Application of smart phone in "Better Border Healthcare Program": A module for mother and child care

Type Journal Article - BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making
Title Application of smart phone in "Better Border Healthcare Program": A module for mother and child care
Author(s)
Volume 10
Issue 1
Publication (Day/Month/Year) 2010
Page numbers 69
URL http://www.biomedcentral.com/1472-6947/10/69/
Abstract
Background

To assess the application of cell phone integrating into the healthcare system to improve antenatal care (ANC) and expanded programme on immunization (EPI) services for the under-served population in border area.
Methods

A module combining web-based and mobile technology was developed to generate ANC/EPI visit schedule dates in which the healthcare personnel can cross-check, identify and update the mother's ANC and child's EPI status at the healthcare facility or at the household location when performing home visit; with additional feature of sending appointment reminder directly to the scheduled mother in the community.
Results

The module improved ANC/EPI coverage in the study area along the country border including for both Thai and non-Thai mothers and children who were either permanent resident or migrants; numbers of ANC and EPI visit on-time as per schedule significantly increased; there was less delay of antenatal visits and immunizations.
Conclusions

The module integrated and functioned successfully as part of the healthcare system; it is proved for its feasibility and the extent to which community healthcare personnel in the low resource setting could efficiently utilize it to perform their duties.

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