A suite of modules for FrontlineSMS
FrontlineSMS:Medic pioneered the use of FrontlineSMS in the medical setting, and now we’re building a suite of modules that will extend the functionality of the platform.
FrontlineSMS is a free software program that allows you to text message with large groups of people anywhere there is a mobile signal. Using this software, a laptop plugged into a cell phone becomes a low-cost communication hub. FrontlineSMS is soon to release a modules platform, similar to Wordpress, Firefox, or Facebook, so that external developers can create their own modules to extend the core feature set.
Patient View
The Patient View module creates a new user interface within FrontlineSMS – one screen where staff at a central computer can view all data relevant to an individual patient. Health workers will also be able to sort through, update, and add new records from the central computer. This plugin is designed to manage patient information at small health centers, some of which will move on to a robust medical records system in the future, others of which will prefer to use FrontlineSMS to send data to a medical records system at the nearest large hospital.
Electronic Medical Records via the phone
This module will allow patient information to flow from forms on mobile phones, to FrontlineSMS, to an enterprise medical records system called OpenMRS. Initially developed by Partners in Health and the Regenstrief Institute, the free OpenMRS software package is now developed by a robust open source community committed to supporting health care in under served communities. Using OpenMRS effectively requires substantial expertise and resources, so most small health centers and community health workers must carry paper records long distances to OpenMRS installations at central locations. Our module aims to vastly increase the access and usage of electronic medical records by community health workers, with correspondent health improvements.
CelloPhone
CelloPhone is a revolutionary diagnostic tool that will be able to perform basic diagnostics such as Complete Blood Count, diagnosis of Malaria and TB, and CD4 T Lymphocyte count on the back of a camera cell phone, for under $1 per test. The device itself is expected to cost as little as $10. The device utilizes a new imaging technique called LUCAS, which circumvents a lens for magnification, instead taking intracellular “holograph” images of cells directly via the CCD chip ubiquitous in most camera phones. A pattern matching algorithm then analyzes cell morphology to automatically produce a diagnostic result. The diagnostic results will be communicated from the device to a central location using FrontlineSMS, and viewed with our Patient View module and/or sent to OpenMRS with our medical records module. The Ozcan lab at UCLA is developing this device, and we aim to pioneer its use in the developing world.
Ushahidi’s Mapping Application
The Ushahidi team is building a platform that crowdsources crisis information, allowing anyone to submit crisis information through text messaging using a mobile phone, email or web form. They also recently produced a module for the FrontlineSMS platform, enabling anyone with a cell phone to send text messages to a local installation of FrontlineSMS, and have information aggregated to an Ushahidi map. Already people are using these maps for everything from tracking the swine flu epidemic to monitoring medicine stock-outs. We hope to take this application to the clinical setting, enabling clinics and hospitals to monitor the distribution of their health services and emerging disease outbreaks.
Implementation
We are currently using the core FrontlineSMS platform at clinics that serve 1.2 million patients in Malawi and Uganda, and in the next year we’ll be rolling out this core service for organizations that serve millions more across several continents. We will also be piloting each of our modules in east Africa.
