Radiology Techs at Tenwek Hospital using the RadConnect platform
“The image-sharing technology combined with U.S.-based radiology expertise changes everything. Working together, we’re making a difference and saving lives every day.”
San Diego, California (PRWEB) January 21, 2016
StatRad, a leading provider of cloud-based medical image exchange technology and teleradiology services, is supporting critical diagnostic health services at Tenwek Hospital in rural western Kenya through donated RadConnect® software services.
RadConnect is a medical image sharing and exam collaboration platform that enables large imaging files to be shared quickly and securely. The donated services give physicians and imaging technicians at Tenwek Hospital the ability to upload patient radiology exams for transmission to U.S.-based radiologists. The exams are then read and returned to doctors at Tenwek with the accurate diagnosis needed to help treat and care for patients facing what are often complex, urgent health issues.
Visiting radiologist Stanley Cheng, M.D., who was charged with finding an affordable teleradiology solution for the hospital, introduced StatRad to Tenwek in 2014. One of the largest mission hospitals in Africa, Tenwek treats more than 140,000 outpatients each year and admits another 13,000 inpatients. Although StatRad offers a free version of RadConnect, Claude Hooton, StatRad’s President and Chief Operating Officer, said it was clear the hospital needed the company’s full-service Enterprise solution to meet its image exchange demands for X-ray, ultrasound and advanced CT images.
“Our goal is to expand global image exchange to change lives through improved health care,” said Hooton. “Tenwek presented us with a great opportunity to further that goal while facilitating desperately needed care by supporting a group of dedicated individuals working with a tremendous organization. It’s very rewarding to provide a tool that facilitates the ability for physicians and patients to have a complete report from a U.S.-based radiologist back in time for morning rounds only one day after performing a critical CT exam.”
To support Tenwek’s mission, StatRad donated a pro-bono Enterprise license and went live in May 2015. Tenwek clinicians can upload patient exams into “the cloud” (StatRad servers) so radiologists based in the U.S. can immediately view and read the exams. The U.S. radiologist then generates his or her report, uploads it to RadConnect for physicians in Africa, and a treatment plan is quickly put in place.
“The impact this makes on the doctors, staff and patients of Tenwek Hospital is incredible,” said Read Vaughan, M.D., one of a team of 37 stateside radiologists who volunteers his time at Tenwek as a visiting physician. “The image-sharing technology combined with U.S.-based radiology expertise changes everything. Working together, we’re making a difference and saving lives every day.”
Since going live, nearly 1000 patient exams have been uploaded from Tenwek to RadConnect and analyzed by U.S. radiologists.
RadConnect is also being used to support radiology services at Soddo Christian Hospital in neighboring Ethiopia, at Bongolo Hospital in Gabon, West Africa, and in support of a new midwife project using ultrasound at 12 rural clinics in Uganda.
About StatRad
StatRad provides cloud-based software to allow digital access to any medical image, anytime, anywhere. By delivering a fundamentally new way for the ingestion, exchange, storage, and interpretation of medical images, StatRad facilitates a global image exchange accessible by patients, physicians and health care networks. The company offers its innovative software as a service (SaaS) and as a platform (PaaS). StatRad also provides high quality interpretation of medical images through its award winning teleradiology services. For more information call us at 855-TELERAD (835-3723), visit http://www.statrad.com, or connect with us on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.