Evidence map›Paper›PMID 26895882›Full record

ArticleBMC palliative care2016

Strengthening pharmaceutical systems for palliative care services in resource limited settings: piloting a mHealth application across a rural and urban setting in Uganda.

Eve Namisango, Chris Ntege, Emmanuel B K Luyirika, Fatia Kiyange, Matthew J Allsop

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in BMC palliative care, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 19 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
19citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

19 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Trial
  3. Feasibility and Acceptability of mPallCareJMIR mHealth and uHealth · 2026
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  15. Developing Ghasedak: a Mobile Application to Improve the Quality of Cancer Palliative Care.Acta informatica medica : AIM : journal of the Society for Medical Informatics of Bosnia & Herzegovina : casopis Drustva za medicinsku informatiku BiH · 2019
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Eve NamisangoAfrican Palliative Care Association, Kampala, Uganda. eve.namisango@africanpalliativecare.org.
Chris NtegeHospice Africa Uganda, Kampala, Uganda. ntegechris@gmail.com.
Emmanuel B K LuyirikaAfrican Palliative Care Association, Kampala, Uganda. emmanuel.luyirika@africanpalliativecare.org.
Fatia KiyangeAfrican Palliative Care Association, Kampala, Uganda. fatia.kiyange@africanpalliativecare.org.
Matthew J AllsopAcademic Unit of Palliative Care, Leeds Institute of Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK. m.j.allsop@leeds.ac.uk.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundMedicine availability is improving in sub-Saharan Africa for palliative care services. There is a need to develop strong and sustainable pharmaceutical systems to enhance the proper management of palliative care medicines, some of which are controlled. One approach to addressing these needs is the use of mobile technology to support data capture, storage and retrieval. Utilizing mobile technology in healthcare (mHealth) has recently been highlighted as an approach to enhancing palliative care services but development is at an early stage.

methodsAn electronic application was implemented as part of palliative care services at two settings in Uganda; a rural hospital and an urban hospice. Measures of the completeness of data capture, time efficiency of activities and medicines stock and waste management were taken pre- and post-implementation to identify changes to practice arising from the introduction of the application.

resultsImprovements in all measures were identified at both sites. The application supported the registration and management of 455 patients and a total of 565 consultations. Improvements in both time efficiency and medicines management were noted. Time taken to collect and report pharmaceuticals data was reduced from 7 days to 30 min and 10 days to 1 h at the urban hospice and rural hospital respectively. Stock expiration reduced from 3 to 0.5% at the urban hospice and from 58 to 0% at the rural hospital. Additional observations relating to the use of the application across the two sites are reported.

conclusionsA mHealth approach adopted in this study was shown to improve existing processes for patient record management, pharmacy forecasting and supply planning, procurement, and distribution of essential health commodities for palliative care services. An important next step will be to identify where and how such mHealth approaches can be implemented more widely to improve pharmaceutical systems for palliative care services in resource limited settings.

Indexed as

Community Health ServicesDeveloping CountriesHealth ResourcesHumansPalliative CarePharmaceutical ServicesPilot ProjectsRural PopulationUgandaUrban Population

Identifiers

PMID26895882
PMCPMC4759774

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.