Focus on innovation
GoodVision develops new app for patient data
Interview with Niko Kleinknecht, Head of Country Development at GoodVision. He and his team are responsible for the development of the new app
In March 2024, GoodVision tested an innovative app for managing patient data at an eye camp in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. Niko Kleinknecht, Head of Country Development at GoodVision, explains in an interview how important this digital solution is for the efficiency and accuracy of work in the countries. The app promises to digitize paper-based processes and thus speed up the provision of glasses.
The interview shows how technology is changing development cooperation and what role it will play in the future of GoodVision.
Welcome back from Bolivia, Niko! You have just been traveling for GoodVision in South America to test the new app for patient data, among other things.
Yes, that's right. We put the app through its paces at a large eye camp with 140 people in Santa Cruz, Bolivia's largest city. It was extremely important for us to be on site in order to tailor the app's functionality precisely to the work processes.
The new app is to be used in various countries in the future. What advantages does it bring for local work?
In the Country Development department, the aim is always to make processes in the program countriesmore efficient. To this end, we initiate pilot projectsbased on best practice experience from the countries. Digitalization is currently playing a major role, as paper is still used in many places in all program countries. We have therefore developed this app to make the recording and processing of patient data at the various stages of an eye camp (registration, automated eye test, manual eye test, spectacle dispensing) faster and less proneto errors. To this end, the data is requested in user-friendly forms and the display is adapted to different end devices.
How will the use of technologies such as the patient data app affect the efficiency of GoodVision?
It's often small changes that have a big impact. It was only during my visit to Latin America that I noticed that at the end of an eye camp, the patient sheets are manually added up according to lenses, frames (including color), etc. with tally sheets, sent as an image to the camp coordinators and manually entered into overview tables for stock management and documentation. With our app, this can now be done with just one click.
To what extent does the app support the team on siteand what contribution does it make to improving healthcare?
With the app, patients can be treated faster and without errors. During my visit to Colombia, it became clear that we are also making a contribution to supporting the healthcare system. There, it is mandatory to use astate program in which patient data is recorded in a similar way to ours. By working together locally, we have found a solution to avoid duplicate entries in our app and in the government app: The data from our app can be output in a table that can be imported by the state system.
How does the collaboration between your department and the teams in the countries work to ensure that the app is used optimally and meets the needs of the users?
All teams were very open to testing the app, which always means extra effort. Finding acceptance criteria is particularly important at the start of changes to a well-established process. Of course, we are dependent on feedback from our colleagues in the countries. This has always worked very well, which is why, for example, we have designed the input of measurement results as a kind of speedometer rather than a combo box.
How is the data from the app evaluated and used?
In the final version of the app, the data will flow directly into the calculation of the VALY. This can then be used to control the next eye camps by answering the question, for example: Which VALYs were generated in this region/camp? In addition, questions on the socio-economic environment are to be integrated into the app in order to be able to control more precisely that we reach the people we really want to reach, i.e. where we achieve the greatest impact.
What role do data protection and data security play in the patient data app?
A very decisive one! We have to operate within therespective legal frameworks of the countries. That is why, for example, the data used for evaluation in Germany does not contain any personal data. Access is restricted to the respective country.
How will the patient data app develop in the future in order to achieve the greatest possible benefit locally?
We are currently in the process of making the app usable offline, as the internet connection is not stable enough in many regions. To do this, we use NFC cards on which the patient data is stored and passed on from ward to ward so that the ward devices no longer have to communicate with each other. This should make work in the countries even more efficient. In future, these NFC cards could be issued to patients as a kind of health card with treatment data – and printed with a contact number and QR codes or similar for marketing purposes. It is also about linking the apps that already exist or are currently being developed in some programcountries (India, Brazil, Paraguay, Peru) with the central databases so that manual export or import is no longer necessary.
Which technological trends do you see as particularly relevant for GoodVision's work?
In the future, it will be a matter of connecting the respective measuring devices used in the eye camp to the app so that the measured values no longer have to be entered manually. In addition, new possibilities for direct diagnosis using artificial intelligence will be possible. Here, too, a connection to the app must be established. One challenge is the different framework conditionsin the various countries.
How important do you think it is for NGOs like GoodVisionto use innovative technologies?
In future, it will be important to link the various applications in the digitalized world (measuring and input devices, results from AI-supported diagnostic tools, survey databases, local apps in the countries) in order to be able to manage them efficiently and have an up-to date overview of our activities at all times. This is the only way we can help as many people as possible to regain good vision as quickly as possible.
