Technology Salon

Now that your interest was piqued with last month’s SMS for Development Technology Salon, get ready for SMS4D-2: the Cloudy Salon.

As I listened to Mike McKay, former country director of the Baobab Health Partnership, speak about how his organization is improving patient care with ICT in Malawi, I was struck by four key themes in Baobab’s solution:

Mike McKay of Baobab Health

1. Start with Patient Data
2. Keep Technology Easy to Use & Modify
3. Always Build Local Capacity
4. Project Poverty is an Advantage

Now neither Mike, nor Baobab’s founder, Gerry Douglas, made all these points explicitly, but they are the takeaways we can learn the most from.
Start with Patient Data
Knowing a patient’s past medical history is critical to continuity of care, particularly for patients with chronic illness. Do you know if the patient in front of you has tuberculosis? Or HIV? Or both plus malaria? Or is on any other medications or has any peculiarities you should know about them before you diagnose or treat their current ailment? If you had their medical records, you may.

In last month’s Technology Salon, we looked at Health Information Systems that improved reporting systems for governments. But what about improving patient care? Giving clinicians support and feedback at the point of care can bring about immediate changes in diagnosis and treatment, and start the reporting process with high-quality data.