As soon as Carlos Miranda Levy reached the field hospitals in Haiti, it became apparent that some sort of mobile medical apps would be needed to track patient records.
The process of identifying the need, brainstorming potential solutions and putting together a field trial happened through Facebook wall comments, Twitter, Email, Google Docs and a Gmail group, MedApps4Haiti.
The timeline is as follows:
Friday Jan 22, 2010
8:34 am @carlosmiranda We need someone to research the current iphone apps for managing and treating patients, so docs can use, don’t have internet to do myself
8:59 am @msquihuis 10-50 iphone donations needed to collect patient data in Haiti DM if you can help #haiti
11:35 am Carlos Miranda Levy posts a note on his Facebook wall:
We’re setting up a protocol for gathering patient data quickly in the field hospital and improvised tents. The iPhone came up in our discussion as a convenient mobile data entry device. Can you help us find donations for at least 50 iPhones, at least 10 to start? We can set it up so that they are formally received by one of the foundations (One Race Global Film Foundation, Yele, etc.) or universities we have contact with (Harvard, Stanford, UNIBE, UNAPEC, etc.) Do you know someone who knows someone who can be called? Can you help getting some? We can document in video, photos and text, development, deployment, usage, on a daily basis.
https://health.google.com/ health
you can use one Google account and create many patient records under the same account (bottom left: caring for someone?) and track each record separately. But you’re going to need net access.
http://groundcontrol.com/H aiti_Satellite_Internet.ht m?gclid=CLbb0tS1uZ8CFRKfnAodxjZw0g
Looks like they’re already in Haiti and on board with the ability to deliver equipment to setup a connection. For about 20K you could set up unlimited access for 2 months (2Mb-down/1Mb-up).
Jon Katz is extending it.
Although, the specs we are putting together include the ability to work offline and then transfer data or upload it to a server at a later time.
@ Carlos: Will wait for details. As soon as I have them the work will start here. Send details of what you want asap
10:23 pm @CajunTechie @carlosmiranda is the point person on the ground for the data collection need. #haiti #help #patientdata
10:31 pm @CajunTechie I’m taking you up on the offer & pinged on you Facebook- Carlos Miranda Levy (@carlosmiranda) has a thread on reqs for the app
Jan 23 2010
9 am: Alejandro Miranda jr starts working with Seth from Harvard on defining specs for patient registry data system.
11 am:Laura Diaz starts working on a patient registry, taking info manually and writing it a notebook.
12:30pm – Laura’s sister does rounds with the doctors, reviewing/completing patient registry.
Jan 24 2010
10am – start of e-mail exchange with international IT, social work and relief work experts to define, implement patient registry digital system.
Jan 25 2010
9am – Laura enters data collected by hand the day before by hand on a Google Docs spreadsheet and shares it with the international group working on drafting specs (Harvard, Stanford, India, United Nations, Dominican Republic Ministry of Health, UNIBE university, etc.).
4pm – Reviewed patient registry done by Laura and took some patient pictures to improve/update/test it.
Jan 25 2010
11:45 am MedApps4Haiti google group created
Jan 26 2010
1:58pm @carlosmiranda iPhone developers needed for patient registry application extensions in the DR, Haiti and/or USA
4pm Meeting at local World Health Organization / Panamerican Health Organization headquarters with UNIBE and Harvard and local UN Health cluster. Laura, Alejandro Miranda and myself attend. Darwin Muñoz from UNIBE, Dr. Elizabeth Cote from Harvard, and Dr. Alejandro Báez from UN Health Cluster and Dr. Román where present.
8:46 pm RT @CarlosMiranda: meeting World Health Organization, Harvard and Unibe to coordinate patient registry system to track earthquake survivors
Jan 27 2010
8:47 am RT @CarlosMiranda: iPhone developers needed for patient registry application extensions in the DR, Haiti and/or USA#haiti #help #iphone
Jan 28 2010
8:03 pm @carlosmiranda installing www.caretools.com iChart iPhone app to collect+manage patient data of earthquake survivors in #Haiti
11:30pm I meet by chance with UNICEF and UNCHR personnel and share with them our patient registry template and pilot data from the field and invite them to comment on it.
Jan 29 2010
3pm I meet with Harvard’s team to discuss the iphone application for patient data gathering.
Enoch Choi how’s iChart working for you?
January 29 at 11:21pm · Comment · Like · See Wall-to-Wall
Jan 31 2010
11:15 am @msquihuis iChart modified by Caretools- includes special field for data gathering in the field including picture taking from within the app #haiti
11:16 am @msquihuis iChart #iphone app successfully used to collect 100 patient records #haiti field hospital #medapps4haiti @carlosmiranda#help
Feb 1 2010
Dr. Elizabeth Cote, from Harvard Humane Initiative, collects patient data at Fond Parisien, Haiti using iPhone and iCharts from www.CareTools.com. The developers were kind enough to customize the form in less than a week to support fields and info required to comply with international disaster data collection standards.
Feb 2 2010
Enoch Choi thanks to Jonathan Manis Senior Vice President, CIO Sutter Health’s “Haiti Donation Committee” for 5 iPhones and iChart licenses (http://www.caretools.com/) to plug into the Haiti national EMR, and for Steven Lane for soliciting the donation and leading our Haiti EMR efforts!
Very interesting. In the video it is nice to see how the patient interacts with the doctor while the information is collected. She addresses the doctor in Creole even though the doctor appears to only speak French. People should be aware that French will only get you so far in Haiti (especially if it is only basic French). So a Creole translation device is also needed if anything complicated is to be discussed. I know Google has a fairly good one going in Beta.Question: how is the data stored and transfered? These phones seem like they can easily be lost.
Thanks to Apple & AT&T for 10 iPhone 3GS we’re using to electronically document medical records – we were asked by the United Nations to pilot iChart as Haiti’s new national EMR, we entered hundreds of records last trip, and plan to use it in the tents this trip leaving tonight! " – thanks to this MedApps4Haiti effort ( Carlos Miranda Levy and wife @laura )
I’ve been trying to get as much information on openemr related content because of a paper I am writing. Reading this was both helpful and informative, thanks.