Abstract:
Background:
Clinical research can be facilitated by
the use of informatics tools. We used an
existing electronic medica
l record (EMR) system and personal data assistants (PDAs) to assess the
characteristics and outcomes of patients with acut
e respiratory illnesses (ARIs) visiting a Kenyan
rural health center.
Methods:
We modified the existing EMR to include
details on patients with ARIs. The EMR
database was then used to identi
fy patients with ARIs who were
prospectively followed up by a
research assistant wh
o rode a bicycle to patients' home
s and entered data into a PDA.
Results:
A total of 2986 clinic visits for 2009 adul
t patients with respiratory infections were
registered in the database between August 2002
and January 2005; 433 patients were selected for
outcome assessments. These patients
were followed up in the vill
ages and assessed at 7 and 30 days
later. Complete follow-up data
were obtained on 381 patients (88%) and merged with data from
the enrollment visit's electronic
medical records and subsequent
health center visits to assess
duration of illness and complica
tions. Symptoms improved at 7 and 30 days, but a substantial
minority of patients had
persistent symptoms. Eleven
percent of patients sought additional care for
their respiratory infection.
Conclusion:
EMRs and PDA are useful to
ols for performing prospecti
ve clinical research in
resource constrained
developing countries.