Improving health information systems during an emergency: lessons and recommendations from an Ebola treatment centre in Sierra Leone.

BACKGROUND: The 2014-2016 West Africa Ebola epidemic highlighted the difficulty of collecting patient information during emergencies, especially in highly infectious environments. Health information systems (HISs) appropriate for such settings were lacking prior to this outbreak. Here we describe our development and implementation of paper and electronic HISs at the Sierra Leone Kerry Town Ebola treatment centre (ETC) from 2014 to 2015. We share our approach, experiences, and recommendations for future health emergencies. METHODS: We developed eight fact-finding questions about data-related needs, priorities, and restrictions at the ETC ("inputs") to inform eight structural decisions ("outputs") across six core HIS components. Semi-structured interviews about the "inputs" were then conducted with HIS stakeholders, chosen based on their teams' involvement in ETC HIS-related activities. Their responses were used to formulate the "output" results to guide the HIS design. We implemented the HIS using an Agile approach, monitored system usage, and developed a structured questionnaire on user experiences and opinions. RESULTS: Some key "input" responses were: 1) data needs for priorities (patient care, mandatory reporting); 2) challenges around infection control, limited equipment, and staff clinical/language proficiencies; 3) patient/clinical flows; and 4) weak points from staff turnover, infection control, and changing protocols. Key outputs included: 1) determining essential data, 2) data tool design decisions (e.g. large font sizes, checkboxes/buttons), 3) data communication methods (e.g. radio, "collective memory"), 4) error reduction methods (e.g. check digits, pre-written wristbands), and 5) data storage options (e.g. encrypted files, accessible folders). Implementation involved building data collection tools (e.g. 13 forms), preparing the systems (e.g. supplies), training staff, and maintenance (e.g. removing old forms). Most patients had basic (100%, n = 456/456), drug (96.9%, n = 442/456), and additional clinical/epidemiological (98.9%, n = 451/456) data stored. The questionnaire responses highlighted the importance of usability and simplicity in the HIS. CONCLUSIONS: HISs during emergencies are often ad-hoc and disjointed, but systematic design and implementation can lead to high-quality systems focused on efficiency and ease of use. Many of the processes used and lessons learned from our work are generalizable to other health emergencies. Improvements should be started now to have rapidly adaptable and deployable HISs ready for the next health emergency.

Development and Deployment of the OpenMRS-Ebola Electronic Health Record System for an Ebola Treatment Center in Sierra Leone.

BACKGROUND: Stringent infection control requirements at Ebola treatment centers (ETCs), which are specialized facilities for isolating and treating Ebola patients, create substantial challenges for recording and reviewing patient information. During the 2014-2016 West African Ebola epidemic, paper-based data collection systems at ETCs compromised the quality, quantity, and confidentiality of patient data. Electronic health record (EHR) systems have the potential to address such problems, with benefits for patient care, surveillance, and research. However, no suitable software was available for deployment when large-scale ETCs opened as the epidemic escalated in 2014. OBJECTIVE: We present our work on rapidly developing and deploying OpenMRS-Ebola, an EHR system for the Kerry Town ETC in Sierra Leone. We describe our experience, lessons learned, and recommendations for future health emergencies. METHODS: We used the OpenMRS platform and Agile software development approaches to build OpenMRS-Ebola. Key features of our work included daily communications between the development team and ground-based operations team, iterative processes, and phased development and implementation. We made design decisions based on the restrictions of the ETC environment and regular user feedback. To evaluate the system, we conducted predeployment user questionnaires and compared the EHR records with duplicate paper records. RESULTS: We successfully built OpenMRS-Ebola, a modular stand-alone EHR system with a tablet-based application for infectious patient wards and a desktop-based application for noninfectious areas. OpenMRS-Ebola supports patient tracking (registration, bed allocation, and discharge); recording of vital signs and symptoms; medication and intravenous fluid ordering and monitoring; laboratory results; clinician notes; and data export. It displays relevant patient information to clinicians in infectious and noninfectious zones. We implemented phase 1 (patient tracking; drug ordering and monitoring) after 2.5 months of full-time development. OpenMRS-Ebola was used for 112 patient registrations, 569 prescription orders, and 971 medication administration recordings. We were unable to fully implement phases 2 and 3 as the ETC closed because of a decrease in new Ebola cases. The phase 1 evaluation suggested that OpenMRS-Ebola worked well in the context of the rollout, and the user feedback was positive. CONCLUSIONS: To our knowledge, OpenMRS-Ebola is the most comprehensive adaptable clinical EHR built for a low-resource setting health emergency. It is designed to address the main challenges of data collection in highly infectious environments that require robust infection prevention and control measures and it is interoperable with other electronic health systems. Although we built and deployed OpenMRS-Ebola more rapidly than typical software, our work highlights the challenges of having to develop an appropriate system during an emergency rather than being able to rapidly adapt an existing one. Lessons learned from this and previous emergencies should be used to ensure that a set of well-designed, easy-to-use, pretested health software is ready for quick deployment in future.

Dose finding study for on-demand HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis for insertive sex in sub-Saharan Africa: results from the CHAPS open label randomised controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: The efficacy of on-demand HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for men in sub-Saharan Africa has not been evaluated, and the on-demand PrEP dosing requirement for insertive sex remains unknown. METHODS: HIV-negative males 13-24 years, requesting voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC), were enrolled into an open-label randomised controlled trial (NCT03986970), and randomised 1:1:1:1:1:1:1:1:1 to control arm or one of eight arms receiving emtricitabine-tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (F/TDF) or emtricitabine-tenofovir alafenamide (F/TAF) over one or two days, and circumcised 5 or 21 h thereafter. The primary outcome was foreskin p24 concentrations following ex vivo HIV-1BaL challenge. Secondary outcomes included peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) p24 concentration, and drug concentrations in foreskin tissue, PBMCs, plasma and foreskin CD4+/CD4-cells. In the control arm, post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) activity of non-formulated tenofovir-emtricitabine (TFV-FTC) or TAF-FTC was assessed with ex vivo dosing 1, 24, 48 or 72 h post-HIV-1 challenge. FINDINGS: 144 participants were analysed. PrEP with F/TDF or F/TAF prevented ex vivo infection of foreskins and PBMCs both 5 and 21 h after PrEP dosing. There was no difference between F/TDF and F/TAF (p24day15 geometric mean ratio 1.06, 95% confidence interval: 0.65-1.74). Additional ex vivo dosing did not further increase inhibition. In the control arm, PEP ex vivo dosing was effective up to 48 post-exposure diminishing thereafter, with TAF-FTC showing prolonged protection compared to TFV-FTC. Participants receiving F/TAF had higher TFV-DP concentrations in foreskin tissue and PBMCs compared with F/TDF, irrespective of dose and sampling interval; but F/TAF did not confer preferential TFV-DP distribution into foreskin HIV target cells. FTC-TP concentrations with both drug regimens were equivalent and ∼1 log higher than TFV-DP in foreskin. INTERPRETATION: A double dose of either F/TDF or F/TAF given once either 5 or 21 h before ex vivo HIV-challenge provided protection across foreskin tissue. Further clinical evaluation of pre-coital PrEP for insertive sex is warranted. FUNDING: EDCTP2, Gilead Sciences, Vetenskapsrådet.