Introducing ResultsSMS

Many medical test results in the developing world are never received by patients and not acted on by healthcare providers. This negatively impacts both patient care and research efforts that rely on effective data collection to draw meaningful conclusions. A system that could significantly increase the rate of test result delivery and follow-up could therefore improve both patient outcomes and the quality of research performed in developing countries.

ResultsSMS is a Short Message Service (SMS)-based results delivery system that builds on existing electronic medical record systems to automatically send test results to patients (via SMS) as well as healthcare providers and researchers (via SMS or email) as they became available. The system includes features to allow for patient confidentiality through password protection and results compilation for healthcare providers and researchers. The code for the system will be open source and is being written to build on the popular OpenMRS electronic medical record platform. It will also be adaptable for use with anything from a pen and paper records system to a full functionality electronic medical record. Beyond delivering results, the system will also allow for the delivery of targeted public health messages based on test results to assist patients with follow-up.

Our team includes Support for International Change (SIC) and Global Partners in Anesthesia and Surgery (GPAS), computer programmers and CEOs from Appfrica Labs and Frontline SMS, as well as physicians from Partners in Health (PIH) and Makerere University's Mulago Hospital.

This project is made possible by an award received from the Harvard Initiative for Global Health - Innovation and Technology Grant Competition 2009-10..

How it Works