Hospitals in Tanzania Test Digital Pen
Dec 04 2009, Tanzania [TZ], Health
- Source:
- Bernadette Huizinga [bhuizinga(at)iicd.org]
- Country:
- Tanzania [TZ]
- Sector:
- Health
IT managers of several hospitals in Tanzania will test a digital pen that could potentially benefit hospital doctors. The pen can convert doctor’s handwriting into a digital file which is easier to archive and takes up less space.
The test is a small part of an IICD-supported project to digitise hospital data, and will take place at Evangelical Lutheran Church Tanzania (ELCT) hospitals in Arusha and Mwanza in January 2010.
Hospitals benefit from digital documents that can be easily shared and stored. Handwritten patient files can get easily lost, and if patient data have to be sent from one hospital to the next, the files can take a long time to get there.
“Using a computer and a keyboard to enter data could be a solution,” says Israel Pascal, technical project officer in Arusha. “Doctors are currently using normal keyboards for data input. But doctors are reluctant to use a keyboard often, because of slowness in typing and the typing errors they make. It would be much more convenient if their handwriting could just be converted automatically into a digital file. The pen that we will experiment with now, can do that.”
The first results from Arusha will be in at the end of January. Then the pen will be tested at several medical facilities in and around Mwanza. If successful, the hospitals will order more pens. The ELCT hospitals and those in Mwanza are both part of IICD-supported Hospital Management Information System (HMIS) projects. With the project, hospitals can easily collect, store and analyse data on patient registration, billing, laboratory, pharmacy, stock/inventory, x-ray and ward management by using digital tools.