Project Title: Improving rural health infrastructure in northern Ghana
Project Description: Development of a pilot Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS) at the Bolgatanga Regional Hospital to document medical equipment, maintenance records and all other ancillary activities related to medical equipment.
Goals: Support healthcare delivery in rural communities and improve health outcomes of patients through well managed health technology infrastructure.
Benefits:
- Analysis of real-time inventory data, maintenance completion rates, medical equipment malfunction trends and decommissioning rates, to aid in capital planning and the overall decision making with capital resources (local, regional, national levels)
- Increased medical equipment uptime and availability to support patient care
- Identify quality improvement opportunities to improve best practices and standard of care
- Establish a global network of peer biomedical engineers for shared learning and support
- Gain a better understanding of how investing in rural health infrastructure in LMICs can translate to improved health outcomes and cost savings
Milestones:
- Preliminary design of the CMMS with Ms. Access – completed
- Acquisition of barcode printer and Gov’t approval of labels – completed
- Asset tagging and data input, w/ completion of the inventory database – completed
- Entering service information on repairs and maintenance activities; generation of reports and reviews – initiated
- Create and utilize preventative maintenance schedule with agreed upon methodology for prioritization
- Research and evaluation of project – *Opportunity for UBC Medical Student involvement in 2021/2022 Academic Year*
Future Directions:
- Support the roll-out of the CMMS to 15 District Hospitals in the UER and UWR
- Develop a web-based platform to integrate the data from standalone computers into a central repository
- Support the adoption of this project by Ghana Health Services as a standardized national engineering program
- Support the development of a standardized training program for new users
Broader Applications:
- Lessons in how to effectively create training and infrastructure opportunities in rural and remote communities
- Northern BC/Canada has similar disparities in health status, resource distribution, and infrastructure
- Inform other global health workers/NGOs/local governments
- Help reduce health inequities worldwide through disseminating project findings
Interested in getting involved? We are looking to on-board 1-2 medical students! Include a one-page letter
in your application stating why you think that you would be a good fit for this project.
Contact Dr Kelly Hadfield at khadfield@ghanamedicalhelp.com for more information.