Technologies are tools, not solutions

Our team at Medic Mobile aims to use the right technology tools for each project. We have supported mHealth projects in partnership with 30+ organizations in 20 countries, and our toolkit includes software we’ve built ourselves, as well as software developed by other organizations. We don’t push specific products – we focus on what our implementing partners and users want to accomplish.

Through our projects we’ve gained experience with SMS, structured SMS, USSD, email, SIM apps, J2ME apps, Android apps, and hosted and distributed web applications. Once we determine the needs of community-based and facility-based users we are able to select, customize or create the necessary tools.

If your goals aren’t a good fit for our expertise, mission, and toolkit, we’ll let you know – we’re happy to refer you to other technical organizations in the mHealth community. You can learn more about our tech strategy and software toolkit below:

Tools for community-based users

Our mobile tools are used by community health workers, trained birth attendants, patients, families & caregivers

Community health workers, skilled birth attendants, patients, families & caregivers

SIM Apps
TextForms
FrontlineForms
SMS

SIM Apps - developed by Medic Mobile

SIM card apps are a part of the global GSM standard that enables simple, menu driven applications to run directly from a phone’s SIM card. Our award winning SIM apps function like the M-Pesa SIM app, but they run on a paperclip-size parallel SIM card that fits between a phone and any carrier’s SIM card – enabling our SIM apps to work on virtually any standard GSM phone, and with any mobile network operator. Our SIM app framework enables us to rapid-prototype new apps for a variety of data collection and communication needs. See a video of Muvuku, one of our SIM apps.

TextForms - developed by Medic Mobile

TextForms is a module for FrontlineSMS, developed to efficiently and accurately send structured information via plain text SMS available on lowest-common-denominator handsets in low-resource settings. It provides a simple syntax and enables structured data collection with the robustness and scalability of SMS through plain text, boolean, multiple choice, and checklist responses. We are collaborating with Google to enable TextForms to update information about health facilities in Resource Finder, a tool Google has developed to help disseminate updated information about which services various health facilities offer in a disaster area. TextForms will allow relief workers to update a given facility’s available bed status, which types of specialists are on staff, etc, all via SMS.

Tools for facility-based users

Used by clinic-based health workers, CHW supervisors, health officers as well as local and international NGO staff

Kujua
PatientView
FrontlineSMS
OpenMRS

Kujua - developed by Medic Mobile

Kujua, which means “to know” in Swahili, is a distributed web application built to provide scalability and flexibility. It is built on Apache's CouchDB software, and runs locally on Windows, Mac OS, or Linux machine at a clinic. Kujua, via its built-in SMS gateway, receives and parses structured SMS messages, and stores them in a local database - effectively acting as a mobile health information hub for each clinic.

We are able to harness cloud or ground computing depending on the infrastructure. The platform can use its replication feature to periodically synchronize a clinic's records with other clinics, hospitals, district management sites, or national offices running Kujua. Clinicians and managers at any tier of the health system can view dashboards, drill down through data, looking across clinics, districts, or even countries.

The platform has been deployed in Benin, Cameroon, and Nepal; we expect it to scale to sites in 16 countries, including the US.

PatientView - FrontlineSMS plugin developed by Medic Mobile

PatientView is a simple and easy-to-use electronic medical record system (EMR) targeting small clinics or single departments that have little support from professional IT staff. Many of these clinics are currently using paper medical records and would benefit from the improved efficiency and reliability of an EMR, but do not have the technical staff to maintain a large, complex EMR. To address this problem, PatientView was designed to be easy to set up, easy to maintain, and easy to use. Beyond simplicity and usability, PatientView has many mobile features that are useful when working with health workers in the field, like the ability to coordinate SMS to and from the workers, accept forms submitted on mobile phones, and more.

FrontlineSMS

FrontlineSMS is a free software program that allows you to text message with large groups of people anywhere there is a mobile signal. Using this software, a laptop plugged into a cell phone becomes a low-cost communication hub. We use FrontlineSMS to improve communications between clinical staff and field staff, saving resources, time, and lives. Additionally, there is a plugin architecture built into FrontlineSMS that allows us to create other tools on top of it.

OpenMRS - Messaging Module developed by Medic Mobile

The Messaging Module is a module for OpenMRS that sends a variety of messages including SMS, emails, and Twitter direct messages. While it does have its own user interface that can be used for sending messages to patients, its main purpose is to enable other modules to send these messages. In the coming months it will be used to send medication reminders, receive patient data from the field, dispatch alerts to care providers, and more.

Network components

The network components sit silently redirecting data and messages between mobile users in the community and health workers in clinics and offices

SMSC
Modems
SMSSync

Our Tech Strategy

1. Make use of existing tools »

When faced with a problem, there is a tendency and desire to create a new solution. However, with mHealth projects, the greatest health impact per dollar invested comes from using tools that are already available, rather than developing new software for each project. Having supported more than 30 organizations in 20 countries, we’ve worked with a toolkit of software applications and tested dozens of others. Our software team has worked to customize open source software when needed to help meet our partner’s needs. Meanwhile, our field teams are experienced in managing projects with this variety tools in order to maximize the health impact of each project.

2. Develop new tools only when needed »

We saw significant needs that couldn’t be met with existing tools. These challenges were critical to overcome to improve health outcomes, and we have taken this opportunity to build products that health workers, families, and patients need. Our SIM App framework Muvuku allows any phone to become a powerful point-of-care or data collection tool, and Kujua goes beyond data collection to provide a complete Maternal & Child Health package.

3. Focus on familiar technology with maximum reach »

We believe that to have the maximum impact we must design tools that will have the greatest reach. Our tools are designed to work on the most widely available infrastructure and hardware, and we develop tools that feel familiar to the health workers, patients, and families who use them. It is this principle that has led us to develop Muvuku, our first mobile app, as a SIM App -- because it works on virtually any phone.

Our mission is to help improve health outcomes in underserved communities. If someone else is able to do so using our tools, then collectively we are achieving this goal. That is why our tools are available to the open source community - please feel free to download, use and contribute to our open source projects - you would be helping countless communities around the world.

4. Remain flexible and mission-driven »

As the mHealth landscape continues to change, it is critical to our mission to stay updated on available tools. The global health community can’t afford to spend time and resources re-inventing the wheel.