Digital health innovation to support maternal and newborn care
| Principal Investigator | Dr. Sherri Bucher, Indiana University School of Medicine (Department of Pediatrics, Division of Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine) Dr. Saptarshi Purkayastha, IUI School of Informatics and Computing (BioHealth Informatics) |
| International Collaborator(s) | Professor Fabian Esamai, Alupe University College |
| Project Type | |
| Project Title | Mobile Helping Babies Survive powered by DHIS2 (mHBS/DHIS2) |
| Priority Area | Infant and maternal health; Education |
| The Intervention | There are currently 4 mobile applications, in various stages of design, development, evaluation, and deployment, within the award-winning mHBS/DHIS2 suite of digital tools. These include: mHBS/DHIS2 Tracker (data collection); mHBS/DHIS2 Trainer (educational and training materials); Essential Care for Every Baby Digital Action Plan (clinical decision support); NeoRoo (data collection, education, and automated monitoring of neonatal vital signs among babies utilizing the NeoSMART biomedical device). The most innovative feature of our mHBS/DHIS2 tools is the fact that they are all built directly within the DHIS2 Mobile platform. This allows for mHBS/DHIS2 applications to be utilized off-line. mHBS/DHIS2 is highly flexible and customizable and can be modified according to the specific needs of collaborative partners, to capture an almost infinite array of events, indicators, and outcomes. |
| Key Facilitators | Moi University; Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital |
| Target Population | Healthcare providers; parents and family stakeholders; newborns |
| Process to Implementation | Building mHBS within the DHIS2 platform harnesses the global power of a highly scaled, widely utilized, open-source Health Management Information System. Many of the LMICs which have adopted DHIS2 on a national scale in the same areas in which Helping Babies Survive educational and training programs (American Academy of Pediatrics) have also been widely disseminated. DHIS2 integrates with open-source electronic health record solutions, such as OpenMRS, potentially providing integrated coverage, via the use of mHBS/DHIS2 tools, for data collection and reporting from the individual patient or healthcare provider level to aggregated information at the health facility, regional, national, and international levels. |
| Key Stakeholders | Ministries of Health; hospital administration; communities; public-private partners; healthcare providers; parents and families; newborns |
| Scaled or Transferred? | We are developing the mHBS/DHIS2 Tracker and Trainer apps for upload to Google Play in 2021. The ECEB and NeoRoo apps are still undergoing design and development. |
| Type of Research | Digital health design and development; human/user-centered design; participatory design; randomized control trial |
| Published Materials | Bucher, S., In: Agravat, N, (December 2013) “mHealth and Neonatal Resuscitation: A Review of Interventions, Approaches, and Applications,” (pp. 19-21). Commissioned by the mHealth Alliance, Knowledge for Health Project, funded by USAID Office of Population and Reproductive Health, Bureau for Global Health
Bucher SL. mHBB: Using mobile phones to support Helping Babies Breathe in Kenya. (2015) In: Levine R, Corbacio A, Konopka S, Saya U, Gilmartin C, Paradis J, Haas S, eds. mHealth Compendium, Volume Five. Arlington, VA: African Strategies for Health, Management Sciences for Health; 46–47. Bucher, S., Barasa, S., Chowdhury, T,I., Maru, J., Munyalo, B., Mwai, G., Otieno, K., Rukunga, J., Muyodi, D., Palakal, M., Comer, S., Liechty, E., Esamai, F. (2015) Using Mobile Phones to Support Helping Babies Breathe Implementation in Kenya (publication number 2940.719), Poster Presentation, Pediatric Academic Societies, San Diego, CA, April 26. http://www.abstracts2view.com/pasall/view.php?nu=PAS15L1_2940.719 Bucher, S., and mHBB Working Group Kenya: IUI and Moi University School of Medicine. (2016) A mobile phone-based data collection system to support Helping Babies Breathe training and implementation, Poster presentation, Child Health and Survival: Global Health session, 28th International Congress of Pediatrics of the International Pediatrics Association, Vancouver, BC, August 17-22, 2016 Bucher, S., Meyers, E., Agnikula Kshatriya, BS., Avanigadda, PC., Purkayastha, SP. (2019) Development of an Innovative Mobile Phone-based Newborn Care Training Application, Innovations in Bio-Inspired Computing and Applications – Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Innovations in Bio-Inspired Computing and Applications IBICA 2018. 21 May, Abraham, A., Gandhi, N. & Pant, M. (eds.). Springer Verlag, p. 361-374 14 p. (Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing; vol. 939). DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-16681-6_36 Bucher, S., Purkayastha, S., Combs, W., Esamai, F. NeoInnovate: Integration of mHealth and wearable biomedical device technologies to reduce neonatal morbidity and mortality, Invited Poster Presentation, mHealth Technology Showcase, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, June 4, 2018 Umoren, R., Bucher, SL., Purkayastha, S., Ezeaka, C., Mairami, A, Bresnahan, B, and Paton, C. (2019) eHBB/mHBS powered by DHIS2: Mobile virtual reality newborn provider training in Helping Babies Breathe, IMSH SimVentor Showcase, 19th International Meeting on Simulation in Healthcare of the Society for Simulation in Healthcare, San Antonio, Texas, January 27 Bucher, S., Meyers, E, Singh, B., Avanigadda, P., and Purkayastha, S (2019) A mobile phone-based digital health application to support implementation of newborn care programs in low/middle-income countries, 29th International Congress of Pediatrics of the International Pediatrics Association, Panama City, Panama, March 17 -21, 2019. Umoren, R., Bucher, S., Mairami A, Purkayastha S, Bresnahan B, Ezeaka C, Esamai F, Paton C, on behalf of eHBB/mHBS-DHIS2 project team (2019) eHBB/mHBS-DHIS2: Mobile Virtual Reality Provider Training in Helping Babies Breathe, Pediatric Academic Societies Meeting, Baltimore, MD, April 24 – May 1, 2019. Umoren, RA, Ezeaka, C., Esamai, F., Agnikula Kshatriya. B, Avanigadda, P., Clopp, B Ezenwa, B Fajolu, I, Feltner, J., Makokha, F., McGee, A, Musale, A, Nafulu, M., Purkayastha, S.,. Spiekerman, C, Bucher, S., (2019) Pre-Training Cognitive and Psychomotor Gaps in Healthcare Worker Neonatal Resuscitation Skills for Helping Babies Breathe – A report from the eHBB/mHBS Study American Academy of Pediatrics National Conference and Exhibition, New Orleans, LA, October 25-29. Umoren, RA, Bucher, S., Purkayastha, S., Ezeaka, C., Esamai, F., Mairami, A., Asangansi, I, Bresnahan, B, Paton, C. (2019) eHBB/mHBS-DHIS2: Mobile Virtual Reality Provider Training in Helping Babies Breathe, American Academy of Pediatrics National Conference and Exhibition, New Orleans, LA, October 25-29. Nuthakki S., Bucher S., Purkayastha S. (2019) The Development and Usability Testing of a Decision Support Mobile App for the Essential Care for Every Baby (ECEB) Program. In: Stephanidis C., Antona M. (eds) HCI International 2019 – Late Breaking Posters. HCII 2019. Communications in Computer and Information Science, vol 1088. Springer, Cham Bucher, S., Purkayastha, S., Singh, BA., Avanigadda, PC., Chowdhury, M.T.I. (2019) Development of Digitized Educational Evaluation Checklists to Support Implementation of Neonatal Resuscitation Programs in Low/Middle-Income Countries, Global Digital Health Forum, Bethesda, MD, December 9 – 11 (Poster Presentation) Bucher, S. Mobile Helping Babies Survive powered by DHIS2 (mHBS/DHIS2): A digital toolkit for newborn care training, education, data collection and quality improvement, (2019) Global Digital Health Forum, Bethesda, MD, December 9 – 11 (Appy Hour Demonstration) Rajapuri, A., Purkayastha, S., Bucher, S., Ravirandharan, R., Horan, K. (2020) Essential Care for Every Baby: Neonatal Clinical Decision Support Tool, Applied Human Factors and Ergonomics, 11th International Conference (Full paper #769), July 16-20, Virtual Conference (COVID-19) Umoren, R., Ezeaka, C., Esamai, FO., Al-Haddad, B., Ezenwa, B., Fajolu, I., Feltner, J., Hippe, D., Makokha, F., McGee, A., Mmboga, A., Nafula, MC., Patel, S., Asangansi, I., Purkayastha, S. Bucher, S. Digital Interventions Complement In-person Helping Babies Breathe Training – A report from the eHBB/mHBS Study, Pediatric Academic Societies, Philadelphia, PA, May 2 -5, 2020. (Accepted as Platform Presentation – Conference canceled due to COVID-19) Umoren, R., Patel, S., Bucher, S, Esamai, FO., Ezeaka, C., Edgcombe, H., Ezenwa, B., Fajolu, I., Feltner, J,m Mairami, AB, Makokha, F, Mmboga, A, Muinga, N, Nafula, MC, Paton, C., Purkayastha, S, Rossner, J, Winters, N. Attitudes of healthcare workers in low-resource settings to mobile virtual reality simulations for newborn resuscitation training – A report from the eHBB/mHBS study, Pediatric Academic Societies, Philadelphia, PA, May 2 -5, 2020. (Poster presentation – Conference canceled due to COVID-19) Bucher, S. Mobile Helping Babies Survive powered by DHIS2: Innovative application of the DHIS2 platform to educate, train, and empower healthcare providers to save newborn lives, DHIS2 Symposium 2020, Washington, DC, March 19-20, 2020; delayed to October 1-2, 2020 (Invited Keynote Presentation) Bucher, S., Rajapuri, A., Ravindran, R., Rukunga, J., Horan, K., Esamai, F., Purkayastha, S. (Submission ID: 887063) The Essential Care for Every Baby Digital Action Plan: Design and usability testing of a mobile phone-based newborn care decision support tool in Kenya. American Academy of Pediatrics National Conference and Exhibition, Joint Program SOICH, SOSU, SOB, San Diego, CA, October 2-6, 2020 (Oral/Podium presentation –1 of only 4 selected for the special Helping Babies Breathe 10 year anniversary celebration, October 5, 2020), Virtual conf. due to COVID-19. Umoren, RA., Ezeaka, C., Esamai, FO., Al-Haddad, B., Ezenwa, B., Fajolu, I., Feltner, J., Hippe, D., Makokha, F., McGee, A, Mmboga, A, Nafula, MC, Patel, Shruti, Asangansi, I, Purkayastha, S, Bucher, S eHBB: A randomized controlled trial of virtual reality for newborn resuscitation refresher training of healthcare workers in Nigeria and Kenya. American Academy of Pediatrics National Conference and Exhibition, Joint Program SOICH, SOSU, SOB, San Diego, CA, October 2-6, 2020 (Virtual poster, winner, Global Health presentation), Virtual conf. due to COVID-19. Umoren, RA, Ezeaka, C., Esamai, FO., Al-Haddad, B., Ezenwa, B., Fajolu, I., Feltner, J., Hippe, D., Makokha, F., McGee, A, Mmboga, A, Nafula, MC, Patel, Shruti, Asangansi, I, Purkayastha, S, Bucher, S. Digital interventions complement in-person Helping Babies Breathe Training – A report from the eHBB/mHBS study. American Academy of Pediatrics National Conference and Exhibition, Joint Program SOICH, SOSU, SOB, San Diego, CA, October 2-6, 2020 (Virtual Poster), Virtual conf. due to COVID-19. Bucher, SL., Cardellichio, P., Muinga, N., Patterson, JK, Thukral, A., Deorari, AK., Data, S., Umoren, R., Purkayastha, S. (2020) Digital Health Innovations, Tools, and Resources to Support Helping Babies Survive Programs, Pediatrics, 146 (Supplement 2; Oct) S165-182; DOI: 10.1542/peds.2020-016915 |
| Year Funded | 2012 – 2014: Laerdal Foundation for Acute Medicine 2014 – 2016: Johnson and Johnson Corporate Giving 2016 – 2018: IUI Multidisciplinary Undergraduate Research Initiative 2018 – 2020: Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation |