Toff Peabody and Ari Hoffman work as part of the HIT Rescue team to collect and verify patient data.
Fond Parisien, Haiti
From Toff Peabody and Ari Hoffman
We are beginning to see the fruits of our labors and the profound impact that information can have on the lives of our patients. The patient tracking system is up and running. We have a better understanding of our patients and their families every day. With the help of donations from TPI and the incredible tech support from Steve Hillard over the phone, we were able to print wristbands for each of the 212 patients at the Fond Parisien site. Internally, this allows for easier identification of patients by the facility staff who are constantly turning over with short-term volunteers.
By generating an active patient census for the medical facility, the HIT Rescue team provides the leadership with important data for staffing and supply requests.
But, the larger benefits are increasingly evident. People know to ask the OMI team for patient tracking questions. There is a constant flow of family members seeking their lost loved ones, and now we can quickly search for their name on an iPhone. Yesterday, Toff reunited a family with a missing cousin still living in one of the tents here. Even when the patient is off-site, we may find ourselves with valuable information, such as a patient who was seen in triage but left for a camp down the road. And, of course, the CAIR project offers the potential to reunite people with lost limbs as well as lost relatives.
The HIT Rescue team is collecting critical data that provides actionable intelligence to drive clinical and operational decisions.
The HIT Rescue team is working to develop implementable security solutions to data protection as this project gains momentum. Currently, devices are held by medical staff only and access is password protected. Disaster IT and electronic medical record specialist Dr. Larry Nathanson will arrive next week to fine tune the system, build needed systems architecture and complete the final program assessments. There is great excitement about this project but it important to note that we are only in the early stages. The current iEMR needs significant reworking to be scalable. Hopefully, groups using open MRS, such as Partners in Health and Doctors Without Borders will be able to collaborate on future integration efforts.
In Boston, Zuckerman Fellows Katie Laidlaw, Elizabeth Cote, Seth Moulton, Kevin Nazemi, Matt McKnight and David Callaway continue to work on program development and operations. The HIT Rescue and CAIR programs are making immediate impacts while setting the stage for sustained collaborative efforts across Haiti.