Med Ed International Ultrasound 2019 - Switzerland

Introduction

Hello! We are UCI School of Medicine's Team Switzerland. We need to raise $6,000 to teach ultrasound to medical students in Switzerland and fund research around improving ultrasound curricula. 

Background

Our team is comprised of five first-year medical students who are looking to fund an international trip to teach ultrasound to the medical students at the University of Basel in Switzerland. Ultrasound is becoming an increasingly common minimally invasive imaging tool, used in a wide variety of medical settings. Thus, by teaching ultrasound in Switzerland we will be spreading valuable information about a powerful and versatile medical tool. 

Research

We will be conducting research comparing two ultrasound machines, the standard 3-probe ultrasound and the pocket-sized 1-probe Butterfly iQ. The Butterfly iQ is a state-of-the-art ultrasound device released in 2018. It aims to revolutionize the ultrasound market by offering a full-body scan with just one pocket-sized probe at a low cost. Our research will compare image quality, learner satisfaction and teaching effectiveness between a standard ultrasound and the Butterfly iQ. 

This is of great potential benefit to include modalities of education that promote better understanding for medical students at home in addition to abroad! Additionally, we will be incorporating the newest in ultrasound technology to see if these advances can optimize ultrasound education. 

Switzerland also presents a very unique opportunity to study healthcare policy. The U.S. and Switzerland have very similar capitalist economies, however Switzerland has a much more efficient healthcare system, spends less money on healthcare, and 99.5% of its citizens have health insurance.

Funding and Goals

We will be in Switzerland teaching for 4 weeks. Although this is a School of Medicine sanctioned trip, we currently have no funding from the medical school. This is why we are reaching out to you! With your generous donations we will be able accomplish our 3 main goals:

1. To develop and implement an ultrasound curriculum.

2. To conduct research on the efficacy of a revolutionary 1-probe ultrasound device compared to the standard 3-probe device.

3. To gain knowledge of how to improve U.S. healthcare by studying the Swiss model.