Evaluating a South African mobile application for healthcare professionals to improve diagnosis and notification of pesticide poisonings

Acute pesticide poisoning (APP) is a major global public health problem, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) including South Africa. However, healthcare professionals (HCPs) worldwide have limited training in handling environmental health risks such as from pesticide exposures. Most HCPs lack basic training on APP and, this presents a challenge to HCPs when diagnosing and notifying pesticide-related poisonings. With a recent increase in mobile application technology, this gives a convenient platform to provide training support for HCPs in their clinical practice. An example is the integration of a South African pesticide notification guideline into an existing Emergency Medicine (EM) mobile application. This pesticide notification guideline (PNG) within the EM mobile application aims to provide an immediate point-of-care tool to help HCPs in diagnosis and notify pesticide poisoning cases. Despite this useful platform for training HCPs, there are limited studies that have evaluated mobile applications or technologies to promote HCPs training in LMICs. This study, therefore, aimed to evaluate the Centre for Environmental and Occupational Health Research (CEOHR)'s PGN adapted for the EM mobile application as a tool for improving HCP's ability to diagnose and report APPs. The protocol (Part A) provides information and a justification for the research study and, describes the methods used to gather and analyse the data. The extended literature review (Part B) provides an overview of studies assessing HCPs' knowledge of and training in pesticide poisonings and the role mobile health technologies play in improving HCPs' knowledge and training in clinical practice. Furthermore, the literature review illustrates the relevant theoretical frameworks and concepts that helps to understand HCPs' behaviour changes when using clinical guidelines or algorithms. The journal manuscript article (Part C) provides this study's research findings and how it could contribute to the body of knowledge. A total of 50 emergency medicine physicians and registrars participated in th

Evaluating a South African mobile application for healthcare professionals to improve diagnosis and notification of pesticide poisonings

Background: Mobile health is a fast-developing field. The use of mobile health applications by healthcare professionals (HCPs) globally has increased considerably. While several studies in high income countries have investigated the use of mobile applications by HCPs in clinical practice, few have been conducted in low- and middle-income countries. The University of Cape Town developed a pesticide notification guideline which has been adapted and embedded into a South African Essential Medical Guidance mobile application. This study evaluated the usefulness of the guideline within a mobile application for improving the ability of HCPs to diagnose and notify on acute pesticide poisonings (APPs). Methods A descriptive online questionnaire, with 15 open- and 20 closed-ended questions, was completed by 50 South African emergency medicine physicians and registrars (i.e. medical doctors training as specialists) between December 2015 to February 2016. Descriptive statistics were used to calculate response frequencies and percentages using SPSS version 23. Texts from the open-ended questions were thematically analysed. Fisher’s exact test was applied to determine associations. Results A significant association was found between participants’ knowledge that APP is a notifiable condition, and ever reporting the poisoning to the National Department of Health (p = 0.005). Thirty four percent of the participants were aware of the guideline within the Essential Medical Guidance application despite only seven participants having used it. Those who used the guideline found it provided useful information for the identification of unlabelled pesticides products and promoted reporting these cases to the National Department of Health for surveillance purposes. In addition, it appeared to facilitate the prompt diagnosis and treatment of APP cases, and most intended to continue using it for training and educational purposes. Conclusions Mobile health applications appear to support overburdened medical education programmes and promote better patient care. However, since most participants were not aware of the existence of the pesticide guideline within the studied essential medicine application, there is potential for the use of healthcare applications to play a more central role in healthcare systems and medical training. Furthermore, the field of medical informatics could support HCPs through mobile applications in improving reporting of APP

Establishment of a comprehensive surveillance system for acute pesticide poisoning in Tanzania

Includes bibliographical references.Widespread under-reporting of acute pesticide poisoning (APP) in developing countries, such as Tanzania, leads to under-estimation of the burden from APP. This thesis aimed to characterize the health consequences of APP in rural agricultural areas in Tanzania with a view to developing an effective surveillance system for APP. Several sub-studies comprise this thesis: A household survey of farmers; A hospital data review for APP, both retrospective, covering a 6-year period, and prospective for 12 months;Health care providers' knowledge and practices relating to APP and notification;Pesticide retailers' knowledge, distribution and handling practices; Stakeholder views regarding APP, notification and risk reduction strategies; and an assessment of APP data from sources other than the hospital system. The study found that major agents responsible for poisoning included Organophosphates and highly or moderately hazardous products and the age group 20 - 30 years was most affected. The majority of health care providers lacked skills for diagnosis of APP. The most problematic circumstances of poisoning in hospital data review was suicide but was occupational with pesticide stakeholders and in household surveys. Prospective data collection in the hospital review reduced the amount of missing data, suggesting that with proper training and support, hospital-based reporting can provide better surveillance data. Many farmers and pesticide retailers had unsafe practices likely to result in exposure and risk for poisoning. Modelling suggested that the Incidence Rate for occupational poisoning ranged from 11.3 to 279.8 cases per million people with a medium estimate of 32.4 cases per million people. The study identified a high burden from APP in Tanzania, largely unreported, particularly from occupational poisonings, and proposes an APP surveillance system for Tanzania aimed at addressing both workplace and non-workplace settings. The system is expected to identify poisoning outbreaks, circumstances and outcomes, agents, poisoning patterns by gender, age, population and geographical areas most affected. Data sources for the system will include health care facilities and other government Institutions, media and community members through community self-monitoring. The system is expected to generate rate estimates and trends for pesticide poisoning, identify opportunities for prevention, further research needs and, ultimately, assist in reducing health risks arising from pesticide exposure

Patentes de Aplicativos Móveis Acerca do Uso de Agrotóxicos e Saúde do Trabalhador Rural: uma prospecção científica e tecnológica

The present work aims to identify the scientific and technological production related to mobile applications about the use of pesticides and the health of rural workers. The searches were carried out in the WIPO, EPO/Espacenet, INPI, Web of Science, Science Direct, Scopus, CAPES and SciELO databases, using the keywords: pesticide, pesticide, "mobile application", "rural worker", health , consultation and prevention. A total of 298 scientific articles were found, of which 12 were included in this study. Regarding patents, 185 records were located, of which 6 were mobile applications, however, none had a direct relationship with the specific topic. Thus, based on the analysis of the results, it was possible to observe that most of the productions related to the theme were scientific articles, evidencing a gap in this technological area.O presente trabalho tem por objetivo identificar a produção científica e tecnológica relacionada aos aplicativos móveis acerca do uso de agrotóxicos e saúde do trabalhador rural. Trata-se de uma prospecção científica e tecnológica realizada utilizando metodologia sistemática. Foram encontrados 298 artigos científicos, destes, 12 foram incluídos na síntese qualitativa para composição deste estudo. Em relação às patentes, foram localizados 185 registros, dos quais, 6 se tratavam de aplicativos móveis, porém, nenhum destes era relacionado ao tema específico. Com base na análise dos resultados, foi possível observar que a maioria das produções relacionadas ao tema tratavam-se de artigos científicos, havendo uma carência de depósitos de patentes. Portanto, os resultados obtidos através deste estudo demonstram a existência de uma lacuna de investimento nessa área tecnológica e a necessidade de maior incentivo financeiro em pesquisas nesse setor

Environmental Conditions Manual, January 2014

Infectious diseases are a continuing threat to all people, regardless of age, gender, lifestyle, ethnic background, or socioeconomic status. They cause illness, suffering and even death, and place an enormous financial burden on society. Although modern advances have controlled some infectious diseases, new ones are constantly emerging. State public health officials rely on local public health agencies, healthcare providers, laboratories and other public health personnel to report the occurrence of notifiable diseases. Without such data, trends cannot be accurately monitored, unusual occurrences of diseases (such as outbreaks) might not be detected or appropriately responded to, and the effectiveness of control and prevention activities cannot be evaluated

The EPI Manual: Guide to surveillance, investigations, and reporting, January 2014

A reference for all health care providers at the time of a suspected case, a particular disease or condition, or at the time of an outbreak of a communicable disease to institute public health prevention and control measures

Pesticides in the Modern World

The introduction of the synthetic organochlorine, organophosphate, carbamate and pyrethroid pesticides by 1950's marked the beginning of the modern pesticides era and a new stage in the agriculture development. Evolved from the chemicals designed originally as warfare agents, the synthetic pesticides demonstrated a high effectiveness in preventing, destroying or controlling any pest. Therefore, their application in the agriculture practices made it possible enhancing crops and livestock's yields and obtaining higher-quality products, to satisfy the food demand of the continuously rising world's population. Nevertheless, the increase of the pesticide use estimated to 2.5 million tons annually worldwide since 1950., created a number of public and environment concerns. This book, organized in two sections, addresses the various aspects of the pesticides exposure and the related health effects. It offers a large amount of practical information to the professionals interested in pesticides issues

Compendium of WHO and other UN guidance on health and environment

This compendium provides a systematic compilation of published guidance from WHO and other UN organizations on health and environment. Guidance on policies and actions as well as awareness raising and capacity building interventions is presented for all major areas of health and environment. Guidance referring to priority settings for action such as cities and other urban settlements, housing, workplaces and health care facilities is also listed. For greater practical relevance, each guidance is classified according to principally involved sectors, level of implementation and instruments for implementation. The compilation of guidance for each area of health and environment or priority setting for action is accompanied, as available, by information on main sources, exposure assessment and existing guideline values. Important tools and further resources are presented alongside

Communicable and Environmental Diseases and Emergency Preparedness 2010-2012 Annual Report

https://digitalcommons.memphis.edu/govpubs-tn-dept-health-immunization-rates/1014/thumbnail.jp