Sorry, the Change seminar is in CSE 203 (not 205 as I said before). On Mon, Mar 26, 2012 at 9:38 AM, Nicola Dell <nixdell at cs.washington.edu>wrote:
> This Thursday at Change Waylon Brunette will speak about his research on a > portable antenatal ultrasound platform for village midwifes. Please note > that the seminar will be in the Allen center, CSE 205. The room currently > listed on the MyUW website (MOR 225) is incorrect. > > While ultrasound imaging is an effective tool for identifying > maternal mortality risk factors, it is nearly absent in many rural > healthcare facilities in developing regions. The high costs of both > equipment and required training are major barriers to adopting ultrasound; > to address these barriers we designed an inexpensive ultrasound system > composed of off-the-shelf hardware and custom software. To leverage > existing healthcare systems commonly found in these contexts, we focused > our efforts on increasing the diagnostic capabilities of midwives - > often central medical figures in rural and low-income communities. To > enable local midwives to identify high-risk conditions for referral to > a better-equipped health care facility, we developed a low-cost, > portable, easy-to-use ultrasound system. Compared to currently available > ultrasound devices, we simplified the user workflow and interface while > maintaining adequate functionality to allow midwives to detect three > common obstetrical conditions: placenta previa, multiple gestations, and > breech presentation. Specifically, the midwife's ultrasound system is > designed to: support a solitary work environment, balance cost and > features, present a minimal interface, enable easy customization through a > modular design, provide appropriate scaffolding to assist the user, and > include an integrated teaching help system. Complicated and expensive > medical technologies are unlikely to meet the needs of users with > limited opportunities for formal training and continuing education, so we > created an appropriate integrated help system to supplement a midwife's > conceptual and operational knowledge of diagnostic ultrasound. Through our > fieldwork in Uganda and preliminary evaluations, we have found that in > addition to the contextual reference material accessible during an exam, > midwives need in-depth learning materials that can be accessed outside of a > medical exam scenario. To evaluate whether or system was appropriate for > identifying the three conditions, we tested the accuracy of ultrasound > measurements, image quality, and the usability of our system by Ugandan > midwives. The midwife's ultrasound system is designed to utilize existing > local healthcare resources in order to create a sustainable solution that > does not depend on telemedicine or other continuous foreign assistance. > > Waylon Brunette is a PhD student in the Department of Computer Science and > Engineering at the University of Washington advised by Professor Gaetano > Borriello. His research interests include mobile systems, leveraging > smartphones and sensors to solve problems in healthcare, and designing > systems that improve the lives of underserved populations in low-income > regions. > > What: Waylon Brunette on portable antenatal ultrasound for village > midwifes. > > Where: The Allen Center, CSE 203. > > When: Thursday, March 29th at 12 noon. > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://changemm.cs.washington.edu/mailman/private/change/attachments/20120326/71f51493/attachment.html>
