Department of Community Medicine, School of Medical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Kelantan 16150, Malaysia.
Unit of Biostatistics and Research Methodology, School of Medical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Kelantan 16150, Malaysia.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2019 Jul 10;16(14):2453. doi: 10.3390/ijerph16142453.
Prompt investigation of food poisoning outbreak are essential, as it usually involves a short incubation period. Utilizing the advancement in mobile technology, a mobile application named MyMAFI (My Mobile Apps for Field Investigation) was developed with the aim to be an alternative and better tool for current practices of field investigation of food poisoning outbreak. A randomized cross-over trial with two arms and two treatment periods was conducted to assess the effectiveness of the newly developed mobile application as compared to the standard paper-based format approach. Thirty-six public health inspectors from all districts in Kelantan participated in this study and they were randomized into two equal sized groups. Group A started the trial as control group using the paper-format investigation form via simulated outbreaks and group B used the mobile application. After a one-month 'washout period', the group was crossed over. The primary outcome measured was the time taken to complete the outbreak investigation. The treatment effects, the period effects and the period-by-treatment interaction were analyzed using Pkcross command in Stata software. There was a significant treatment effect with mean square 21840.5 and its corresponding F statistic 4.47 (-value = 0.038), which indicated that the mobile application had significantly improve the reporting timeliness. The results also showed that there was a significant period effect (-value = 0.025); however, the treatment by period interaction was not significant (-value = 0.830). The newly developed mobile application-MyMAFI-can improve the timeliness in reporting for investigation of food poisoning outbreak.
食物中毒暴发的及时调查至关重要，因为食物中毒通常潜伏期较短。本研究利用移动技术的进步，开发了一个名为“MyMAFI（我的移动现场调查应用程序）”的移动应用程序，旨在替代目前食物中毒暴发现场调查的标准纸笔格式方法，并作为更好的工具。采用两臂、两治疗期的随机交叉试验来评估新开发的移动应用程序与标准纸笔格式方法相比的效果。本研究共纳入来自吉兰丹州所有地区的 36 名公共卫生检查员，将其随机分为两组。组 A 首先作为对照组使用纸质格式调查表格通过模拟暴发进行调查，组 B 使用移动应用程序。经过一个月的“洗脱期”后，两组交叉。主要结局指标为完成暴发调查所需的时间。使用 Stata 软件中的 Pkcross 命令分析处理效果、时期效果和时期-处理交互作用。处理效果的均方值为 21840.5，对应的 F 统计量为 4.47（-值=0.038），差异有统计学意义，表明移动应用程序显著提高了报告的及时性。结果还显示存在显著的时期效应（-值=0.025）；然而，处理与时期的交互作用不显著（-值=0.830）。新开发的移动应用程序“MyMAFI”可提高食物中毒暴发调查的报告及时性。
