Abstract
To investigate the effectiveness, efficiency and cost gains in collecting patient eye health information from remote rural villages of India by trained field investigators through an Android Based Tablet Application namely ‘Sankara Electronic Remote Vision Information System (SERVIS)”. During January and March 2016, a population based cross-sectional study was conducted in three Indian states employing SERVIS and manual method. The SERVIS application has a 48-items survey instrument programed into the application. Data on 281 individuals were collected for each of these methods as part of screening. The demographic details of individuals between both screening methods were comparable (P>0.05). The mean time (in minutes) to screen an individual by SERVIS was significantly less when compared to manual method (6.57±1.46 versus 11.93±1.53) (P<0.0001). The efficiency of SERVIS in screening was significantly evident as 26% (n = 73) of the patients screened have been referred to campsite and 69.8% (n = 51) of those referred were visited the campsite for a detailed eye examination by an ophthalmologist. The cost of screening through SERVIS is significantly less when compared to manual method; INR 7,633 (USD 113.9) Versus INR 24,780 (USD 370). SERVIS is an effective and efficient tool in terms of patients’ referral conversion to the camp site leading to timely detection of potential blinding eye conditions and their appropriate treatment. This ensures timely prevention of avoidable blindness and visual impairment. In addition, the storage and access of eye health epidemiological quality data is helpful to plan appropriate blindness prevention initiatives in rural India.
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Acknowledgements
The authors would like to acknowledge the contribution of Field Investigators in particular Mr. Jafar Khan, Mr. Kumar, Mr. B Naga Babu, Mr. B Saidulu, Mr. H Manjunath and Mr. Gaurav Kumar. The authors would like to also thank Administrators Mrs. Manjula Devi, Mrs. Gayatri Shantharam, Mr. Kanagaraj and Mr. L Srinivas Rao for coordinating the field work during data collection; data entry operator Mrs. K Mahalakshmi for data entry assistance. Authors would like to thank all the participants who participated in this study. The authors also acknowledge the financial support obtained from "Vodafone".
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Presented and won the best paper award at the annual national conference of “Vision 2020: The Right to Sight – India” held at H V Desai Eye Hospital, Pune, Maharashtra, India during 4–5, June 2016.
This article is part of the Topical Collection on Mobile & Wireless Health
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Imtiaz, S.A., Krishnaiah, S., Yadav, S.K. et al. Benefits of an Android Based Tablet Application in Primary Screening for Eye Diseases in a Rural Population, India. J Med Syst 41, 49 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10916-017-0695-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10916-017-0695-6