For a quick intro pls see: https://drive.google.com/file/d/168TTZsNef43Awmxz3iALMhx2saVk5ihe/view?usp=sharing
The problem & the idea
Data may be the driver for change, improvement and understanding, in many sectors, amongst these also healthcare. Patient data is an important creator of knowledge both on an individual level but also on a group, regional or country level. On an individual level, patient data may support and build the clinical decisions, it may provide more efficient treatment, both in regard to time and economy and secure that knowledge about the individual is transferred fast and unbiased to the healthcare staff. For the patient, sharing of his/her data will secure a better understanding of the needs and support better diagnosis and treatment.
Patient data are collected and noticed in some form in most countries, either on paper or electronically. Many countries have some sort of an electronic patient journal, either on a country level, regionally or locally. However, many countries also still use pen & paper. This challenges the storage and continuity of data collection and transfer. Patient data records in electronic form reduces the risk of losing valuable data but also allows the data to be shared if needed.
The acknowledgement of the importance on several levels of having patient data and the absence of a central, regional or local electronic patient data recording system in Sub-saharan African countries (the target region) initiated the idea of looking at how it would be possible to collect and make patient data readily available for treatment, benefitting both patient and caregiver, and in a bigger perspective, for research and strategic healthcare initiative planning.
During small initial market and possibility investigations the idea of creating a patient owned electronic healthdata journal app arose. Mobiletechnology is both greatly advantaged and outspread in the target region and the number of mobile consumers are increasing every year.
It was and is anticipated, that the possibility of having a central system is, due to structural and financial reasons, not a possibility but to empower the patient with the ownership of own data through an app seemed a possibility. It is important to underline that data must be generated from the healthcare provider and then fed into the patientjournal at the site of the consultation.
The idea is to have the most relevant data collected and stored in the app, ie. medication, allergies, blood type, diagnosis and immunizations. The data that will go into the app is transferred from a healthcare provider at the site of the healthcare visit, eg a clinique, hospital, other. That means that the healthcare provider must have access to a tablet or smartphone containing the healthcare provider app which connects to the patients healthcare data app at the visit. Also any healthcare provider with the app will followingly get access to the data from the patient by connecting (and by being given access by the patient) to get patients healthdata app.
So, in summary the basic idea is to provide all citizens with a tool that will help them keep track of their most important healthcare related data including completed and planned treatments, diagnosis, tests, allergies etc.
The idea is further that the data is owned by the citizens/patients, and not by the non-existing national or any hospital specific system.
Upon each contact with the healthcare personnel the patient's information is updated by the healthcare personnel (e.g. symptoms, diagnosis, tests, treatment, next visit etc.)
The basic idea/assumption is that no national healthcare system will be developed in near or short-term future, and that a personally owned "electronic patient journal" can have a significant positive impact on the quality of treatments because of a more complete picture of the patient is available at the time, when a diagnosis and treatment is to be decided.