Accepted for/Published in: JMIR mHealth and uHealth
Date Submitted: Jan 27, 2019
Date Accepted: Jul 21, 2019
Analysis of Digital Documentation Speed and Sequence Using Digital Paper and Pen (DPP) Technology during the Refugee Crisis in Europe
ABSTRACT
Background:
The Syria crisis has forced more than 4 million people to leave their homeland. As a result, in 2016 an overwhelming number of refugees reached Germany. It was of utmost importance to set up refugee camps and to provide humanitarian aid. A health surveillance system was implemented in order to obtain rapid information about emerging diseases.
Objective:
The present study describes the effects of using digital paper and pen (DPP) technology on the speed, sequence and behavior of epidemiological documentation in a refugee camp.
Methods:
DPP technology was used to examine documentation speed, sequence and behavior. The data log of the digital pens for filling in the documentation was analyzed. Each pen stroke in a field was recorded using a timestamp. Documentation time was the difference between first and last stroke on the paper, which includes clinical examination and translation.
Results:
For three months, 495 data sets were recorded. After corrections have been made, 421 data sets were considered valid and subjected to further analysis. The mean documentation time was 45:02 min + 22:28 min (median 41:41 min). Fields with a significant effect on the time of documentation were identified. In this system, the documentation of vital signs was the most time-consuming. Furthermore, filling in the free-text field "clinical findings/therapy/measures" required the most time (mean 16:49 min + 20:32 min). Analysis of the documentation sequence revealed that the final step of coding the diagnosis is a time-consuming step that takes place once the form has been completed.
Conclusions:
We conclude that medical documentation with DPP technology leads to both an increase in documentation speed and data quality through the compliance of the data enterers who regard the tool to be convenient in everyday routine. Further analysis of more data sets will allow optimization of the documentation form used. DPP technology is an effective tool for the medical documentation process in refugee camps.
Citation
Request queued. Please wait while the file is being generated. It may take some time.
Copyright
© The authors. All rights reserved. This is a privileged document currently under peer-review/community review (or an accepted/rejected manuscript). Authors have provided JMIR Publications with an exclusive license to publish this preprint on it's website for review and ahead-of-print citation purposes only. While the final peer-reviewed paper may be licensed under a cc-by license on publication, at this stage authors and publisher expressively prohibit redistribution of this draft paper other than for review purposes.