Reply To: Week 3 Topic 1 Significance of health informatics

[Pyae Phyo Aung]

Have you ever observed a health informatics project in your (other) organization? Please provide a brief introduction.
Yes, I have been observing health informatics projects in our organization. Those projects are OpenMRS(Open Medical Record System), LIMS (Lab information management system) and GeneAlert.
OpenMRS is for HIV,TB and Hepatitis C program.
LIMS is to record HIV viral load testing data of all State/Region in a single database.
GeneAlert system use in TB program and alert immediately is drug resistant strain is found. GeneAlert system automatically send SMS to health care provider including information about patient ID and result of Gene X pert (Rifampicin Resistant).
2. Do you think that this health informatics project can help to improve the current practices, how?
Yes, OpenMRS can health patient management and data recording and reporting system. It reduce the workload of health care provider.
LIMS help creating national level dashboard which can monitor the every detail and help management level for better decision making and action taking.
GeneAlert help sending SMS to health care provider and provider can appoint the patient fast and provide treatment early.
3. Are there any challenges or difficulty in implementing the project?
Challenges in OpenMRS, as It is individual patient recording system, health care providers need certain extend of computer literacy. Infrastructure, internet connection and user attitudes are challenging points.
In LIMS, data are not directly import from viral load testing machine. Lab technicians enter the data into LIMS manually therefore there might be chance of human errors.
In GeneAlert, good internet is required and health care providers SIM card status.
As mobile phone and SIM are getting cheaper, people frequently change their SIM in our country. If a SIM registered in GeneAlert system is changed or not working properly, the alert will not reach to health care providers and there will be delay in services delivery.