In the News: Henry Ford Hospital and Wayne State University School of Medicine Partner with GE on medical school compact ultrasound training pilot.

GE Healthcare has provided 30 compact LOGIQ e ultrasound devices to Wayne State University for students to learn how to diagnose a wide range of ailments and Henry Ford coordinates the training.

“We see this form of ultrasound as an important tool to help state-of-the-art medicine grow,” said Robert Frank, M.D., executive vice dean of Wayne State’s medical school. “It is an empowering technology.”

As one of the first medical school in the country to explore this new technology, Wayne State hopes to further integrate the devices into the curriculum, using last year’s freshman class as a pilot study. The students familiarized themselves with the portable ultrasound machines during twelve training sessions. As second-year students, they will continue to work with the devices in classes.

When these students reach their 3rd and 4th years they will see patients on a regular basis. At that point in their education, it is anticipated that they will begin to use the ultrasounds in clinical practice and utilize them to their full potential.

In a survey of the 112 freshman students, more than 82 percent agreed or strongly agreed that their experience with ultrasound education was positive. In addition, more than 90 percent of the students agreed or strongly agreed that they would benefit from continued ultrasound education throughout their four year medical curriculum.

Medical students participating in the pilot study also helped GE Healthcare to determine how medical students learn, to gather data from the “new ultrasound user” in order to improve the design of the ultrasound equipment, and to determine whether the use of the ultrasound device during medical training will have beneficial effects on medical training itself.

“GE Healthcare believes that this relationship has helped develop the education of new physicians and expand the capabilities of physicians to diagnose and treat patients faster and more efficiently,” said Robert Honigberg, MD, Chief Medical Officer at GE Healthcare.