Dr. PB+J, Cricket Killer
June 1st, 2010
To the happiness of everyone, Khanjan’s “Aaron-boy”, our strawberry blonde alarm clock, allowed us to sleep in this morning and there was no 5:45 am wake up call. After the group was up, had eaten our standard breakfast of eggs and toast, and gotten scolded by Khanjan for procrastinating, we got to work. With the Ngong demonstration quickly approaching, the team spent the day sitting in the Ivory Hotel and Resort’s conference room compiling all of the data that has been collected from the Mashavu clinics, post-encounter interviews, community interviews and focus groups. This involved the creation of more excel spreadsheets than anyone has ever wanted to see. But at the end of the day, we were able to produce some “compelling” preliminary data to present to the attendees of the June 3rd demo.
Dr. Butler worked with the bioengineering students and assigned individuals to calculate percent error between the virtual devices and the commercial off the shelf devices. Using the data collected from the Mashavu clinics at the CYEC and the hospital in Mweiga, Colin, Alice, Julie and Pat used statistical analysis to determine the accuarcy and precision of their devices. The devices used at the clinics were very accurate and all had a percent error of under 7%. Colin’s pulse oximeter had a percent error of under 5% and for the clinic that took place at Mweiga had a remarkable percent error of 1%. Julie’s blood pressure cuff was the most accurate device and had a percent error between 3 and 5% depending on the day, Her device was still the most accurate however because the variance between blood pressure readings made her percent error even more impressive. Alice’s percent error was around the 5% range, but more work needs to be done to improve the calibration of the device. 5% error is still too high for a thermometer. FInally, Pat’s data for the spirometer was not very usable. The only clinic that it was used for was the Mweiga clinic and the directions for how to use it were lost in translation. Many of the patients were very old (Spirometer Ladies), and more often than not the data collected was not what we were looking for. The ability of the virtual devices to work equally well to the commercial devices (and at times better than them) is impressive due the vast differences in cost. The pulse oximeter that the BioE kids designed cost less than $10 whereas the comerical device was around $500. The other devices were also low cost as well but the biggest benefit of the devices was the fact that they can all hook up to the same computer. Tom worked all day to get the stethoscope working but in the end the team had to call it a day, because the noise filtering issue could not be worked out. After fixing the LabView program for the spirometer, Pat, Aaron, and Dr. Butler eventually got the device to the point where it could be used in the Ngong demonstration. Even though we were not able to ever use the two weighing scales, Jeff calculated the average weights for all of the data we collected.
On the other side of things, Brianna and Gill worked to type up all of the social science interviews and focus groups to try and determine what healthcare in Kenya looks like, what Kenyans do for fun, and how Mashavu can fit into life here. Of the 150 students and community members we interviewed, the major hindrances to accessing healthcare reported included long lines (or queues) at the hospital, the cost of care, and the cost (both time and money) of transportation from individuals’ homes to the hospital. The fun survey showed that Kenyans value entertainment in the form of Tusker (the local brew) and futbol. One very interesting point from the fun surveys is that a number of people reported that if they found 100 shillings they would use the money to buy air time for their cell phones – which shows just how a part of life cell phones are.
Carey spent the day compiling the post-encounter interviews and learned that almost every person would recommend Mashavu to a friend. He was also able to conclude that everyone was comfortable with the Mashavu process, validating that our design is socially appropriate. Despite the overwhelming support, we realized that it was sometimes a challenge for people to come up with on-the-spot critiques of the system. Rachel worked on compiling a spreadsheet that laid out patients’ age, gender, chief complaint and most importantly — the intial reactions of the doctors to seeing a case, and their assessment after seeing the patient. In most cases, the doctors were able to get a good idea of the patient’s status from the information that was sent to them. The exceptions to this occurred when significant language barriers were present. This data is critical though because it shows that the information we are sending to the doctors is very valuable to them. Further, by reviewing all of the top chief complaints we got a clear picture of how the health status of community members. From the healthcare surveys, we learned that less than 30% of the Kenyans go to a doctor for a regular check up. They only are willing to spend the time and money to get to a doctor when the situation is critical. Thus it is understandable that 35/67 people had chief complaints that needed to be addressed.
At night we had a group meeting, during which Dr. Butler protected us all killed a cricket with his bare hand. Then we had a lengthy discussion on exactly what data had been collected and what still needed to happen, before turning over the conversation to plans for the next couple of days.
Tommorow we leave for Nairobi at 6:15 am. The group will be splitting up, with some people heading straight to Ngong to begin preparations and others spending the day in meetings with potential partners. It should be a long but
- Rachel & Pat
