Smartphones in Healthcare

Mobile Technology in Healthcare Audit HealthWatch – A disease surveillance platform

International Centre for Information Systems and Audit (iCISA) 124A Bilateral Training Programme

FBSA, Republic of Iraq

Session IV: Disease surveillance – Role of Technology 27 April 2015

Sunil Malhotra Founder, Ideafarms

Twitter: @sunilmalhotra email: [email protected]. Cell +91 9810000766

© Ideafarms 2015

Mobile Technology in Healthcare Audit

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The under-utilized information system

The past few years have seen an exponential rise in Smartphone usage. From

accessing email, to getting directions, mobile technology has turned the phone into a

powerful, if under-utilized, information system.

A Smartphone is easy to use, portable and has a powerful feature set which has

immense potential to be used in a variety of applications.

To begin exploring this potential, one may consider a single use-case – data

analysis.

Data analysis – the traditional way

Any meaningful analysis of data depends entirely on the quality of data that is

captured. And the method to capture data, which is still quite common in fieldwork, is

the paper form.

Data collected through paper forms has several inherent problems. The first is the

time lag between when the data is captured, and when it is available for analysis.

The second problem is that of data integrity. Forms filled in manually are susceptible

to errors during data capture, as well as during data transfer. The third, and perhaps

the most critical problem, is that of data authenticity. Paper forms can very easily be

used to generate false information.

Raw aggregated data – typically tabulated – is not user friendly. It requires filtering in

order to be useful for decision and policy making.

A Smarter way to capture data

Involving technology can eliminate many of the problems related to data collection,

and offer user-friendly solutions for displaying and analysing data.

Data Analysis Chain

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Capturing data digitally does away with the need for manual data entry, reducing time

as well as the possibility of errors during data transfer. Since a smart device is

capable of storing rules for validation, data can be sanitized at the point of capture,

further ensuring quality of data. Data can be synced to the cloud in near real-time,

thus making it available immediately and irrespective of geographic location.

Data captured by mobile devices are automatically authentic. By binding data capture

with access controls, it is possible to map each dataset to a device and the user of

the device. The advantages are two-fold. First, the dataset can be captured by

authorized individuals only, and second, the authorized individual can be held

accountable, as the dataset is mapped to the user.

HealthWatch – A Case study in Disease Surveillance

Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme

The Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) was launched under the

Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to detect and respond to disease outbreaks

quickly. Under the project, disease surveillance data on epidemic prone diseases are

collected on a weekly basis, through email, telephone and paper and digital forms.

Due to the weekly nature of data collection and multiplicity of data collection

channels, there is a higher risk of loss of data integrity. This data is then analysed

Disease outbreak report (source: idsp.nic.in)

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and disseminated in the form of static reports, typically with a lag of 3 - 6 weeks.

Disease Surveillance with HealthWatch

Every year, infectious diseases claim over 1,96,000 lives of children in India — a

majority of which can be prevented. If there was a way to predict where a disease

outbreak is likely to occur, timely action can be taken to prevent it. It was with this

thought that Ideafarms partnered with St. Stephen’s Hospital to develop the

HealthWatch platform.

HealthWatch, on the one hand, is a disease reporting tool for

doctors, and on the other hand, an analytics tool to help

researchers and epidemiologists predict potential disease

outbreaks and manage them. The main stakeholders of

HealthWatch are WHO, IDSP, Epidemiologists, Researchers

and Media.

The HealthWatch platform (pilot in Delhi-NCR) consists of 2

parts:

• a smart phone app

• a map-based analytics dashboard

© Ideafarms 2015


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Doctors use the App to report diseases as they diagnose them. Each disease and

associated symptoms are mapped to the doctor’s location. Data obtained through the

App is aggregated and presented in real-time on a map for healthcare professionals

to identify vulnerable areas and take appropriate measures to manage the spread of

diseases.

Beyond data capture – Display & Analytics

Data that is captured from the mobile application is aggregated in near real-time and

displayed on a map-based dashboard to quickly view the spread of diseases and

identify vulnerable spots.

The intuitive graphical display of data helps epidemiologists detect a disease

epidemic at an early stage, so that remedial actions can be put in place to manage it.

It is even possible to prevent a potential disease outbreak.

Being an interactive tool, the web reporting dashboard can be used to compare

disease data on the basis of time and location, to spot patterns, and even to

evaluate the effectiveness of special programs by nonprofits, government and civic

agencies.

© Ideafarms 2015


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Highlights

• Accurate, sanitized reporting of disease by doctor by giving them a tool on

their mobile and eliminating the need for a paper form

• Real-time tracking and analysis of disease spread; may lead to prevention of

disease spread to epidemic proportions

• Timely detection of epidemic will allow for timely intervention to provide

healthcare measures — drugs, equipment and practitioners — on location

• A more accurate analysis of possible causes/symptom of disease in an area

The power of the HealthWatch platform lies in its ability to

1. Capture data accurately in near real-time;

2. Display it on a Google Map interface that can be navigated easily; and

3. Allow interactions with the data in a way that helps analysis in an

intuitive manner.

The above features provide a toolkit for effective disease surveillance and proactive

epidemic management.

About Ideafarms

Ideafarms is a company located in the National Capital Region

of India. Ideafarms has had the distinction of being a

trustworthy and competent “smartsourcing” partner of the

Continental AG IT organisation for close to a decade.

Ideafarms has a wide range of competencies for its clients and

partners: it is a Design-led Innovation company that takes

responsibility for the overall user experience across platforms,

viz. Desktops and Mobile devices.

For over 2 years Ideafarms has successfully operated its

SoLoMo (Social, Local, Mobile) Platform through DealChaat –

a hyperlocal advertising and communication conduit between

shoppers and small physical retailers. This has given the

company the chance to understand and work deeply with

Technology (Cloud, Web, Mobile), Design (UI/UX) and Social

Media Channels (Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc.)

www.ideafarms.com

HQ: C 94A, South City 1. GURGAON 122001 Tel: +91 124 4075513

Registered Office: D 3171, Vasant Kunj. NEW DELHI 110070

PRODUCTS

DealChaat

A hyperlocal mobile advertising platform for physical retailers

Website: http://dealchaat.in

Blog: http://dealchaat.in/blog

Play Store: http://bit.ly/QuQhQJ

iTunes: http://apple.co/1hAE05O

FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/DealChaat

Twitter: https://twitter.com/dealchaat

YouTube: http://bitly.com/1Odhz65

HealthWatch

Mobile Epidemic monitoring and disease surveillance

About HealthWatch: http://bit.ly/1PtLglG

HealthWatch dashboard: http://bit.ly/1Emr3um

Play Store: http://bit.ly/1uvAH8O

Smartphones in Healthcare

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