Medical imaging community outreach program: lesson to students and impact to the community

Background The community outreach program is one of the main activities of the University of Rwanda, and both staff and students get involved in this tremendous initiative to serve the community free of charge. Purpose The main objectives of this community engagement activity were to raise awareness of medical imaging services and abdominal ultrasound screening. Methods The project proposal was planned by the Medical Imaging Department, University of Rwanda College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Remera Campus. It took place at Kigali’s main car park. Two ultrasound machines were used, and screening was done by students under supervision of registered sonographers. A cross-sectional design with random sampling was employed, and SPSS version 21 was used for data analysis. Statistical techniques were used to calculate inter-observer reliability by comparing patient complaints and sonographic diagnosis. Results Herein we report the first medical imaging community outreach, on which 86 patients received ultrasound abdominal scans free of charge. Of these, 33 (38.5%) were male and 53 (61.5%) were female. Their ages varied from 20 to 76 years, with a mean age of 48. The screened organs included the liver, gall bladder, pancreas, spleen, kidneys, urinary bladder, prostate, uterus and ovaries, and abnormalities were identified in different organs. The results showed a high degree of reliability between what was presented by the patients and measurements found after diagnosis by the sonographer. The average measure of the intraclass correlation coefficient was 0.973, with 95% confidence intervals ranging from 0.959 to 0.983 ( F (85,85) = 37.537, p < 0.001). Conclusion This experience was beneficial to the Medical Imaging Sciences Department staff and students, as well as to the Society of Medical Imaging and Radiation in Rwanda. The results showed that this outreach was also very positive for the community at large.