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Development of a Digital Assistant to Support Teleconsultations Between Remote Physicians and Frontline Health
Neha Verma1, Harold Lehmann1, Amal Afroz Alam2
1Division of Health Sciences Informatics, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, United States.
JMIR Human Factors
|February 2, 2023
Summary
Frontline health workers (FHWs) in low-income countries can improve telemedicine by using a new digital assistant. This tool helps FHWs perform tasks, enhancing care quality and efficiency in teleconsultations.
Area of Science:
- Digital Health Innovations
- Global Health Technology
- Health Systems Strengthening
Background:
- Telemedicine programs connect frontline health workers (FHWs) in rural areas with urban physicians in low- and middle-income countries.
- These programs aim to improve healthcare quality, expand access to specialists, and reduce healthcare delivery costs and time.
Purpose of the Study:
- To identify, validate, and prioritize unmet needs in health worker-to-physician telemedicine.
- To develop and refine a solution addressing identified healthcare needs.
Main Methods:
- Ethnographic research, direct observation, and semistructured interviews with 37 stakeholders in rural India.
- Utilized the Spiral-Iterative Innovation Model for prototype development.
Main Results:
- Identified 74 unmet needs in telemedicine programs.
- Developed a prototype digital assistant to enable FHWs to perform tasks like history taking and physical examination, addressing the need for task-shifting.
- Incorporated user feedback from patients, FHWs, physicians, and health organizations into the tool's design.
Conclusions:
- The developed prototype, an open-source digital public good, has the potential to enhance the quality and efficiency of care in telemedicine programs.
- Stakeholders found the task-shifting tool useful and valuable for improving teleconsultations.
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