The Vinyasa Tool for mHealth Solutions: Supporting Human-Centered Design in Nascent Digital Health Ecosystems

BackgroundmHealth (mobile health) systems have been deployed widely in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) for health system strengthening, requiring considerable resource allocation. However, most solutions have not achieved scale or sustainability. Poor usability and failure to address perceived needs are among the principal reasons mHealth systems fail to achieve acceptance and adoption by health care workers. A human-centered design approach to improving mHealth system use requires an exploration of users’ perceptions of mHealth systems, including the environmental, user-related, and technological aspects of a system. At present, there is a dearth of contextually intelligent tools available to mHealth developers that can guide such exploration before full-scale development and deployment. ObjectiveTo develop a tool to aid optimization of mHealth solutions in LMICs to facilitate human-centered design and, consequently, successful adoption. MethodsWe collated findings and themes from key qualitative studies on mHealth deployment in LMICs. We then used the Informatics Stack framework by Lehmann to label, sort, and collate findings and themes into a list of questions that explore the environment, users, artifacts, information governance, and interoperability of mHealth systems deployed in LMICs. ResultsWe developed the Vinyasa Tool to aid qualitative research about the need and usability of mHealth solutions in LMICs. The tool is a guide for focus group discussions and key informant interviews with community-based health care workers and primary care medical personnel who use or are expected to use proposed mHealth solutions. The tool consists of 71 questions organized in 11 sections that unpack and explore multiple aspects of mHealth systems from the perspectives of their users. These include the wider world and organization in which an mHealth solution is deployed; the roles, functions, workflow, and adoption behavior of a system’s users; the security, privacy, and interoperability afforded by a system; and the artifacts of an information system—the data, information, knowledge, algorithms, and technology that constitute the system. The tool can be deployed in whole or in part, depending on the context of the study. ConclusionsThe Vinyasa Tool is the first such comprehensive qualitative research instrument incorporating questions contextualized to the LMIC setting. We expect it to find wide application among mHealth developers, health system administrators, and researchers developing and deploying mHealth tools for use by patients, providers, and administrators. The tool is expected to guide users toward human-centered design with the goal of improving relevance, usability, and, therefore, adoption

Real-Time Feedback for Improving Compliance to Hand Sanitization Among Healthcare Workers in an Open Layout ICU Using Radiofrequency Identification

The aim of this study is to increase hand sanitizer usage among healthcare workers by developing and implementing a low-cost intervention using RFID and wireless mesh networks to provide real-time alarms for increasing hand hygiene compliance during opportune moments in an open layout Intensive Care Unit (ICU). A wireless, RFID based system was developed and implemented in the ICU. The ICU beds were divded into an intervention arm (n = 10) and a control arm (n = 14). Passive RFID tags were issued to the doctors, nurses and support staff of the ICU. Long range RFID readers were positioned strategically. Sensors were placed beneath the hand sanitizers to record sanitizer usage. The system would alert the HCWs by flashing a light if an opportune moment for hand sanitization was detected. A significant increase in hand sanitizer use was noted in the intervention arm. Usage was highest during the early part of the workday and decreased as the day progressed. Hand wash events per person hour was highest among the ancilliary staff followed by the doctors and nurses. Real-time feedback has potential to increase hand hygiene compliance among HCWs. The system demonstrates the possibility of automating compliance monitoring in an ICU with an open layout

Real-Time Feedback for Improving Compliance to Hand Sanitization Among Healthcare Workers in an Open Layout ICU Using Radiofrequency Identification

The aim of this study is to increase hand sanitizer usage among healthcare workers by developing and implementing a low-cost intervention using RFID and wireless mesh networks to provide real-time alarms for increasing hand hygiene compliance during opportune moments in an open layout Intensive Care Unit (ICU). A wireless, RFID based system was developed and implemented in the ICU. The ICU beds were divded into an intervention arm (n?=?10) and a control arm (n?=?14). Passive RFID tags were issued to the doctors, nurses and support staff of the ICU. Long range RFID readers were positioned strategically. Sensors were placed beneath the hand sanitizers to record sanitizer usage. The system would alert the HCWs by flashing a light if an opportune moment for hand sanitization was detected. A significant increase in hand sanitizer use was noted in the intervention arm. Usage was highest during the early part of the workday and decreased as the day progressed. Hand wash events per person hour was highest among the ancilliary staff followed by the doctors and nurses. Real-time feedback has potential to increase hand hygiene compliance among HCWs. The system demonstrates the possibility of automating compliance monitoring in an ICU with an open layout