Report - Handhelds for Health: SATELLIFE's experience in Africa and Asia now available
Key findings using handheld computers with front line health workers:.
1) health workers are eager for access to information and quickly adopt the handheld as both a tool for data collection and for reference material
2) lack of power in the field can be addressed by the use of solar chargers
3) introducing technology into the workplace, like any other change needs to be managed and works best when their is a local champion to encourage participation.
4) while handhelds are great tools for close ended survey questions, they are less suitable for open ended questions where text entry is required.
5) cost savings over paper-based processes can be significant.
SATELLIFE's largest project to date is in Uganda where health centers through out Rakia and Mbale districts rely on them everyday for infomraiton nad communication. This project will soon expand to provide health workers with access to continuing education in support of the national plan for provider development. more
In addition, over the last two years we hve deployed more than 800 donated handheld computers to the Makerere University Faculty of Medicine so that the next generation of doctors is ready to use this technology when they begin their medical careers.
Other Projects: AED-SATELLIFE has very broad experience in the use of PDAs for data collection under a variety of field conditions. Each experience presents unique challenges and a uniform solution is not appropriate. The task is to match the needs for each project with the best available application, or to decide when you need to start from scratch.
