Mar 4, 2008 1:33 PM

Center taps tech tools, expertise to solve healthcare problems around the globe

Emergency medicine physician Eric Savitsky can just as easily be found in Egypt training trauma specialists, as in the UCLA Emergency Medical Center tending patients or at a conference on wireless medical technologies.

Savitsky, a professor of emergency medicine, directs the UCLA Center for International Medicine (CIM), which he founded in 2002 to harness the power of technology and tap into UCLA’s expertise in health, entertainment and communication to address the global shortage of trained healthcare workers.

Partnering with organizations like the United Nations, International Rescue Committee and Project HOPE, his Westwood-based team travels to countries around the world to assess firsthand local health needs and create multimedia-based training programs and other innovative healthcare solutions.

For example, CIM's Koren Shelton and Nicole Durden recently returned from the Kakuma refugee camp in northern Kenya, where many victims of sexual violence seek refuge. The CIM team is working to develop a DVD-based training program to teach healthcare providers how to deliver compassionate, competent and confidential care to sexual assault survivors. The result of a collaboration between CIM and the International Rescue Committee, the training tool, called "Clinical Care for Sexual Assault Survivors," will be distributed worldwide.

"Of all the projects we’ve produced at the center, this one has touched me most deeply," said Shelton, CIM's managing director. "It's been a tremendous experience to be part of something that will directly impact the care provided to women worldwide."

"Witnessing the challenges facing displaced Sudanese, Rwandans, Ethiopians, Congolese and Somalis is something that will stay with me forever," added Durden, CIM's program manager.

In other parts of the world, the insidious remnants of armed conflict — landmines, cluster bombs and other explosive devices — continue to kill or maim civilians long after fighting has ceased. So CIM developed an interactive DVD training program for international relief workers on behalf of the United Nations to address this problem.

In industrializing nations like China and Egypt, trauma injuries are on the rise. To prepare health workers to treat these victims, CIM and Project Hope recently developed a series of multimedia-based DVDs in multiple languages.

The center's training materials have been successfully used to train thousands of healthcare providers worldwide on a wide range of topics.

"It's deeply rewarding to work with healthcare workers within their cultures to improve healthcare delivery," said Savitsky. "This is mission-driven work, allowing us the unique opportunity to promote better diplomacy through better health."

For example, technological advances have led to new ways to train doctors in the field. Partnering with UCLA's Center for Advanced Surgical and Interventional Technology (CASIT) and the Department of Defense, CIM is developing a laptop training system that comprises video, computer graphic imagery, patient data, motion sensors, ultrasound imagery and haptic or “force feedback” technology.

With a global mobile phone market that reaches 2 billion people, the Internet and satellite communication networks, the opportunities for outreach, communication and health solution delivery are even greater, Savitsky said.

To develop and deliver tele-health solutions worldwide, CIM personnel are working with professors William Kaiser in electrical engineering and Majid Sarrafzadeh in computer science, CASIT and the David Geffen School of Medicine.

"Health solutions, coupled with new distribution platforms, have immense potential as effective tools for improving health," said Savitsky, "while promoting cross-cultural understanding and restoring trust and respect around the world."

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