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OpenTrials
Completed

NCT Number: NCT02193854

Teledermatology Solution Through Mobile Phone in Rural Mongolia

Objective This study is aimed to estimate the distance, time and the cost of travel saved by patients who are seeking tele-dermatology (TD) service though smart mobile phones in the resource poor settings at the rural clinics of Mongolia.

Methods A cluster-randomised trial was conducted for six months at the 20 rural health clinics selected from three districts in Mongolia. With a computer-generated sequence, health clinics were randomly allocated either to the intervention group, in which all general practitioners (GPs) received TD consultation through Sana system, or the control group, in which GPs referred patients to the dermatologist at district hospital whenever needed. The primary outcome was to estimate the distance traveled, times spend and the cost of travel required in receiving dermal care for patients in rural Mongolia. Analysis was done to estimate the difference between the aforementioned parameters among intervention and control groups.

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Key information

Conditions

Social Distance

Age range

18 year and older

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Not applicable

Primary location

Shabbir Syed Abdul

Taipei, 11031, Taiwan

About this study

The investigators used Sana system, that is a mobile phone-based, open source software platform for telemedicine services. The Android-based system supports multimedia, location-based data, and text. In the village health clinic, a healthcare worker will interact with a patient and collects data through a step-by-step clinical questionnaire on a smart mobile phone. As patients' data is uploaded to an open source electronic medical record system (OpenMRS) with a diagnosis-specific information and images. The consultant can access the clinical information about the patient and make appropriate diagnoses and treatment recommendations from the secondary hospital.

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: No

Only the study team can determine whether someone qualifies for participation.

Inclusion criteria

  • Patients aged 18-98 years visiting with dermal problem.

Exclusion criteria

  • Patients who do not need dermal care.
  • Patients who are already under treatment for dermal problem.

Treatment and study plan

mobile phone

Device

Investigators used Sana system, that is a mobile phone-based, open source software platform for telemedicine services. The Android-based system supports multimedia, location-based data, and text. In the village health clinic, a healthcare worker will interact with a patient and collects data through a step-by-step clinical questionnaire on a smart mobile phone. As patients' data is uploaded to an open source electronic medical record system (OpenMRS) with a diagnosis-specific information and images. The consultant can access the clinical information about the patient and make appropriate diagnoses and treatment recommendations from the secondary hospital.

Primary outcomes

  1. Comparison between the number of referrals in the control and intervention groups

    Time frame: up to 5 months

    Outcome measures are the number of referrals done in the control and in the intervention groups. We compared the difference in the number of referrals with Sana system and without.

Secondary outcomes

  1. Satisfaction by physicians and patients by questionnaire

    Time frame: up to 5 months

    Both physicians and patients who were in the intervention group were satisfied by the Sana system.

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

Taipei Medical University

Other

Collaborators

  • Health Science University of Mongolia

Registry information

Important dates

Study start
2013
Primary completion
2014
Study completion
2014
First posted
Jul 18, 2014
Registry last updated
Jul 18, 2014

OpenTrials presents study information sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov. The official registry record should be consulted for the latest information.

View the official ClinicalTrials.gov record (opens in a new tab)

This listing is for discovery and informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, does not guarantee that a study is recruiting, and does not determine eligibility. Contact the study team and a qualified healthcare professional when considering participation.

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