TY - JOUR AU - Morrison, Joanna AU - Shrestha, Naba Raj AU - Hayes, Bruce AU - Zimmerman, Mark PY - 2013/07/01 Y2 - 2024/03/29 TI - Mobile Phone Support for Rural Health Workers in Nepal through ‘Celemedicine’ JF - Journal of Nepal Medical Association JA - J Nepal Med Assoc VL - 52 IS - 191 SE - Viewpoint DO - 10.31729/jnma.2287 UR - https://www.jnma.com.np/jnma/index.php/jnma/article/view/2287 SP - AB - <p>Globally, there is a shortage of health workers in rural areas. Effective health systems depend on<br />having sufficient, accessible health workers with the right skills. In countries like Nepal, highly<br />skilled health workers often prefer to work overseas or in urban centres, and therefore, in the short<br />term, it may be pragmatic to focus on ensuring support and skills development of mid level or<br />paramedical health workers. Information technology has the potential to support these health<br />workers. We describe a pilot intervention undertaken in Gulmi District, whereby all mid level<br />health workers in the district have been provided with a free phone number to call three General<br />Practitioner Doctors (GPs) in the District Hospital. The intervention aims to increase appropriate<br />referral, and increase connectivity between the District centre and peripheral health facilities. We<br />hope that our intervention will provide support to rural health workers, and, if implemented as<br />part of a package of interventions, may increase retention. We present some initial findings from<br />discussions with health workers and analysis of call-log data, and describe our next phase evaluation<br />and possible scale-up.<br />_______________________________________________________________________________________<br />Keywords: human resources; mobile phone; mhealth; Nepal; retention; rural.</p> ER -