Application of smart phone in "Better Border Healthcare Program": a module for mother and child care.
BACKGROUND
To assess the application of cell phone integrating into the healthcare system to improve antenatal care (ANC) and expanded programme on immunization (EPI) services for the under-served population in border area.


METHODS
A module combining web-based and mobile technology was developed to generate ANC/EPI visit schedule dates in which the healthcare personnel can cross-check, identify and update the mother's ANC and child's EPI status at the healthcare facility or at the household location when performing home visit; with additional feature of sending appointment reminder directly to the scheduled mother in the community.


RESULTS
The module improved ANC/EPI coverage in the study area along the country border including for both Thai and non-Thai mothers and children who were either permanent resident or migrants; numbers of ANC and EPI visit on-time as per schedule significantly increased; there was less delay of antenatal visits and immunizations.


CONCLUSIONS
The module integrated and functioned successfully as part of the healthcare system; it is proved for its feasibility and the extent to which community healthcare personnel in the low resource setting could efficiently utilize it to perform their duties.
Center of Excellence for Biomedical and Public Health Informatics, Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand. tmjkk@mahidol.ac.th
Jaranit
J
Kaewkungwal
Pratap
P
Singhasivanon
Amnat
A
Khamsiriwatchara
Surasak
S
Sawang
Pongthep
P
Meankaew
Apisit
A
Wechsart
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D040421:Cell Phone; D002648:Child; D002662:Child Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003695:Delivery of Health Care; D004867:Equipment Design; D005260:Female; D058015:Health Communication / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D017589:Immunization Programs; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008430:Maternal-Child Health Centers / Q000458:organization & administration*; D008491:Medical Informatics Applications; D008875:Middle Aged; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011247:Pregnancy; D011295:Prenatal Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D012984:Software; D014171:Transients and Migrants; D014611:Vaccination / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D055815:Young Adult