Implementation Research for Improving Medical Information Management in Global HOPE Uganda
Background
Medical information (MI) management is vital to supporting the delivery of complex care to children with cancer. High resource institutions operate on complex, electronic systems that support the safe, efficient and effective delivery of care. That is not the case in global settings such as the Global HOPE (GH) site in Kampala, Uganda, which sees nearly 400 new cases of pediatric cancer a year despite human resource and logistical support limitations. The creation and tracking of MI is a challenge in this setting and is primarily limited to paper records. Timely access to patient MI is vital to the safe and effective care of these patients and is necessary for research, monitoring and evaluation initiatives and daily operations. Program leadership is in need of an improved understanding and implementation research will provide a means to study the current MI construct and to identify the needs of GH Uganda.
Project Goal
The goal of this proposed project is to document the existing processes, conduct a needs assessment and identify improvements in the MI management processes in GH Uganda. Activities will include: Process map the current practices for creating, storing and accessing MI; survey the local stakeholders to identify their needs to effectively perform their duties; evaluate the challenges within the local infrastructure and resources for accessing MI; and identify opportunities for improving current systems. QI tools, such as process mapping will be used to assess the functions, attributes and data elements that need to be collected across all operations. An evaluation tool will be developed and used to assess the current practices for tracking, storing and accessing MI at the GH site in Kampala, Uganda. Weeks 1-2, the student will work with the GH team in Houston to learn core QI methods and understand implementation in a high-resource setting. Weeks 3-6, the student will work in Uganda at the GH site to conduct a process evaluation of data collection for medical records, identify challenges and potential process improvements under the mentorship of Dr. Lubega, GH Uganda's Medical Director. The team will orient the student to the setting and assist them with initial research implementation with findings presented to Dr. Lubega. Weeks 7-8, the student will return to Houston to finalize the results of their project, present their findings to the Global HOPE leadership team in Houston, create repository of process maps detailing MI management at GH Uganda, present a summary of local needs and propose process improvements and standardized data collection tools to support quality MI management adapted to low resource settings.
Mentored by Dr. David Poplack
Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX
