Principal Investigators
Dr Chris Paton, University of Oxford
Dr Jacob McKnight, University of Oxford
Locations
Hospital For Tropical Diseases, Ho Chi Minh City and Dong Thap, Viet Nam
Study Design
Qualitative and ethnographic research
Digital health in Vietnam is in a state of rapid development with multiple large-scale digitisations and data collection projects using District Health Information Software (DHIS2) and a range of recently implemented hospital-based digital health systems. How these systems collect and share information and how they are used by clinical staff and other stakeholders will inform how/if new digital health technologies should be integrated into existing systems.
Additionally, the wards in which such digital health interventions might be used are socially and culturally complex. Successful integration of new technologies into these complex systems is dependent on both a deep understanding of context and also careful co-design of the technologies with the doctors and nurses who are meant to use them. Understanding how medical information is currently shared between professionals, how it informs practice and the advantages and disadvantages of both current and proposed systems is critical to the planning and design of this project.
Our team aims to provide rich contextual information to inform the design and implementation of tools that can bring high-quality critical care to low-resource settings. We use a variety of qualitative methods to explore intensive care units, including semi-structured interviews and observation. These methods help us to understand how, when, and by whom critical care work is currently done.
Understanding the division of labour and the wide spectrum of factors that influence the practice of staff working in ICUs is crucial to developing effective technologies. The technologies we develop should solve real problems for frontline staff and must be carefully integrated into practice. A deep contextual understanding not only improves the safety and effectiveness of the new technologies but also reduces the chances that the developed tools will not be abandoned or ignored.
