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      Enabling Access to Medical and Health Education in Rwanda Using Mobile Technology: Needs Assessment for the Development of Mobile Medical Educator Apps

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          Abstract

          Background

          Lack of access to health and medical education resources for doctors in the developing world is a serious global health problem. In Rwanda, with a population of 11 million, there is only one medical school, hence a shortage in well-trained medical staff. The growth of interactive health technologies has played a role in the improvement of health care in developed countries and has offered alternative ways to offer continuous medical education while improving patient's care. However, low and middle-income countries (LMIC) like Rwanda have struggled to implement medical education technologies adapted to local settings in medical practice and continuing education. Developing a user-centered mobile computing approach for medical and health education programs has potential to bring continuous medical education to doctors in rural and urban areas of Rwanda and influence patient care outcomes.

          Objective

          The aim of this study is to determine user requirements, currently available resources, and perspectives for potential medical education technologies in Rwanda.

          Methods

          Information baseline and needs assessments data collection were conducted in all 44 district hospitals (DHs) throughout Rwanda. The research team collected qualitative data through interviews with 16 general practitioners working across Rwanda and 97 self-administered online questionnaires for rural areas. Data were collected and analyzed to address two key questions: (1) what are the currently available tools for the use of mobile-based technology for medical education in Rwanda, and (2) what are user's requirements for the creation of a mobile medical education technology in Rwanda?

          Results

          General practitioners from different hospitals highlighted that none of the available technologies avail local resources such as the Ministry of Health (MOH) clinical treatment guidelines. Considering the number of patients that doctors see in Rwanda, an average of 32 patients per day, there is need for a locally adapted mobile education app that utilizes specific Rwandan medical education resources. Based on our results, we propose a mobile medical education app that could provide many benefits such as rapid decision making with lower error rates, increasing the quality of data management and accessibility, and improving practice efficiency and knowledge. In areas where Internet access is limited, the proposed mobile medical education app would need to run on a mobile device without Internet access.

          Conclusions

          A user-centered design approach was adopted, starting with a needs assessment with representative end users, which provided recommendations for the development of a mobile medical education app specific to Rwanda. Specific app features were identified through the needs assessment and it was evident that there will be future benefits to ongoing incorporation of user-centered design methods to better inform the software development and improve its usability. Results of the user-centered design reported here can inform other medical education technology developments in LMIC to ensure that technologies developed are usable by all stakeholders.

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          Most cited references19

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          Mobile devices and apps for health care professionals: uses and benefits.

          Health care professionals' use of mobile devices is transforming clinical practice. Numerous medical software applications can now help with tasks ranging from information and time management to clinical decision-making at the point of care.
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                Author and article information

                Contributors
                Journal
                JMIR Med Educ
                JMIR Med Educ
                JME
                JMIR Medical Education
                JMIR Publications (Toronto, Canada )
                2369-3762
                Jan-Jun 2016
                01 June 2016
                : 2
                : 1
                : e7
                Affiliations
                [1] 1College of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Rwanda KigaliRwanda
                [2] 2Rochester Institute of Technology Rochester, NYUnited States
                Author notes
                Corresponding Author: Jean Christophe Rusatira rusatirac2001@ 123456gmail.com
                Author information
                http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1538-0056
                http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3922-9860
                http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6132-0812
                http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7014-5799
                http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6477-6527
                http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4936-8135
                http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7398-9065
                http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6760-9924
                http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1447-3365
                http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0634-0199
                http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5308-3706
                Article
                v2i1e7
                10.2196/mededu.5336
                5041362
                27731861
                d68ff651-7513-46e8-aa61-ccf95a742425
                ©Jean Christophe Rusatira, Brian Tomaszewski, Vincent Dusabejambo, Vincent Ndayiragije, Snedden Gonsalves, Aishwarya Sawant, Angeline Mumararungu, George Gasana, Etienne Amendezo, Anne Haake, Leon Mutesa. Originally published in JMIR Medical Education (http://mededu.jmir.org), 01.06.2016.

                This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work, first published in JMIR Medical Education, is properly cited. The complete bibliographic information, a link to the original publication on http://mededu.jmir.org/, as well as this copyright and license information must be included.

                History
                : 11 November 2015
                : 7 January 2016
                : 9 April 2016
                : 27 April 2016
                Categories
                Original Paper
                Original Paper

                mobile medical education,technology,user-centered design

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