Data that is useful to heal

Original article published in Spanish in the newspaper El Pais

Every day, Paulina tours Belize to interview those responsible for the health teams. She compiles and analyzes hundreds of data dispersed in different sources and formats. How long does it take for a pregnant woman to get care when she arrives due to an urgency?; how many children of a region have anemia?; how many complications take place after delivery in a specific hospital?; how many women continue to deliver at home in a village?...

However, this Belizean nurse’s work is costly. Information is compiled in paper and stored in different databases. Data processing is manual. Paulina devoted most of her work day administrating and managing figures, instead of devoting that to talking with the health teams, or seeking and proposing solutions and quality improvement plans.

The implementation of a digital control panel early in 2017, accessible through a mobile device, allows this nurse to compile data directly to a single IT system that allow real-time calculation, sharing and visualization the results. Paulina can now devote the necessary time to communicate with the teams, and propose quality improvement solutions for health services in Belize.

Since 2012, the Salud Mesoamérica Initiative Works with the governments of Belice, Chiapas, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Panama to create information systems capable of collecting, structuring and displaying, in a useful and understandable manner, this daily flow of data. Well-organized data aid in making good management and health policies decisions, as well as in responding to daily sanitary challenges. This component is being performed with the support of the Korean Knowledge Partnership and Fund for Technology and Innovation.

Easy and intuitive data visualization is the simplest part of this process. The hardest work begins by identifying what are the strategic questions that a country’s health services must answer. Once what is wanted to know is defined, the following step is finding where this information is located. The begins the work of identifying and validating diverse sources, handwritten log books at a hospital’s delivery room, a promoter’s handwritten notes on the health habits and needs of a community; official statistics from the Ministry of a country; or external measurements performed by independent agencies, among others.

The information is then digitalized in order to enable the sources and data to interconnect and be processed. The last phase of this process consists in defining which stakeholders are authorized to use these data and for what purposes.

This tool allows the whole personnel chain of a health system to share and analyze, in real time, the quality of the processes, monitor the system’s evolution and contribute solutions to challenges posed.

The tool connects to the data sources existing in the health system of each country and allows users to define "situation rooms" where they may choose the indicators they are interested in analyzing and drill down to the lowest level available. Users may create action plans and share their rooms with supervisors or other colleagues to gain feedback. The system allows users to readily analyze their data, allowing them to make evidence-based decisions. And, consequently, save and improve lives.

Paulina, as well as other nurses, volunteers, doctors, and health professionals of the Mesoamerican countries will continue compiling thousands of data every year. In turn, they will no longer be concerned with ordering, cataloging and storing the information. Unifying information in single digital boards will allow these professionals to devote more of their time and resources to what truly helps to save lives. Interpreting the figures in order to improve the service and quality they offer their patients.