DFM Research Seminar: Evaluating an mHealth App to improve pediatric care in Malawi: the Supporting Life study

DEPARTMENT OF FAMILY MEDICINE
RESEARCH SEMINARS
Tuesday, April 4th, 2017, 12-1 PM
 
You are invited to our UW Department of Family Medicine’s monthly Research Seminar Series.  We welcome all learners, faculty, and staff.  Feel free to bring your lunch.  Light snacks will be provided.

 
PRESENTERS:

MATTHEW THOMPSON
MBChB, MPH, DPhil, MRCGP
Acting Chair and Helen D. Cohen Endowed Professor
Dept of Family Medicine
VICTORIA HARDY, MSc
Research Scientist
Dept of Family Medicine
NICOLE IDE, MSc
Research Scientist
Dept of Family Medicine
TOPIC:
Evaluating an mHealth App to improve pediatric care in Malawi: the Supporting Life study
 
DESCRIPTION:
Malawi has one of the highest under 5 mortality rates in Sub-Saharan Africa from preventable illness, such as pneumonia and malaria. The WHO’s Integrated Management of Childhood Illness (IMCI) strategy is a clinical decision support that is widely used in Malawi to improve the diagnosis and management of these illnesses in infants and children presenting to frontline health care services. A cadre of community health workers called Health Surveillance Assistants are tasked with delivering this intervention to communities in Malawi, but, to date evidence regarding the impact of IMCI on metrics such as quality of care, workflow efficiency and mortality rates is mixed. The Supporting Life program is a European Union funded program of research involving 6 international academic and non-governmental partners that over the last 4 years have developed and tested a mobile phone based version of IMCI. In this seminar, we will present the process and pitfalls experienced in designing and conducting a stepped-wedge trial in rural northern Malawi, for the purpose of evaluating the effectiveness of the mHealth Application on under-5 referral, re-consultation and hospitalization rates in over 7,000 children.

 
LOCATION:
Roosevelt 1 building, 4225 Roosevelt Way NE, Suite 308, Conference Room 357