The efficiency, accuracy and acceptability of smartphone-delivered data collection in a low-resource setting - A prospective study

Awais Raza; Ibrahim Raza; Thomas M Drake; Ahmed Bani Sadar; Muhammad Adil; Fatima Baluch; Ahmad Uzair Qureshi; Ewen M Harrison; GlobalSurg Collaborative

doi:10.1016/j.ijsu.2017.06.081

The efficiency, accuracy and acceptability of smartphone-delivered data collection in a low-resource setting - A prospective study

Int J Surg. 2017 Aug:44:252-254. doi: 10.1016/j.ijsu.2017.06.081. Epub 2017 Jul 1.

Authors

Awais Raza¹, Ibrahim Raza¹, Thomas M Drake², Ahmed Bani Sadar¹, Muhammad Adil¹, Fatima Baluch¹, Ahmad Uzair Qureshi³, Ewen M Harrison²; GlobalSurg Collaborative²

Affiliations

¹ King Edward Medical University, Lahore 54000, Pakistan.
² Department of Clinical Surgery, University of Edinburgh, 51 Little France Crescent, Edinburgh, EH16 4SA, United Kingdom.
³ King Edward Medical University, Lahore 54000, Pakistan. Electronic address: [email protected].

PMID: 28676384
DOI: 10.1016/j.ijsu.2017.06.081

Abstract

Smartphones are increasingly used in healthcare, yet little is known about their utility in medical research as a means of data collection in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC). In this letter, we discuss results from our experiences with data collection on smartphones in an LMIC setting. Our experience found smartphones a secure and reliable data collection tool for medical research that can empower researchers in countries to participate in surgical studies.

Keywords: Data collection; Developing country; Smart phone; Smart phone application.

Publication types

Letter
Observational Study

MeSH terms

Biomedical Research / methods*
Data Accuracy
Data Collection / methods*
Developing Countries*
Humans
Pakistan
Prospective Studies
Smartphone*