In the fall of 2011, Health and Human Services CTO Todd Park challenged developers and public health professionals to work together to create mobile apps that would help track, measure and report progress on public health topics. But by that time, a Colorado-based mobile development firm called Countermind Mobile Intelligence and Denver Public Health were already one step ahead.
They had been working together to develop an app for the department to use for mass immunization campaigns. It was first tested during a meningococcal vaccination campaign at Colorado State University in 2010. The following year, it was used during five flu clinics that were part of the Denver Health mandatory hospital employee flu campaign in the fall of 2011.
Referred to as Hand-held Automated Notification for Drugs and Immunizations (HANDI), the app allows public health workers to register individuals, collect information and track immunizations, then transfer that data into necessary databases.
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What it doesn’t do is save time during the actual mass immunization process – during campaigns, the average time it takes a person to complete the process from sign-in to vaccination is about four to five minutes, according to Melissa McClung of Denver Public Health in a blog for the CDC. That’s about the same as would take without the app. The time savings comes after the fact, as the app facilitates more efficient data processing without any paperwork, said Countermind CEO Chuck Krutsinger.
It’s run on mobile devices equipped with compatible scanner attachments and used in a three-step process. In the first step, a worker scans or swipes a person’s driver’s license, employee ID or other ID and enters any other necessary identification information into the app. A mobile printer then prints a barcoded label that becomes the patient’s identifier. At the second station, a worker scans the barcode and records information about that person’s health background. Then comes the vaccination; the barcode is scanned again, and information about the vaccination, dosage, injection site, etc. is entered. All of that information is saved on a server and then sent to a designated database or registry, like the state immunization registry.
“The main goal of HANDI is to support efficient public health immunization and treatment activities through rapid collection and transfer of standardized data,” McClung wrote.
Krutsinger said Countermind has turned the platform HANDI was created on into a product that it will market under the name Mobile Intelligence Clinic. It can be customized for different uses, he said, as it was for Denver Public Health, and is built in such a way that customers can do some of the customizations themselves.
Though the app is currently being used for immunizations, Countermind says it could have uses in other public health and mass casualty situations. “We think it also has use in emergency preparedness,” Krutsinger said. “For example, in Superstorm Sandy, what if when you showed up at shelter, you could give them your license and then you’re registered, and your family members could locate you?”
[Photo courtesy Countermind Mobile Intelligence]
