Delivering Diagnostic Test Results More Quickly and Securely
SystemOne
SystemOne provides a software platform that is currently used in 45+ countries, across 1,500+ labs and Point-of-Care instruments. The company’s software platform integrates with diagnostic devices to deliver test results to clinicians, partners, and program staff in sub-Saharan Africa through a private, secure communication network. SystemOne makes the evaluation, selection, and implementation process simpler for Device Makers, Ministries of Health, Implementing Partners, Donors, and Global Governance Bodies.
The Challenge
SystemOne’s existing test result delivery system was highly manual and inefficient. Test results were being printed from a centralized lab, then delivered manually to rural clinics—a process that could take days or even weeks. This was problematic, because diseases were moving faster than critical information, and delays could cause the loss of important patient results.
SystemOne’s web platform allowed the company to receive diagnostic results, but it didn’t allow for the delivery of those results to practitioners or patients. Plus, this manual process precluded healthcare workers from creating customized workflows that would allow them to engage with patients more efficiently and effectively.
SystemOne needed a mobile Android app designed to quickly report diagnostic lab results back to clinicians and confirm patient links to treatment. Importantly, the company needed to create an app that functioned in offline mode, so practitioners in areas of poor connectivity could still enter data into their tablets and mobile devices and be assured that when their device next connected, that data would be automatically uploaded.
Upon implementing the app, SystemOne engineers needed to know how to maintain it.
The Solution
Compelled by our React Native expertise, SystemOne partnered with Gnar to build the SystemOne Aspect Reporter mobile app. The app offers the highest level of security and privacy to receive and deliver lab results easily from lab to clinic via clinicians’ mobile phones. The app extends the reach of laboratory diagnostic testing to the point-of-care and reduces turnaround time from weeks to minutes. In addition, the app allows for customized workflows that enable healthcare workers to report on follow-up, acknowledge test results receipt, confirm patient treatment, and more.
We worked closely with SystemOne’s back-end team to build a simple, user-friendly interface equipped with multiple features designed specifically for infrastructure-challenged areas. These include the ability to download results for a specified period to facilitate access and search; the use of offline mode, which uploads and downloads new results when in WiFi range; scalable access to multiple central labs; and the ability to confirm patient treatment compliance.
The app is designed specifically for Android, given the prevalence of those devices in sub-Saharan Africa. Because the ap was built in React Native, however, it could also be launched for iOS, if needed.
Gnar collaborated with a number of SystemOne team members during the project and transitioned the app to SystemOne engineers once the build was complete, so they could easily maintain the app going forward.
The Results
The launch of Aspect Reporter has significantly expedited test result turnaround time from centralized testing facilities.
Typical turnaround for paper-based test results ranges from 2-6 weeks. With Aspect Reporter, labs can deliver data to multiple clinics in near real-time.
In a pilot study conducted in Malawi in 2017, an initial version of Aspect Reporter improved turnaround time by 95% and increased the reliability of result delivery by 100%.
Like what you hear and have a project of your own?