In an emergency
One tap to the emergency protocols
ABCDE assessment, shock, anaphylaxis and convulsions sit behind a red button on every screen, with flowcharts drawn from the book.
It started with a phone on the ward.
I’m a medical student, and I also build software. During clinical time I kept seeing clinicians check something on their phones between patients. Phones are already part of how medicine is practised. What bothered me was what they were finding.
Is the source credible? How long does it take to find the answer? And does it apply to patients in Malawi?
Malawi Clinical Guidelines is my answer: the approved national guidelines, easy to search and fully offline, made for students and health workers here.
- 1
Built a first version
An offline, searchable phone app holding the approved Malawian guidelines, so the answer is credible, quick to find and written for our context.
- 2
Put it in front of real users
Instead of guessing what people needed, I asked more than 30 MBBS students and clinicians to test it.
- 3
Listened to what they said
Some clinicians found using a phone during patient care disruptive and preferred a computer. Students said a computer was better for studying, without a phone’s distractions.
- 4
Went back and built for the desktop
The same guidelines, search and tools now run on Windows laptops and desktops as well as phones, so they fit both the consultation room and the study desk.
Built for Malawi, around the way health information is actually used.
