Point-of-Care Ultrasound Used for Haiti Relief Effort

Sameer Bhandari, a consultant anaesthetist working with the Merlin medical relief agency in Haiti. Dr. Bhandari explained, "Ultrasound imaging forms a vital part of my work, and so I contacted SonoSite who generously loaned a MicroMaxx system. I was assigned to a small field hospital set up on the courts of a local tennis club, affectionately known as "Wimbledon” by the locals. We were running two operating theaters side-by-side in a large air-conditioned tent, alongside a small accident and emergency department and four "ward” tents. Ultrasound imaging was vital for performing regional blocks and for analgesia, and it proved to be very versatile for many other applications, such as echocardiographs, FAST [focused assessment with sonography for trauma] scans, obstetrics and abdominal scans. We simply would not have been able to do many of the procedures without the MicroMaxx.”

SonoSite, Inc. is a developer of hand-carried ultrasound. The company's small, lightweight systems are expanding the use of ultrasound across the clinical spectrum by cost-effectively bringing high performance ultrasound to the point of patient care.

"The instrument's incredible robustness was crucial, given the very basic working conditions, and its compact and lightweight design made it easy to carry around. It was also swift to boot up and simple to clean. Ease-of-use was central to our ability to perform the many and varied scans required, as was obtaining good image quality with minimal adjustment. Several of my colleagues in Haiti had very little experience performing ultrasound-guided nerve blocks, but the intuitive controls of the MicroMaxx allowed them to exploit it to great effect. If I am asked to go on another disaster relief mission, I'll definitely be taking a SonoSite system with me.”

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