{"64138":{"#nid":"64138","#data":{"type":"news","title":"GTRI Supports Health Resources Systems in Kenya and Zimbabwe","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EResearchers from the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) are helping to automate human resource information systems for health care professionals in two African nations, Kenya and Zimbabwe.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EIn collaboration with Emory University\u0027s Lillian Carter Center for International Nursing and the Task Force for Global Health, GTRI is evaluating and advising on computer systems developed to provide information for better human resource management, policy development and health planning.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe aim of the Kenyan effort, called the Kenya Health Work Force Project (KHWFP), is to move information on the nation\u0027s health care professionals from a decentralized paper system to a computer database. This human resources information system would help Kenyan authorities manage and deploy critical personnel such as nurses, physicians and others. That capability, in turn, would bolster the nation\u2019s battle against multiple heath challenges, including HIV\/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe KHWFP is supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and implemented through the Lillian Carter Center.  It is funded through the CDC by the President\u0027s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), launched by former President George W. Bush in 2002.   \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe project has made substantial progress.  A custom software database -- the Kenya Health Care Work Force Informatics System -- has been developed by KHWFP using local Kenyan programmers.  In early 2009, GTRI joined the effort to carry out an independent software evaluation of the new system.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022Before the Kenya Health Work Force Project can be completed, we need to show that its information-systems software will effectively support Kenya\u0027s health care effort and perform according to expectations,\u0022 said Martha F. Rogers, M.D., a professor in Emory\u0027s Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing and principal investigator for the workforce-informatics project. \u0022The GTRI team is helping us reach that goal by testing and evaluating both the software and the overall usability of the system.\u0022\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EKenya\u0027s health-care system follows a centralized model, explained Christopher Skeels, a research scientist who leads the evaluation work for GTRI. Health care personnel records have traditionally been kept on several paper-based systems at government organizations that track multiple aspects of health care professionals\u0027 training and professional practice.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EStarting with the Nursing Council of Kenya\u0027s records, the new informatics software is in the process of transferring the paper systems\u0027 functionality to an online database. The aim is to maintain all information on that database and phase out the paper system.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EIf the new approach is successful, all of Kenya\u0027s health care workforce records would be automated using a similar approach.  \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe GTRI team found that off-the-shelf software-evaluation programs and protocols weren\u0027t right for testing the Kenyan informatics system. Existing products were costly and didn\u0027t apply well to situations like Kenya\u0027s, where technical capacity and infrastructure are still developing. \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022As a result, we had the opportunity to design a software-evaluation protocol from scratch, based on the international ISO standard for such evaluations,\u0022 Skeels said. \u0022We spent half a year developing a full protocol, so that we could test whether the Kenyan informatics system was ready to do its job and capable of being adapted and upgraded down the road.\u0022 \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EIn addition to testing the Kenyan software in a Georgia Tech lab, the GTRI team visited Kenya to evaluate how beta versions of the informatics software were faring at the Nursing Council.  The team examined the existing IT environment -- hardware, software, network specifications and hardware placement -- and conducted extensive interviews with council personnel.  The result was the Nursing Council of Kenya Transition Assessment Report, authored by Skeels, Rogers, and GTRI researchers Heyward Adams, Robert Delano and Philip Marquardt.  \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe team found a number of areas that needed attention. These included issues with the workforce informatics software itself in the areas of usability, maintainability and portability. In addition, the assessment report pointed to several network and user training challenges, and some IT-infrastructure concerns as well.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EAmong the more pressing issues is the fact that Kenya\u0027s plans call for the workforce software to be adapted for use by other Ministry of Health groups such as those overseeing doctors and clinical technicians, Skeels noted.  Thus, a key task will involve making sure the software can be readily maintained and updated by programmers other than the original developer, and confirming that the code can be ported to a variety of operating systems.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022While we found  a number of significant areas that need to be addressed, we\u0027re confident that the Kenya Health Work Force Project can be completed successfully,\u0022 Skeels said.  \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe GTRI team made a number of recommendations in the areas of hardware, information-technology software and capacity and management issues.  A new contract with Emory calls for GTRI researchers to support Kenyan developers and the Nursing Council IT staff in implementing those recommendations during 2011. \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022We will actively brainstorm and design with the Kenyan programmers -- working face-to-face in Kenya and also via email and telephone -- to help them address these issues,\u0022 Skeels said.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EIn another project also sponsored by the CDC and PEPFAR, GTRI is working with Judith Wold, a clinical professor at the Emory School of Nursing\u0027s Lillian Carter Center for International Nursing, to help establish a health care workforce database system in Zimbabwe. A GTRI team first travelled to Zimbabwe in July 2009 with Wold, who is principal investigator on the Zimbabwe project, to discuss the work with government officials there.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022That project is moving forward, and we\u0027re very excited about it,\u0022 Skeels said. \u0022We will be in on the ground floor, advising Zimbabwean developers on the design of a database model and a user-interface model tailored to the needs of that nation\u2019s health care system.\u0022\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe Republic of Kenya, located in east Africa, ranks 33rd in the world in terms of population with 38.6 million people and has a land area of 224,081 square miles.  The Republic of Zimbabwe in southern Africa has a population of 12.6 million people and a land area of 150,872 square miles.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EResearch News \u0026amp; Publications Office\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nGeorgia Institute of Technology\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n75 Fifth Street, N.W., Suite 314\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nAtlanta, Georgia  30308  USA\n\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EMedia Relations Assistance\u003C\/strong\u003E: Kirk Englehardt (404-407-7280)(\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:kirk.englehardt@gtri.gatech.edu\u0022\u003Ekirk.englehardt@gtri.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E) or John Toon (404-894-6986)(\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jtoon@gatech.edu\u0022\u003Ejtoon@gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E).\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWriter\u003C\/strong\u003E: Rick Robinson\n\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EResearchers from the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) are helping to automate human resource information systems for health care professionals in two African nations, Kenya and Zimbabwe.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Georgia Tech is helping two African nations with database technology."}],"uid":"27303","created_gmt":"2011-02-08 01:00:00","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:08:06","author":"John Toon","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2011-02-08T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2011-02-08T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"64139":{"id":"64139","type":"image","title":"Working on human resource software","body":null,"created":"1449176720","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:05:20","changed":"1475894564","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:42:44","alt":"Working on human resource software","file":{"fid":"191949","name":"trv96760.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/trv96760_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/trv96760_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1772485,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/trv96760_0.jpg?itok=LTyY_dqW"}},"64140":{"id":"64140","type":"image","title":"Assisting Zimbabwe","body":null,"created":"1449176720","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:05:20","changed":"1475894564","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:42:44","alt":"Assisting Zimbabwe","file":{"fid":"191950","name":"tuy96760.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/tuy96760_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/tuy96760_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1019542,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/tuy96760_0.jpg?itok=BCeOXTKh"}},"64141":{"id":"64141","type":"image","title":"Working on human resource software","body":null,"created":"1449176720","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:05:20","changed":"1475894564","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:42:44","alt":"Working on human resource software","file":{"fid":"191951","name":"tmg96760.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/tmg96760_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/tmg96760_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1151485,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/tmg96760_0.jpg?itok=WDK5YLbd"}}},"media_ids":["64139","64140","64141"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.gtri.gatech.edu\/","title":"Georgia Tech Research Institute"}],"groups":[{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"}],"categories":[{"id":"153","name":"Computer Science\/Information Technology and Security"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"1542","name":"database"},{"id":"416","name":"GTRI"},{"id":"398","name":"health"},{"id":"1620","name":"Information"},{"id":"8766","name":"kenya"},{"id":"11850","name":"Zimbabwe"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EJohn Toon\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EResearch News \u0026amp; Publications Office\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.gatech.edu\/contact\/index.html?id=jt7\u0022\u003EContact John Toon\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E404-894-6986\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["jtoon@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}