In CompSci 408, the class was broken up into teams to work on client projects. I was placed onto the team to develop an application called “mSaada” which translates to “My Health” in Swahili. mSaada was an app to digitize the process of HPV testing in Kisumu, Kenya. The goals of the application were to allow patients to be registered as a “New Patient,” have the ability to search through the database for “Existing Patients” to check their medical history, have a “Procedure Walkthrough” in order for the Community Health Volunteers to follow examination procedure, and a “FAQ” section to allow consist answers throughout the medical volunteers.
A tablet version of the application was prototyped. Our client believed that Android tablets would be used by the Community Health Volunteers during the examination. These tablets would assist the volunteers in following proper procedure and logging patient data securely.
After these prototypes were developed, a closer look at the budget called for mobile devices to be used. A switch from tablet to mobile allowed for a slight redesign of the application.
Below is the first version design of the application:
Data was collected through an “Add New Patient” Survey where the Community Health Volunteers could log important information such as name, age, location, number of children, previous testing, and more.
After completing the front-end of the application, my group team members went on to implement the back-end functionality. While this was happening, I took the opportunity to redesign the front-end of the application to be more sleek. Below are some of the redesigns options of the home page.
The client decided to move forward Redesign 2, because of the easy to use interface, and engaging colors.
This course was the first time I had the opportunity to work with a real client and it was a great learning experience. It is interesting to work with a client who is located in Kenya for half of each month because communication is a strain factor in the partnership. Overall, I really enjoyed this course and while I did not need it for my Information Science & Studies certificate, it is part of the Information Theory/Methods requirement and I wanted to include the work I completed.
