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Electronic record-keeping saves lives (09/03/07) |
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The Mosoriot HIV clinic is one of 18 rural clinics in western Kenya pioneering standardized, electronic record-keeping. In the past, only paper records were kept - which meant that if files were lost, or patients moved without them, there was no record of their critical health information. The programme, which now serves 40 000 patients, was developed through a partnership between Moi University in Eldoret and Indiana University, with assistance from WHO |
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Clinical officers like Lillian Boit provide most patient care and maintain charts. "The electronic record-keeping system allows us to provide care to more people and take better care of patients", she says.
Merci Mutai, head counsellor at the Mosoriot clinic, pulls a patient's chart. Paper medical records are maintained for all patients cared for at the 18 clinics, and the data is then entered electronically.
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At every monthly check-up patients are given their charts and hand-carry them to the nurse, clinical officer and other providers they are seeing that day. Updates to the chart are made at each station.
Ezekiel Muruli transports charts daily from Mosoriot to Eldoret, about 25 kms away, where data from paper records are entered into a central electronic system. Direct electronic data transfer is not feasible because Mosoriot does not have high-speed Internet access.
Source: WHO
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