Joshua Nesbit

Joshua Nesbit started a discussion "CHWs in Malawi; Mobiles facilitate patient care" in the Adherence & Retention community.

My name is Josh Nesbit, and I'm an undergraduate at Stanford. I'm currently at St. Gabriel's Hospital in Central Malawi, implementing a project aimed at expanding the role of CHWs in the catchment area (mobilesinmalawi.blogspot.com). The hospital has enrolled over 600 CHWs - all are volunteers. Many of the CHWs are recruited through the hospital's ART program. I'm here with a laptop, 100 second-hand phones, and an open-source program, FrontlineSMS - which acts as a ...

Joshua Nesbit replied to "CHWs in Malawi; Mobiles facilitate patient care" in the Adherence & Retention community.

Hi Everyone, I've posted a guide, based on a series of FAQs, outlining recommendations for anyone interested in setting up an SMS network in order to facilitate patient care in a rural setting. I hope it is a useful resource. If you have any questions whatsoever, feel free to email me. All the best, Josh

Joshua Nesbit replied to "Mobile medicine - potential possibilities" in the Health IT community.

In case you missed it, see this Change.org piece, "The Cellphone That Could Change The World" and the discussion that follows. http://tinyurl.com/9njhhb There is a ton happening in this space, and 2009 is already being dubbed 'the year of the mobile.' Josh www.jopsa.org

Joshua Nesbit replied to "CHWs in Malawi; Mobiles facilitate patient care" in the Adherence & Retention community.

Thanks for the responses - it's unusual and very fortunate to have access to peripheral information while implementing a project. Vinay - you're right, the SMS data is unstructured. There is a malleable 'form' function in FrontlineSMS that could wind up being very useful in the future, but none of the current data is formatted. I think you've presented some great ideas. There is plenty of data available on the exhanges - incoming/outging messages can ...

Joshua Nesbit replied to "CHWs in Malawi; Mobiles facilitate patient care" in the Adherence & Retention community.

Sorry for the delayed response - it's been a hectic week, traveling from Malawi to Stanford. Mike - you might be interested in a series of video-interviews I'll be posting in the coming days. Before I left the hospital, I captured conversations with four English-speaking volunteers (CHWs) about their experience as health workers in Malawi - a lot of their comments focused on volunteerism. You'll be able to find the videos on the project's blog. ...