Every application (eCompliance, eDetection, eAlert, etc.) is loaded on tablets, which have internet or SMS connectivity. They upload all data on a server, which collates it into various reports. Data is regularly analyzed by supervisors within Operation ASHA. EMR has eliminated the staff needed for data collection, collation and analysis and reduced supervisory and administrative costs.
The data from EMR has also been analyzed by research organizations including University College London, which has published the results in Public Health Action: https://goo.gl/rsr6fh
Electronic Medical Record (EMR) System:
The data is encrypted and sent by all applications every 20 minutes through a SIM card that is inserted in each tablet on which the applications are loaded. This data is populated in an Electronic Medical Record System. It is web-based and is available through the Internet, at the click of a button.
The EMR also collates the data in various formats designed by different Government authorities and Operation ASHA. Thus, the National Manager is able to access reports for the entire Intervention Area and use them to analyze, improve and make policy and take budgeting decisions. The provincial and district level also have the same capacity, but for their own areas. The field supervisor can look at the data for his area and analyze and improve the performance of field staff. The field staff examines the data of individual patients, analyzes their behavior and ensures high adherence and treatment success rate.
Thus, whereas a field supervisor can see the progress of an individual patient and whether the patient has taken the dose on a given day, and the time at which the dose was taken, the National Director can see the progress of the overall program. This is a capability which has been envisaged, devised and implemented for the first time spread across the world.
- Over 9,000 TB patients
- Diabetic status of about 10,000 persons and further tests for many of them
- Mental health status of 500 symptomatics of TB
- Lab results for thousands of subjects
- Thousands of symptomatics of TB
Discussions are continuing with many other organizations in half a dozen countries for replication of EMR, eCompliance and other technologies of Operation ASHA. EMR has been designed to handle millions of subjects spread across the world.
