Utility of Point-of-Care Ultrasound in A Resource-Limited Health Care Setting in Southeast Ghana: A Needs Assessment

Background Many proven benefits of point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) are increasingly recognized, including being non-invasive, cost-effective, and of significant diagnostic value. Evidence for these benefits has been replicated in variable settings. However, litle is known about the utilization of POCUS in the developing world and in an out-of-hospital, resource-limited setting. This needs assessment study describes utilization of POCUS in rural Ghana. Methods We performed retrospective analysis of data from medical missions to Southeast Ghana, evaluating the utilization of POCUS in a rural resource-limited health setting. The first mission trip took place in the Oti region between January 25th, 2023, and February 1st, 2023. The second was in the Volta region between February 19th, 2023, and February 24th, 2023. These missions established out-of-hospital remote clinics for walk in patients who are informed about the clinic by the word of mouth by their community leaders and neighbors. We included all POCUS scans performed as part of those missions. Findings A total of 128 POCUS studies were performed and included in this analysis. Studies were performed for 111 patients (median age 23 years; 49.9% male). Twelve distinct types of sonographic studies were performed. Notably, 48.4% revealed significant findings that helped to confirm a working diagnosis and subsequently formulate or optimize plan of management. A therapeutic intervention was made based on US findings in 16.4% of encounters, while a referral to higher level of care was recommended in 27.3% of cases. Reassurance with ruling out a main differential diagnosis was the case in 7% of encounters. Conclusion POCUS is effective and can be utilized for a wide range of types of scans effectively in out-of-hospital resource-limited settings in rural Ghana with significant impact on clinical decision-making process. ### Competing Interest Statement Nova Panebianco receives industry grant funding from Butterfly Network Inc. Mahmoud Mohamed Elfadil, Gwen Baraniecki-Zwil, Mobolaji H Fowose, Julia Schiff, Maham Munawar, and Jeffrey A. Kramer has no conflict of interest to disclose. ### Funding Statement This study did not receive any funding ### Author Declarations I confirm all relevant ethical guidelines have been followed, and any necessary IRB and/or ethics committee approvals have been obtained. Yes The details of the IRB/oversight body that provided approval or exemption for the research described are given below: Ethics committee/IRB of University of Pennsylvania, Perelman School of Medicine gave ethical approval for this work I confirm that all necessary patient/participant consent has been obtained and the appropriate institutional forms have been archived, and that any patient/participant/sample identifiers included were not known to anyone (e.g., hospital staff, patients or participants themselves) outside the research group so cannot be used to identify individuals. Yes I understand that all clinical trials and any other prospective interventional studies must be registered with an ICMJE-approved registry, such as ClinicalTrials.gov. I confirm that any such study reported in the manuscript has been registered and the trial registration ID is provided (note: if posting a prospective study registered retrospectively, please provide a statement in the trial ID field explaining why the study was not registered in advance). Yes I have followed all appropriate research reporting guidelines, such as any relevant EQUATOR Network research reporting checklist(s) and other pertinent material, if applicable. Yes All data produced in the present study are available upon reasonable request to the authors