Kibera Medical Records Initiative : application of geographic information systems to electronic medical records for use in urban slums; final technical report

Date

2015-06

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Innovative Canadians for Change Foundation, Edmonton, AB, CA

Abstract

The health of people living in urban slums is compromised by social and environmental factors along with inappropriate access health care because of a fragmented health care system. In an effort to connect this health care system and to improve the health of populations in slums, a cloud-based primary care Electronic Medical Record (EMR) system was created. Geocoding patient information within the EMR system could enhance the capacity of such a system to identify outbreaks and areas in need of public health interventions. A Geographic Information System (GIS) in the OpenMRS-based Kibera Medical Record Initiative (KMRI) EMR was developed with OpenLayers and mapping features from MapKibera. Significant modifications to the core code of OpenMRS were required to address the needs of the clinics, health care personnel and the Kibera environment. This novel technology allows the user to generate real-time reports of diseases, and the general locations of cases with each specified disease (for example: Malaria) is illustrated on the map. The system is currently in use at one clinic and onboarding of additional clinics is in progress. The system has great potential to impact the health of individuals and the population at large by facilitating targeted public health interventions and improving local disease surveillance. Future areas of research include evaluating the effect of the system on public health surveillance and assessing utilization of the GIS feature by users.

Description

Keywords

KENYA, E-HEALTH, ELECTRONIC HEALTH RECORDS, SPATIAL DATABASE, CAPACITY BUILDING, SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT, ORGANIZATION OF HEALTH CARE, SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH, DISEASE CONTROL, HEALTH ADMINISTRATION, MAPPING

Citation

DOI