SmartCare
SmartCare was developed by Zambia's Ministry of Health as the national standard for EHR system and deployed in several African nations such as Zambia, Ethiopia, and South Africa. It designed to accommodate the lack of technology infrastructure and training, and patient mobility in the area. SmartCare developers adhere to belief that [1]:
- Every man, woman and child will have an electronic health record
- Every point of Clinical Service can access and update this record
- Every clinician understands the value of the record and is committed to maintaining it
- Each Clinical Facility and administrative level above it, from district to provincial to national, routinely monitors and evaluates reports from this data, using the information to optimally allocate resources to assure continuous, systematic improvement in Health Services
The goal is "to enable the delivery of cost-effective, confidential, quality health care for everyone, everywhere, every time, by improving health records and related health information systems."[2]
Contents
History
From the late 1990s to 2003, the government of Zambia initiated the development of a standard EHR system to provide effective health services for its citizens. In 2005, the first release of Smart Care was deployed and it is currently in version 4.0. [3]
Features
Some of its unique features include:
- Touchscreen interface to minimize the learning curve
- Secured smart cards used to carry individual health data which is later backed up and synced
- Report system
- GIS charting for survey and research
- e-Prescriptions
