An electronic health record system with information sharing and data re-use capabilities for diabetic patients
Date
2020
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Abstract
Diabetes is a significant cause of adult disability and death in Ghana. People living with
diabetes experience complex psychosocial challenges, including psychological and emotional
insecurities, limited social support, and inadvertent HIV/AIDS stigma. Management and self-care
are weak, and healer-shopping between medical systems is standard. Significant limitations exist
with diabetes care, including poor diabetes education, a lack of guidelines for diabetes care, erratic
supply of essential diabetes drugs at health facilities, and poorly trained diabetes health care
professionals, including doctors, nurses, and dieticians. We consider challenges for research,
healthcare, and policy. This project focuses on how an electronic health record can facilitate
healthcare tasks and, based on the findings, develop a technological platform to help people with
diabetes in Ghana to get quick access to healthcare, and constant medical assistance while
facilitating the work of healthcare actors. After interviewing 50 Ghanaians with diabetes, the significant findings were that people with diabetes in Ghana do not have access to convenient
healthcare. The interviews also revealed that the healthcare routines, including regularly visiting
the hospital, and checking what they eat, overwhelms the people with diabetes. This research
showed that an electronic health record could allow self-management for the diabetics; it could be
used as a medium for permanent medical consultation. Relying on my findings, this project
developed a platform that will help people with diabetes to get medical assistance wherever they
are and whenever they need it by keeping track of their medical record, reminding them of their
daily routines and also allowing permanent communication with their medical doctors. The
platform facilitates medical appointment booking and check-ups. The user of the platform is able
to track their calories and sugar consumption. Looking at the long run, the platform will serve as an electronic medical record that will not only help people with diabetes but non-diabetics as well.
Further updates will be made to adjust the platform to technological advancement.
Description
Applied project submitted to the Department of Computer Science and Information Systems, Ashesi University, in partial fulfillment of Bachelor of Science degree in Management Information Systems, May 2020
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Applied project
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Keywords
diabetes management, electronic health record, web-based application