The transformation of healthcare services is expected to reduce health inequalities and to accelerate gains in health outcomes. Task shifting is one of the strategies adopted in healthcare transformation to make efficient use of human resources. However, limited research exists on how tasks are shifted beyond midwives, to involve community health workers or village health team members (VHTs) and pregnant women, and how IT supports and or triggers execution of shifted tasks. We examine the shifting of tasks in maternal healthcare, by interviewing midwives and VHTs in three districts in Uganda. Findings show four categories of tasks shifted at various levels of healthcare but with limited use of IT to execute tasks. We propose a model depicting opportunities for IT use both as an enabler and a trigger in executing tasks shifted. We recommend further investigations to identify IT opportunities that would trigger service exchange for pregnant women beyond health workers to include families and friends.
Abstract:The United Nations listed maternal mortality as a major problem especially in developing countries. Predictive models that predict pregnancy complications have been suggested as an intervention to reduce maternal mortality but at the moment, many are not used in clinical practice. This study proposes a service-dominant perspective as an alternative use of predictive models to create value for maternal healthcare. I anticipate that through the use of the service innovation framework and social capital theory, I can study how health practitioners and pregnant women can be empowered with skills and knowledge to predict pregnancy complications and trigger collaborative value creation.
mHealth has potential to improve maternal healthcare in low resource contexts. Several mHealth applications have been developed but are not implemented nor can they be scaled up partly due to their methodological quality. Although mHealth applications have been designed to improve maternal healthcare service delivery, it is still unclear on how to design mHealth applications for maternal healthcare that drive value co-creation from a service dominant logic (SDL) perspective. In this paper, a case study approach is used to investigate designs of four mHealth applications from Uganda and Cameroon. Interviews were held with developers and health workers involved in the design process of the applications. Results were analyzed using SDL value co-creation model. Overall findings show that designs of existing mHealth applications for maternal healthcare include some aspects of value co-creation but still lack design guidelines that would better support value co-creation. Guidelines for designing mHealth applications that co-create value in maternal healthcare are proposed. Future investigations on how proposed guidelines influence the use of mHealth applications to trigger value cocreation in maternal healthcare are suggested.
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