Distributed medical record system using portable devices, case study of Rwanda work in progress

Availability of quality medical care is essential in all countries. Proper ongoing care of the patients and paramount of effective communication between healthcare professionals and their patients are parts of such quality service. At the time of this publication there is no central system to save all medical records of patients in Rwanda. In addition, a survey that we conducted showed that not all clinics keep records of their patients. This affects the quality of medical service provided and puts additional costs on the patients especially when they want to change the medical centers they report to or visit laboratories or other facilities. The research proposes saving the records of each patient on a portable device that is kept by the patient him/her self and synchronizing the contents with the different clinics where the patient visits as a solution. This portable devices could be mobile smart phone, flash driver, SD card or, RFID cards.