Much of the basic general medical care and chronic disease management in rural Honduras comes from groups of volunteers setting up temporary clinics run by volunteers. These clinics, also known as brigades, or medical missions, are often criticized for their lack of quality and the lack of follow-up, both of which stem, in part, from understaffing with volunteer physicians. This study is designed to assess if it is feasible, safe, and acceptable to treat patients in short-term mobile medical clinics in rural Honduras using US physicians connected with patients by videoconference.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
DIAGNOSTIC
Masking
TRIPLE
Enrollment
144
Patients undergo a detailed history and examination to the degree that is possible using the videoconference program, skype, a digital camera for high-resolution images, and an electronic stethoscope. A clinic volunteer aids with examination, translation and documentation.
Patients undergo a detailed history and examination by an in-person physician. A clinic volunteer aids with examination, translation and documentation, as needed.
Global Brigades
Tegucigalpa, Francisco Morazán Department, Honduras
Clinical Diagnoses
The diagnoses resulting from the two physician visits will be compared and a cohen's kappa statistic will be calculated for diagnoses between the visits.
Time frame: Same Day as clinic visit (less than 6 hours)
Recommended clinical treatments
After each of a patient's two physician visits, the physician's resulting recommended treatments will be gathered for comparison between the two visits.
Time frame: Same Day as clinic visit (less than 6 hours)
Patient opinions of physician interactions
Patients will receive a survey following each interaction with a doctor. These surveys cover communication, comfort and satisfaction.
Time frame: Immediately following physician interactions (less than 6 hours)
Physician opinions of patient interactions
doctors will fill out a survey about their patient interactions after they complete their experience volunteering with the clinic.
Time frame: immediately following volunteer activities with the clinic (less than 48 hours)
Volunteer opinions of physician-patient interactions
Volunteers who helped with physician interactions will receive a survey about their experience concerning physician patient communication, volunteer educational value and perceived value of the experience.
Time frame: immediately following experience with the clinic (Less than 48 hours)
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