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Multicenter Study
. 2019 May 27;19(1):336.
doi: 10.1186/s12913-019-4161-7.

Using electronic tablets for data collection for healthcare service and maternal health assessments in low resource settings: lessons learnt

Fiona M Dickinson  1 , Mary McCauley  2 , Barbara Madaj  2 , Nynke van den Broek  2
Affiliations
Multicenter Study

Using electronic tablets for data collection for healthcare service and maternal health assessments in low resource settings: lessons learnt

Fiona M Dickinson et al. BMC Health Serv Res. .

Abstract

Background: Health service and health outcome data collection across many low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) is, to date largely paper-based. With the development and increased availability of reliable technology, electronic tablets could be used for electronic data collection in such settings. This paper describes our experiences with implementing electronic data collection methods, using electronic tablets, across different settings in four LMICs.

Methods: Within our research centre, the use of electronic data collection using electronic tablets was piloted during a healthcare facility assessment study in Ghana. After further development, we then used electronic data collection in a multi-country, cross-sectional study to measure ill-health in women during and after pregnancy, in India, Kenya and Pakistan. All data was transferred electronically to a central research team in the UK where it was processed, cleaned, analysed and stored.

Results: The healthcare facility assessment study in Ghana demonstrated the feasibility and acceptability to healthcare providers of using electronic tablets to collect data from seven healthcare facilities. In the maternal morbidity study, electronic data collection proved to be an effective way for healthcare providers to document over 400 maternal health variables, in 8530 women during and after pregnancy in India, Kenya and Pakistan.

Conclusions: Electronic data collection provides an effective platform which can be used successfully to collect data from healthcare facility registers and from patients during health consultations; and to transfer large quantities of data. To ensure successful electronic data collection and transfer between settings, we recommend that close attention is paid to study design, data collection, tool design, local internet access and device security.

Keywords: Electronic data collection; Health research; Lessons learned; Low- and middle-income countries.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no competing interests to disclose. Assessment of different software programmes and tools was according to our assessment and costs given were as accurate as possible at the time of the study. None of the authors has any financial interest in Apple Inc., Filemaker® or any other software.

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