The Pulse Inclusive mobile health records app Rikke Siersbaek speaks to Felicien Izaturwanaho who is currently pursuing his PhD in collaboration with the School of Psychology and Medicine at Trinity. I recently spoke to Felicien Izaturwanaho about his interesting, policy-relevant PhD research seeking to understand how to develop a mobile health records app that people experiencing social exclusion, such as homelessness, can use when accessing healthcare. His PhD is a collaboration between the Schools of Psychology and Medicine. Tell us a bit about yourself and your background? Since 2023, I have been pursuing a PhD at the Centre for Innovative Human Systems using human-centred design principles in digital health technology to address health disparities. My study aims to develop a set of user requirements for a mobile health records app to enhance inclusion health services in Ireland. It builds on my experience in human factors and safety, trauma- informed care, and digital health – all gained from my work in Rwanda from 2019 to 2023 and my BA (2018) in Clinical Psychology from the University of Rwanda. Tell me a bit about your PhD project, especially as it relates to digital health? My PhD study is developing an in-depth understanding of how a mobile health records app can serve patients’ needs, assisting healthcare professionals working in hospital and community- based inclusion health services. The goal of the research is to promote care continuity and coordination across time and space to promote trauma-informed and integrated care and reduce health system and services fragmentation for persons experiencing social exclusion in Ireland. How will your research contribute to filling gaps in the current knowledge base? progress and the delivery of equitable healthcare access by understanding what users require from a mobile health records app. This in turn will enable electronic record keeping designed to meet the population’s needs. How do you see digital health making an impact for socially excluded patients? Research shows that mobile health record apps can facilitate better integration of services and improve the overall coordination of care, particularly for high-risk persons who face challenges in accessing and using healthcare services. Early findings from a systematic review I am currently undertaking suggest that a mobile health records app which can wirelessly transfer health records to existing health information technology can potentially aid in data sharing across systems. Furthermore, offline functionality means that users, either patients or healthcare professionals, can use it without needing constant internet connectivity. This may be especially important for persons experiencing social exclusion. Is there anything else you’d like me to know? I would like to express my gratitude to the persons with lived experiences who have been contributing to this research and to the Inclusion Health Service team in St James’s Hospital for their support. The African proverb ‘it takes a village to raise a child’ emphasises the collective effort required from a community to nurture and support a child’s development. It has profound resonance with this project. Their participation highlights the importance of collaboration and shared responsibility to realise something of value. I would like to thank my fantastic supervisory team - Professors Siobhán Corrigan, Marie E. Ward, and Clíona Ní Cheallaigh – for their guidance. – Rikke Siersbaek Disparities in healthcare access persist. My research addresses the gap between technological 20 Winter Edition 2024
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