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. 2020 Jul 23;16(3):1-6.
doi: 10.3396/ijic.v16i3.021.20.

Feasibility and acceptance of a cloud-based mobile app for antimicrobial stewardship and infection control in Colombian hospitals

William Joseph Ketcherside  1 , Jonathan Boshard Ferron Olson  1 , Lauren N Hunt  1 , Jimish Madhur Mehta  1 , Christian Pallares Gutiérrez  2   3 , Lina Marcela Coy  4 , Iñigo Prieto Pradera  5 , Ayleen D Rivera  3 , Jorge A Cano  6 , Alex Saeed  7 , Vadim Sapiro  7 , Benjamin J Park  8 , Paul Malpiedi  8 , María Virginia Villegas Botero  2
Affiliations

Feasibility and acceptance of a cloud-based mobile app for antimicrobial stewardship and infection control in Colombian hospitals

William Joseph Ketcherside et al. Int J Infect Control. .

Abstract

Infection control and antimicrobial stewardship programs (ICASPs) are essential to reduce the emergence and spread of antimicrobial resistance. The primary objective of this study was to assess the feasibility of extending a commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) software for ICASPs in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). This project involved three hospitals in Colombia, including Centro Médico Imbanaco, Clínica San Francisco, and DIME Clínica Neurocardiovascular. A COTS platform (ILÚM Health Solutions™ Kenilworth, NJ) was extended to function in a range of technology settings, and translatable to almost any language. ICASP features were added, including clinical practice guidelines, hand hygiene (HH) documentation, and isolation precaution (IP) documentation. The platform was delivered as a smartphone mobile application ("app") for both iOS and Android. The app was successfully implemented at all sites, however, full back-end data integration was not feasible at any site. In contrast to the United States, a suite of surveillance tools and physician-focused decision support without patient data proved to be valuable. Language translation processing occurred quickly and incurred minimal costs. HH and IP compliance tracking were the most used features among ICASP staff; treatment guidelines were most often used by physicians. Use of the app streamlined activities and reduced the time spent on ICASP tasks. Users consistently reported positive impressions including simplicity of design, ease of navigation, and improved efficiency. This ICASP app was feasible in limited-resource settings, highly acceptable to users, and represents an innovative approach to antimicrobial resistance prevention.

Keywords: Colombia; antimicrobial stewardship; hand hygiene; infection control; smartphone.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest WJS, JBFO, LNH and JMM are all employed by ILÚM Health Solutions, LLC, the developer of the mobile application. No conflicts of interest are reported by other authors.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.. User acquisition at CMI, CSF, and DIME during first 90 days
CMI: Centro Médico Imbanaco CSF: Clínica San Francisco; DIME: DIME Clínica Neurocardiovascular.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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