Department of Public Health, College of Health Sciences, Mekelle University, P.O. Box 1871, Mekelle, Ethiopia; Department of Family Medicine, CAPHRI School for Public Health and Primary Care, Maastricht University, Peter Debyeplein 1, 6229 HA Maastricht, P.O. Box 616, 6200 MD Maastricht, The Netherlands; Department of Surgery, School of Medicine, University of Alcala, 28871, Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain.
Department of Family Medicine, CAPHRI School for Public Health and Primary Care, Maastricht University, Peter Debyeplein 1, 6229 HA Maastricht, P.O. Box 616, 6200 MD Maastricht, The Netherlands.
J Clin Epidemiol. 2015 Jan;68(1):80-6. doi: 10.1016/j.jclinepi.2014.09.006. Epub 2014 Oct 22.
Feasibility assessment of mobile health (mHealth) data collection at primary health care in Ethiopia.
A total of 14 health workers were recruited from 12 primary health care facilities to use smartphones, installed with customized data collection application and electronic maternal health care forms for assessing pregnant women's health for 6 months. Qualitative approaches comprising in-depth interviews and field notes were used to document the users' perception and experience in using the application and forms.
All health workers had never had previous exposure to smartphones and electronic forms, but they got used to them easily. Over 6 months, all health workers completed a total of 952 patient records using the forms on smartphones. Health workers' acceptability and demand for the application and forms were high. In introducing the application, nontechnical challenges were more difficult to solve than technical challenges.
Introducing an mHealth application at primary health care for routine collection of health data relevant to maternal health at a small scale was feasible. Nonetheless, implementing a system of assigning unique and consistent patient identifier, standardization of health services, and improving mobile network coverage would be prerequisites for scaled-up usage of such an application.
评估在埃塞俄比亚基层医疗保健中使用移动健康（mHealth）进行数据收集的可行性。
从 12 个基层医疗保健机构共招募了 14 名卫生工作者，他们使用智能手机，安装了定制的数据收集应用程序和电子孕产妇保健表格，对孕妇健康状况进行评估，为期 6 个月。采用定性方法，包括深入访谈和现场记录，记录用户对应用程序和表格的看法和使用经验。
所有卫生工作者以前都没有接触过智能手机和电子表格，但他们很快就习惯了。在 6 个月内，所有卫生工作者都使用智能手机完成了总共 952 名患者的记录。卫生工作者对该应用程序和表格的接受度和需求很高。在引入应用程序时，非技术挑战比技术挑战更难解决。
在基层医疗保健中引入 mHealth 应用程序，以小规模常规收集与孕产妇健康相关的健康数据是可行的。然而，要大规模使用这样的应用程序，需要具备分配唯一且一致的患者标识符、标准化卫生服务以及改善移动网络覆盖等前提条件。
