuries from the American College of Surgeons ATLS. “This manual is the ‘Bible’ of trauma treatment. There are 400 pages and 20 chapters, which deal with the specifics of providing care for various types of injuries to various organs. There was no translation of it in Ukraine,” says Ali Dzhemiliev. The manual was translated in 2 months. In addition, a printed version in Ukrainian was published. Also, American doctors published a series of videos within the “Save Life” project, which are dedicated to various extreme cases. In particular, how to stop the bleeding, what to do with a blast injury, shattered limbs, etc. As stated in the manual, the treatment of injuries in disasters, both man-made and natural, is different from ordinary care for injuries. During the war, medics have to work in extreme conditions with a large number of casualties. The advice of the world’s leading doctors can help not only to save people with injuries, but also to properly organize the work of providing assistance to a large number of people with various injuries. The portal also contains useful information for doctors and paramedics who provide assistance to military personnel with gunshot wounds, contusions, frostbite, burns, etc. Read also: A telemedical platform for remote monitoring of pregnant women has appeared in Ukrainian hospitals – Ministry of Health

[ad_2]

Original Source Link