Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Jan 10;7(1):2.
doi: 10.1186/s41077-021-00197-7.

Lessons from the design, development and implementation of a three-dimensional (3D) neonatal resuscitation training smartphone application: Life-saving Instruction for Emergencies (LIFE app)

Conrad Wanyama  1 , Shobhana Nagraj  2   3 , Naomi Muinga  4 , Timothy Tuti  4 , Hilary Edgcombe  5 , Anne Geniets  6 , Niall Winters  6 , Mike English  4   7 , Jakob Rossner  7 , Chris Paton  7
Affiliations

Lessons from the design, development and implementation of a three-dimensional (3D) neonatal resuscitation training smartphone application: Life-saving Instruction for Emergencies (LIFE app)

Conrad Wanyama et al. Adv Simul (Lond). .

Abstract

Neonatal mortality remains disproportionately high in sub-Saharan Africa partly due to insufficient numbers of adequately trained and skilled front-line health workers. Opportunities for improving neonatal care may result from upskilling frontline health workers using innovative technological approaches. This practice paper describes the key steps involved in the design, development and implementation of an innovative smartphone-based training application using an agile, human-centred design approach. The Life-saving Instruction for Emergencies (LIFE) app is a three-dimension (3D) scenario-based mobile app for smartphones and is free to download. Two clinical modules are currently included with further scenarios planned. Whilst the focus of the practice paper is on the lessons learned during the design and development process, we also share key learning related to project management and sustainability plans, which we hope will help researchers working on similar projects.

Keywords: Frontline health workers; Human-centred design; Medical education; Simulation-based education.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Chris Paton is the director of New Media Medicine, Ltd., a digital health consultancy that has provided technical services for the LIFE app project. All the other authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Screenshot images of LIFE 3D environment and scenarios for module one and two scenarios. This figure represents the LIFE-app images of one of the 3D interactive neonatal resuscitation scenario in use and the acute respiratory illness scenario under development (further information can be found at https://oxlifeproject.org/)
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Schematic diagram to show the steps involved in iterative co-design, testing and implementing a prototype using a HCD approach. This is an illustration of the co-design iterative process that was used in the design of the LIFE app, emphasising the cyclic process for developing and refining the prototype with feedback from users as testers until the LIFE app is ready to be published on the Appstore/Playstore (adapted from Gibbons, 2016) [42]
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Schematic presentation of using the Scrum agile management framework. This is an image of the Asana© project management tool that employs Scrum methodology and how the tool was used during the LIFE app project duration
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. United Nations Inter-Agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation, UN IGME 2020. https://data.unicef.org/resources/levels-and-trends-in-child-mortality/ (cited November 2020)
    1. World Health Organisation, WHOa. Maternal and child epidemiology estimation group (MCEE) 2000-2001 Child causes of death 2018. https://www.who.int/healthinfo/global_burden_disease/estimates/en/index2... (cited July 2020)
    1. United Nations. Targets and indicators for SDG 3 2020. https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal3 (cited October 2020)
    1. WHO. Newborns: improving survival and well being. 2019. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/newborns-reducing-morta... (cited February 2020).
    1. Carlo WA, Goudar SS, Jehan I, Chomba E, Tshefu A, Garces A, Sailajanandan P, Althabe F, McClure EM, Derman RJ, Goldenberg RL, Bose C, Krebs NF, Panigrahi P, Buekens P, Chakraborty H, Hartwell TD, Wright LL, the First Breath Study Group Newborn-care training and perinatal mortality in developing countries. New Engl J Med. 2010;362(7):614–623. doi: 10.1056/NEJMsa0806033. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources