JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

The Pregnancy and Newborn Diagnostic Assessment (PANDA) system is a mobile application that aims to facilitate diagnosis and decision-making by health care personnel in prenatal care. Studies conducted in Madagascar and Burkina Faso showed that it is a feasible system acceptable to the various stakeholders. This study aims to evaluate its effectiveness in improving the quality of care.

Methods:

This will be a randomized controlled trial implementing the PANDA telemedicine system in two groups of health facilities in the same district (an intervention group and a comparison group). We will compare the effects of the intervention with those of usual antenatal care offered in the comparison group through a cluster-randomized trial while trying to analyze barriers and catalysts. The primary endpoint is the quality of prenatal care (a score indicator). We will include pregnant women in the first trimester of pregnancy and follow them until the sixth-week postpartum. A total of 12 health centers (6 per group) will be included, and 240 women per group will be enrolled. Discussion: The PANDA system has been reviewed as one of the most comprehensive applications because it has many features. However, some authors have concluded in their studies that the use of these systems for prenatal care is limited. Therefore, the randomized controlled trial to conduct will be of great value in evaluating the intrinsic capacity of the PANDA system to improve the quality of care. By including qualitative research and economic evaluation in this research, we will identify the factors that hinder or promote such an application in resource-limited countries such as Burkina Faso and contribute to cost-effectiveness analysis. In addition, the results of this trial will be significant because Burkina Faso has decided to use the electronic consultation register for maternity and the electronic consultation register for the management of childhood diseases.