What hardware do we know will be used in our target locations? There’s been discussion about tablets and I just saw this article:
CNET: LG to donate 2,000 smartphones to UN’s Ebola effort.
IIRC there are problems with our mobile HTML/CSS and our Android app is coming along but still very limited.
Please share here what you know, and whether it’s fact or rumor. Thanks!
I’ve seen a recommendation for:
Sony Xperia 10Inch Tablets and oversize styluses for use by clinical staff in ETCs (can be disinfected and used by people wearing biohazard suits)
The idea is that this is waterproof, and can survive being disinfected in a chlorine bath for >8 seconds.
This is all secondhand, and I’d love to hear if anyone has real data.
(I believe that it would be a huge mistake to have someone wearing full PPE use the standard OpenMRS UI on a mobile device. I think we need a custom UI for the specific case of rounding on patients in Ebola wards.)
What are the specific issues with the Android app and html/css on the tablets? We have a tablet version of the chica prescreener running as an openmrs module that has been in production for about a year and a half and might be able to help. It is a mobile website wrapped with an Android wrapper for the Android tablets.
My current understanding from the Kerry Town, SL site is that they will use damp clothes to wipe down the tablets, which would make many different models ok. But the Xperia tablets would survive being dunked in a bucket of chlorine water, and also are supposed to be dust resistant, so that’s even better. I think the technical specification for this is IP68.
As for UI, I think the main challenge is that users are wearing thick gloves and probably using styli. Also their goggles may make it harder to see. Together these mean that everything should be larger, especially buttons and check boxes. I don’t think this requires a radical redesign. For html forms probably this could be achieved with CSS changes. The doctors still have to do things like put in IV lines, so the gloves can’t be too thick.
The Kerry Town team is going to do usability testing in the next week (although are still waiting for tablets to arrive), so we can get feedback on UI elements soon if you have something you think we should show them.
Regarding the Android app, there’s a huge interest in the Soldevelo team to actively engage in the Ebola project and put more resources to speed up development if there is an implementation that wants to use the app. In the coming 2.1 release (scheduled for this week) the app will support tablets. Filling out xforms is scheduled to be implemented in the release following 2.1.
@kkalfas is the project lead and can provide further details. See the project’s wiki as well.
@raff, @kkalfas, one big use case for the android client in Ebola response is to have a highly-optimized UI for capturing data using a tablet + stylus while wearing full personal protective equipment, and rounding on patients in the isolation wards.
My guess is that this is such a specific use case, with such specific usability requirements, that it requires a purpose-built implementation. Goggles/mask give you a limited field of vision, and gloves/stylus make it hard to swipe, so I think we should be targeting a more or less question-per-screen with big friendly buttons on an on-screen keyboard, and the ability to navigate forwards and backwards by tapping.
I don’t know if it makes sense to build this into the android client you’re working on, or have it be a standalone thing. (The other point is that this needs to be driven by a “list of patient’s I’m going to see while rounding”, which is not part of the current visit-based 2.x workflow.)
Darius, filling out xforms is implemented using ODK so it’s actually a question per screen as can be seen e.g. here: http://youtu.be/lo8LaFFSkV8 . I don’t understand what precisely is different in the patient workflow. Is the other workflow described anywhere?
Darius, as Rafał said ODK will handle this. There is possibility to add previous/next buttons on bottom of question view, so it should works nice.
Any idea if we can produce a form that behaves anything like this with ODK in the android app?
The idea is to optimize for a 10" tablet…
(login as admin/Admin123)
@darius First of all those forms must be in java-rosa xform format. I think that we are able to add breadcrumb feature. But I’m not sure if there is a possibility to replace radio buttons or check boxes with buttons. Maybe it could be determined in form creation. I’ll try to do that.
@darius So it’s looks like this is doable, but probably we would need some kind of xform custom control. With that we could extend ODK to show buttons instead of radio buttons.
Greetings to All
Last month I received a request from a physician in Europe asking if I could connect our iOS based medical application, ERSync to openMRS. After spending a few days evaluating the database we successfully connected and moved metadata across the api to our app. The following morning I awoke and thought we need to do more.
Subsequently I began coding using modules from some of our current applications, and have finished coding the app’s infrastructure to openMRS giving the user the ability to retrieve/create/update patient records etc. With this infrastructure in place, other hooks and updates can be created rapidly with connectivity to any instance of openMRS or the underlying tables. I have followed the hack-a-thons and can confidently state we can implement the ebola interfaces into the app, specifically the one completed in Brazil or any others designed.
As a gesture of goodwill, ERSync would like to donate its application to the openMRS community to use across their footprint. In addition, we would entertain any developer assistance to further the connectivity to the backend databases. Finally, we recently hooked up with an international company that has offered to test ERSync’s application in Africa to help fight ebola, and were wondering if any others would like to get involved.
The applications being used to spin off the current openMRS application can be seen at www.ersync.com and www.ersync.org.
Thanks, and happy holidays.
Todd Garland
Todd, This sounds great. I wasn’t able to see the OpenMRS implementation on the ERsync medical site. Is there a different link? Would you be willing to share a screen cam or video of what you have done? I am sure that the OpenMRS community would love to see your work and explore what it means for you to offer up the application. I’d love to check it out myself! Happy Holidays!Andy -------------------- Andrew S. Kanter, MD MPH FACMI
Asst. Prof. of Clinical Biomedical Informatics and Clinical Epidemiology Columbia University Email: andrew.kanter@■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■ Mobile: +1 (646) ■■■■■■■■ Office: +1 (212) ■■■■■■■■ Skype: akanter-ippnw Yahoo: andy_kanter
Andrew,
Thanks for writing. Look forward to talking to you. Can we touch base next week, as I am currently spending time with family for holidays.
Thanks.
Todd