Feasibility study of AI-powered Medical triage app to improve eye services in Rwanda

Situation

Digital Healthcare company Dem Dx has received funding from the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) to assess the feasibility of its medically-certified, Artificial Intelligence (AI) powered clinical reasoning tool, to improve eye services in Rwanda.

In Rwanda, there are currently only 16 ophthalmologists and 140 Ophthalmic Clinical Officers that serve the 12.3 million population – the equivalent to one ophthalmologist treating over 700,000 people, compared to 1:100,000 in the EU. Staff shortages are a real threat to the delivery and quality of clinical care, with life-threatening diseases at risk of late diagnosis, when treatments are both less effective and more expensive and result in unnecessary emergency admissions. The Dem Dx app will support increased frontline clinical responsibility, giving nurses and optometrists the ability to triage effectively.

Assignment

Proportion has been requested to conduct a feasibility study in Rwanda to understand how the app could be contextualised for the Rwandan context as well as exploring the business case for the local market.

Approach

1. Research scoping & planning
   • Set-up draft research plan
   • Set-up business plan skeleton
   • Initial desk research to map health system
   • Develop session discussion guides:
     • Ministry of health
     • Local governments
     • Hospitals & public and private clinics
     • Ophthalmology students
     • Patients
2. Data collection
   • Conduct sessions in Kigali and rural areas
   • Conduct sessions remotely
3. Data synthesis
   • Draft data synthesis with field researcher
   • Visualisation of data synthesis
   • Partner meeting to discuss and refine synthesis
4. Design recommendations
   • Design recommendations for Dem Dx tool
   • Design recommendations for business case
   • Design recommendations for business plan
5. Reporting
   • Research reporting
   • Business plan

Results

Research findings supported the hypothesis that Dem Dx would improve the quality of teaching and provide a positive support to the curriculum.
The platform presents a strong user case for adoption and helping the Ministry of Health deliver on their primary eye care service quality commitments and objectives (supporting nursing, ongoing training, adherence to guidelines, auditing/tracking referrals).

Design recommendations relate to offline availability, support multiple languages, mobile first usability, Include detailed recommendations for treatment, Extend the pathways, add a search function, include more material for continuous learning.

Reference

“At the very beginning, the focus has been to have human centered design at the heart of it. Proportion has helped us design all of the different stakeholder interviews, all of the focus groups, to ensure that we capture all of the different perspectives we need, to ensure that our feedback and the conclusions from this feasibility project have captured all of the key points.”

Doctor Lorin Gresser
CEO and co-founder of Dem Dx

This project was commissioned by Proportion Global and performed by Lisanne and Thomas. If you’ve enjoyed reading this case and want to dive deeper, we’d love to hear from you and we will connect you with relevant designers like Lisanne, and Thomas who worked on this project Contact Us