Technology from Auburn University's software engineering program is revolutionizing medical care in rural Alabama.
KidCheck, a medical program for children in rural communities of Alabama, administers health screenings in public schools to check for symptoms that will indicate medical issues.
KidCheck was a program originally implemented by Gov. Bob Riley and his administration. However, KidCheck has been obtained by the nonprofit organization Sight Savers America.
Jeffrey Haddox, CEO of Sight Savers America, began the nonprofit because he realized the need for vision correction for children in Alabama. The organization has since moved to incorporate KidCheck and help with screening of all general medical needs for children in rural areas.
Nurses from the Auburn School of Nursing worked in collaboration with KidCheck and inquired about updating the process of filing medical records. The nurses involved with the screenings were originally required to collect and file paperwork on each child.
The department of computer science and software engineering was alerted about the project and began developing software that would simplify the filing process.
To receive funding for the project, Auburn approached sponsor Verizon Wireless. A proposal was sent during the spring semester of 2009 to Verizon, which was granted and offered the department of computer science and software engineering $23,000 for the software project.
Richard Chapman, associate professor of computer science and software engineering, led the project construction along with students. There were teams of software engineering students with senior design projects and graduate students that worked on the project.
"These teams go and meet with the nursing students and see how they work and how they gather the data," Chapman said. "From there, they get an idea of what the functions of the system need to be and then design and produce a prototype. They go out with the nursing students and test the prototype and refine it."
The software allows children to complete the screenings without carrying paperwork to each station. Nurses are equipped with netbooks, small laptops, that are connected to the Verizon network and are able to enter data immediately.
There are certain instruments that can be connected directly to a netbook by USB that record measurements through the software, creating a more fluid process. Previously, nurses had to manually enter all data from paper files to a database.
"The project is not completed yet," Chapman said. "It is an ongoing thing. We started back in 2009 and will continue as long as funding supports the project."
The current phase of the project is dedicated to improving medical instruments connectivity through USB and the database that records can be uploaded to.
"When Auburn first brought this proposal to our attention, we knew we were in. It was a no-brainer," said Michelle Robinson, Verizon's southeast region president. "This project is such a great collaboration of nonprofits, the public sector, colleges, nursing schools, healthcare providers and others."
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