Our Projects
Ultrasound Curriculum
Education
We will assess the short-term efficacy of a 2-week ultrasound curriculum: “Ultrasound Basics” taught to medical students in Indonesia. The secondary objective is the long-term efficacy of the “Ultrasound Basics” course based on knowledge retention, which will involve the medical students who took the course the previous year in June 2017.
Comparison of Smoking Usage
Sustainability and Efficacy
Indonesia has one of the highest incidences of smoking in the world, with 72% of the male population over 15 years of age using tobacco products. According to the CDC, smoking is the leading cause of death in Indonesia. We are comparing two methods of surveying smoking usage in patients that present to the clinics and hospital. We hope to demonstrate that computerized screening may be optimal for acquiring sensitive information from patients, such as the number of cigarettes they smoke per day, which can reveal an increased number of patients that would benefit from earlier interventional counseling
Ultrasound Studies
Research and Innovation
We will use point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) to determine a baseline range of aortic valve hemodynamic measurements, such as carotid artery velocity and presence of plaques, that are critical for diagnosing and grading the severity of aortic stenosis in a sample of the Indonesian population. We will then evaluate the relationship between tobacco smoke exposure and these ultrasound cardiac measurements.
We will also use POCUS to characterize the diameter of the portal vein and investigate its relationship with tobacco smoke exposure in the Indonesian population. Portal vein diameter can be used in the diagnosis of portal hypertension and we would like to establish a baseline mean diameter in the Indonesian population.
