Leveraging technology for health services continuity in times of COVID-19 pandemic: Patient follow-up, and mitigation of worse patient outcomes

Background: Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in Wuhan, China, which has now spread globally, the health systems continue to face challenges in the provision of health care, there is a risk of exposure for both the physicians and the patients. While there is significant progress in the adoption of technology in health care. This study sought to examine the adverse effects of the measures put in place by the government to curb the spread of COVID-19 and come up with an intervention to prevent worse outcomes for chronic conditions.

Methods: Booking registers for four specialty clinics in Machakos Level 5 Hospital were reviewed to identify patients who missed clinic appointments for follow-up. An automated data collection tool (ODK-collect) was used for data collection. COVID-19 Machakos App was developed to facilitate follow-up and referral of patients to the nearest facilities, capturing and posting of information in real-time to a central database. The mobile App also facilitated the tracking of patients and aided doctors to give feedback on whether the patients reported to the referred facilities. The doctors were also able to capture doctors' notes on the patients' status while ensuring the confidentiality and privacy of the patients. An interactive dashboard was developed to generate analytics reports and summaries to monitor clinic attendance and trends in the provision of health care during the pandemic period.

Results: Register data showed 977 (81.5%) out of a total of 1199 patients had missed their scheduled appointments. Among the 977, 746 (76%) were residents of Machakos County and qualified for follow-up. Missed appointments varied by clinic: Cancer Clinic 12 (1.6) %), Diabetes Clinic 212 (28.4%), Hypertension 293 (39.3%), and Paediatrics Clinic 229 (30.7%). Contact was made and follow-up was attempted for 746 patients, of which 453 patients (60.7%) were successful. The follow-up distribution of the 453 patients varied by the clinic as follows: Cancer Clinic 10, Diabetes Clinic 146, Hypertension 185, and Paediatrics Clinic 112. During the follow-up process, 331 patients from diabetes and hypertension clinics were requested to choose a preferred or nearby facility to be referred to. 191 (58%) patients chose Machakos Level 5 Hospital as their preferred facility and 137 (41%) patients chose to be referred to level 3 or 4 hospitals within the County. Three deaths were reported from the medical (Hypertension) clinic. Through the developed App, a total, 82 (60%) patients out of the 137 were reviewed at the referral facilities jointly with a specialist at Machakos Level 5 Hospital. For the duration of the study, some patients reported worse conditions by the time of review after missing scheduled appointments.

Conclusions: This intervention demonstrated that mobile phone technology could be leveraged to provide specialty treatment services remotely to mitigate against worse patient outcomes. The study reveals that there is a dire need to integrate technological interventions in the provision of health care services to ensure continuity.