Case Study 2010

Healthcare in an East
African Country
Local examples of IT & Healthcare

Made by: Natalia Salaverria & Maria

Rivera
.
Case Study Situation: Dr. OOgola
wants to integrate the records from
Village A, B, C and Oobunta
Local example: A doctor in a
small medical practice who deals
with a mix of paper & e-records.
 Q1. When starting your
business, why did you never
consider the use of
technology to store data?
I began my medical practice 29 years ago, when there wasn’t
availability of technology to keep e-records of patients;
everything was done manually.
 Q2. What do you consider are the
advantages of using paper records?
There aren't really any advantages; we have a mixed in
between e-records and paper records for all our patients.
Personal information about patients we have them stored
using computers.
However the diagnostic records of patients are not able to
be kept using technology, but instead a paper record
because when carrying out the procedure on the patient it
is necessary to have it in a hard copy as having it on
computer will interfere with the other equipment used by
the doctor while carrying out the procedure on the
patient.
At the end of each procedure the patient needs to sign
his/her diagnostic record and it is much easier to do it
with a pen.
 Q3. Have you ever consider
changing from paper records to
electronic records. Why?
Yes, we have done it already.

We have a mix; the personal records (address, phone

number, etc) of the patient we keep them electronically,
and the diagnostic records of the patient we keep them using
paper records.
 Q4. What do you consider are
the disadvantages of using
paper records?
Well basically the space required to store all of the patients
medical records.
That paper records decay through time; e.g.. The ink is
illegible.
 Q5. Do you think it is a good
idea to have a combination of
both paper and e-records?
Yes, definitely and that’s what we do.
For example when an old patient calls to make an
appointment, we have his/her personal records kept
electronically including the # of his/her diagnostic paper
record; it is easier for us to search for the patients assigned
diagnostic record number electronically, to later search for
the diagnostic paper record in our files.
 Q6. Do you think using
electronic records only will
boost the efficiency of your
medical practice (working at
a faster rate, etc.
No, because we cannot keep everything in an electronically;
especially the diagnostic part which needs to be done
manually for all patients.
 How it applies to the
case study
Village A- Medical records are stored using desktop
computers which form a ‘’peer to peer network’’. The
interview shows how the use of electronic records can
be useful to store information about the patient etc,
but at the same time it depends how this records are
used, otherwise this can be time consuming.
In the case study, as it is shown how villages are
connected with Oobunta hospital , the use of electronic
records can be a benefit because with the use of
Internet access they can receive help from other
sources such as the hospital as records can be shared
with them by e-mail.
Village B & the hospital also use online records. At the
same time we think that village B should not use
electronic records, first of all because there is no
internet connection, therefore information cant be
shared within other parties.
At the same time, it shows how village B has only one
computer where the information is kept. If there are
any problems with the computer such as HD, power
supply etc this can be a problem because patients who
visit the clinic will not be able to access their
information which tends to slow down the working
efficiency of the clinic.
Village C uses paper record, as there are no IT facilities
available. As stated in the interview this can be an
advantage because patients can have a hard copy as
well as doctors in which they can easily refer to.
From the interview it is seen how a combination of both
paper and electronically records is a good method as
each of them meet different purposes. At the same
time it is important to notice that in places such as
Oobunta Hospital etc the use of computers for
electronic records causes no interference with other
medical machines that are used at the same time.