Creating an Inter-Organizational Electronic Health Record in Kibera – Challenges and Solutions

Abstract

Electronic health records (EHR) are widely seen to hold great potential for improving health outcomes in the Global South. This research-in-progress paper looks at the creation of an inter-organization EHR in Kibera, the largest slum in Kenya. The ability to share patient care records across independent clinics is expected to allow patients to seek care wherever appropriate medical expertise or resources are located, supported by the sharing of patient care data. This is particularly important in resource-constrained settings where necessary healthcare resources may exist within communities but is distributed across many care organizations. While this objective offers an opportunity to improve both healthcare outcomes in resource-constrained settings, it creates new challenges to implementation. This report looks at these challenges and the solutions that are currently being considered.