Re: [Health-dev] Who wants to help on the development of automatic data input of health surveillance?

[Christoph H. Larsen]

Dear All,

As usual, Marc has read my mind ;-)...

On 06/12/15 14:42, Marc Murray wrote:
> [1] flask-tryton  - https://pypi.python.org/pypi/flask_tryton
> [2] wq - https://wq.io
>
>
>
> On Sun, 2015-12-06 at 08:40 -0500, Marc Murray wrote:
> > On Wed, 2015-12-02 at 21:25 -0200, Roberto Novaes wrote:
> > > Hello to all! I have sent a similar message to health list but with a
> > > different purpose. Only the same paragraph is the same.
> > > GNU Health has modules dedicated to the monitoring of neglected
> > > tropical diseases (dengue and chagas so far).  We are working here
> > > Brazil to automate the process of data input into the system. Instead
> > > of using the desktop interface, we are studying the following
> > > possibilities: use a super simple tablet or a paper form that will be
> > > scanned. Those solutions would be used on the field by the health
> > > workers. Our first area of work would be to register dengue related
> > > information, which is, together with chicungunya and zika, major
> > > health issues in Brazil caused by Aedes Aegypt.
> > >
> > >
> > > We are thinking of two alternatives:
> > >
> > >
> > > 1) Use a super simple tablet, that would display a list of places to
> > > visit (like the Domiciliary Units). The user would, then, open a form
> > > to input the data colected regarding that place. This data would
> > > later be exported to a csv file to be imported into GNU Health.We are
> > > studying android development with SQLite to do that.
> >
> > Maybe I'm biased because I don't know Android development, but I think
> > a web application may be more accessible than an Android app.
Mobile devices are good, because they have longer-lasting batteries and 
allow disconnected data input. However, as Marc said, do things through 
the web, leveraging HTML5 to our advantage.
wq.io does exactly that, and is worth while exploring. And, hey, it is 
written in Python :-)!
LimeSurvey is feasible and stable, too: It can run on an Android version 
of Lighty, PHP and SQLite wrapped into one app (AndroPHP - sounds like a 
medical device ;-) ). However, the underlying architecture is a bit more 
involving.
Open Data Kit (ODK) is heavily pushed by USAID and Rockefeller 
Foundation sponsored entities, but is inherently buggy and does not 
scale well. Plus, it is ugly and squinting towards the proprietary 
sector. I have repeatedly lost data with it.
> > I'm thinking that you could get away with using HTML5 and localstorage
> > for offline access. The synchronisation would then take place when the
> > device goes back online. Except, it would be through the same web-app
> > instead of CSV.
Exactly.
> > To do this you could use flask-tryton [1] and you would need some
> > Javascript goodies to handle the localstorage part.
> >
> > And then there's this library I've heard of, but haven't used, called
> > wq [2] that seems to be designed for this kind of thing - through the web.
> >
> > > 2) Use a paper form that could be scanned and the data collected
> > > would be also imported directly into GNU Health. We are studying
> > > sdpas to do that --> http://sdaps.org/SDAPS
LimeSurvey has this feature built-in, and uses 
https://github.com/ACSPRI/queXF.
> > If you (we) can pull off the web based interface as above, then we
> > could also provide some kind of web-service interface that will allow
> > the OCR and other machines to be able to submit data - without
> > understanding Tryton.
> >
> > > GNU Health would have to make the process of generating the places to
> > > visit on a day to each health worker automatic.
> > a report?
> > > What do you think? Please help and criticize.
> >
> > I love it. And we will need something like this in Jamaica soon. We
> > are currently at the specification stage where the Environmental
> > Health experts are reviewing their paper forms.
> >
> > A similar setup could also be used for collecting other field data:
> > e.g. restaurants, hotels, barber-shops and so on.
> > > Of course, if further explanations are needed, I would be glad to do so.
> >
> > I have a couple of questions about your intentions:
> >
> > What would the field officer do if a location not mentioned on her
> > "visit sheet" is discovered?
> > How will you handle authentication and accountability? Will the field
> > officers be regular users in/of GNUHealth?
> > Do timestamps matter for the data being collected?
> > Will the field data contain personally identifiable information (name
> > of contact person/proprietor doesn't count)?
Ideally, we could use mobile devices through the web to collect data in 
freely configurable forms (with properties similar to those question 
types done by LimeSurvey), collect geographical location data, and map 
them accordingly. Data exchange with OSM would be essential, and OSMAnd 
a great tool to map and track things. In fact, it would be wonderful to 
see OSMAnd and Tryton's GIS capabilities play ball together.
Tryton would do the backoffice data maangement, provide business 
intelligence, analysis, clearance and aggregation, and presentation of 
those data. It may be cute to find a feature that allows R 
functionality, as in adding formula from R into Tryton's BI.
I have added a (very drafty) write-up I did in Kenya recently for NTDs 
(namely visceral leishmaniasis and echniococcosis), as they fall entrely 
off the WHO AFRO's integrated disease surveillance and response (IDSR) 
radar. Tryton would, with the right GNU Health AND LIMS modules (don't 
forget that lab confirmation is an ESSENTIAL element of proper IDSR!), 
offer a terrific integrated platform to *create surveillance data where 
they are created* , instead of the usual way, where epidemiological 
reporting means that we have to fine-comb through existing patient data.
> > > Thanks in advance,
> > And thanks for starting this discussion.
The pleasure is mine! Thank you both!
> > > Roberto Novaes
> > > Sílex Sistemas
> > > www.silexsistemas.com.br <http://www.silexsistemas.com.br>
> >
> > Marc Murray
> > Ministry of Health, Jamaica
Chris
--
Dr Christoph H. Larsen
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