Home Isolation Management System – Chhattisgarh
Introduction
The year 2020 was hard for all of us. Wuhan gave birth to a virus of an unknown capability and it soon took over the world like wildfire. India getting affected was just an eventuality, owing to our reputation as the second most populous country in the world.
Initially, we did have a few misunderstandings with the virus. Initially, we took it as something that only affected the elderly with serious symptoms. Soon enough, we realised we were wrong.
Covid-19, did not discriminate by age. It struck people lethally from all age groups, people from all stratas of society. Following the spread of the pandemic, government regulations came next. Schools, hotels and libraries were converted to quarantine centres, our streets ran empty, our corporate parks went dry and we suddenly lost the spark of everyday life. We started working from home and looking for different ways we could keep entertaining ourselves. It was fine for the first few weeks, until the real challenge came up.
The Problem
Covid-19 sparked off a challenge nobody saw coming. It affected people with all the symptoms, sometimes with some symptoms and sometimes, even without symptoms. It became a challenge by itself to identify positive patients and recommend the correct course of action for them. With dew course of time, we managed that too. The government came up with a guideline that would make all our lives a little easier. It was around this time that we were introduced to home isolation.
But home isolation posed its own challenges. How would one track a patient who is under home isolation? How would a patient get in touch with a doctor, who is practically on duty 24/7? How would the concerned authorities make sure that a person is taking the entire 18 day quarantine seriously at home? Could all this be done seamlessly, without having to cause more trouble?
With manual systems in place, it was becoming a parallel problem to track patients and making sure that the process is followed stringently.
The Vision
It was time to get out of the manual way of doing things. The system needed to pick up pace and a structure needed to be put in place. But at the heart of the problem, there existed the issue of convenience. Convenience for Covid positive patients who were already suffering. Convenience for our doctors, who were overworked and tired. Convenience for the government, who had the mammoth task of organising a seamless way to manage the pandemic in the country.
And that’s where AllSoft did what it does best – automate. We spent countless hours studying the problem statement through the lens of all the stakeholders – the patients, the doctors and the governing bodies. We saw the need to knit all the problems into a solid structure and then offer a solution that would work step-by-step and bring convenience to each stakeholder.
At AllSoft, our core competency lies in building bespoke solutions that can solve problems efficiently and improve processes wherever it is deployed. Keeping this value at the core of the problem at hand, we came up with an idea that indeed changed the way Chhattisgarh dealt with the challenges of Covid-19 – The Home Isolation Management System.
What Was Done
The Home Isolation Management System (HIMS) was an app that made the journey for a patient, doctor and the government authorities, a seamless experience. It was a three-way user journey app that was built to make each step of home isolation a guided experience for all parties. User friendliness was key here but the app also made sure that the government guidelines were followed to the T. Here’s how it worked for each participant:
The Patient
The process of Home Isolation began when the Contact Tracing team received the list of Covid positive patients for the day. To get started, they sent a simple SMS to all patients, including a link to HIMS, and asked them to sign up for Home Isolation. Here’s a breakdown of what patients needed to provide:
- First, they had to verify their mobile number by entering a code sent via SMS.
- Then, they were required to share basic details like their name, father’s name, mobile number, password, age, gender, and address.
- Patients were asked about the number of people living with them during home isolation and if they had a separate room and bathroom.
- They also needed to provide the date when their Covid test was conducted.
- Patients had the option to choose where they preferred to be isolated: in a private hospital, with a government doctor, or with a private doctor.
- Finally, they were asked if they had any other health issues such as lung, heart, kidney diseases, or diabetes.
By gathering this information, patients could smoothly begin their home isolation, making the process more manageable during a challenging time.
The Zone Commissioner
Once the patient completed their home isolation (HI) request, they would be directed to the Patient Dashboard. This dashboard provided updates on the status of their HI request, typically showing as “Pending at the Zone Commissioner.”
The Zone Commissioner on the other end, received a comprehensive list of all pending HI requests. They reviewed the details provided by the patient during the registration process. Following this, they arranged for a visit to the patient’s home to verify the accuracy of the information provided. Here’s a step-by-step breakdown of how they conducted the home-visit:
- Captured the GPS location of the patient’s home.
- They would take a picture of the patient’s home. If the request is approved, they would need to take a photo after affixing a Covid Positive Notice on the outer wall.
- If the request was rejected, they would select a reason for rejection and provide any additional comments if necessary.
- Upon approval, they recorded the number of medicine kits provided to the patient.
- If necessary, the Zone Commissioner had the authority to correct the patient’s zone selection. In such cases, the HI request would be forwarded to the appropriate Zone Commissioner.
The Doctor
Once the home isolation was approved, the patient would be intimated through the dashboard and the request would then go to the doctor’s dashboard. Once the doctor was satisfied with the Zone Commissioner’s report, the doctor would approve the HI request. The patient’s dashboard would then flash with the following information:
- Patient Undertaking.
- The selected Doctor’s Name and Contact Number.
- Number of Days Remaining in HI.
- Option to Update their Daily Health Records.
- HI Guidelines.
- Emergency Contact Numbers.
After approval, the Patient had to update their Health Records, including Body Temperature, Oxygen Saturation, Pulse, and any remarks. These records had to be updated by the patient four times a day, starting from 08.00 AM, 12.00 PM, 04.00 PM, and 08.00 PM. If the patient failed to update the record, an SMS was sent to them as a reminder regarding the update of their record at that interval. A warning message was also shown to the patients that if they failed or neglected to update their health records daily, it might lead to non-issuance of HI completion certificate.
In the Doctor’s Active HI List, the doctor was able to see the patient’s details with the number of days completed in HI. The doctor also received a calendar with a marker on the date depicting whether the Patient had updated the Health record or not. On click of that date, the doctor was able to see the Health Record entered by the patient on that particular day.
Success Metrics
Conclusion
And that’s how, we stitched together the journey of 3 main stakeholders amidst a pandemic that shook the world. The Home Isolation Management System automated processes that were initially done manually and thus sped the process while also maximising efficiency.
A team of exceptional web-developers and coders at AllSoft came together, to make this incredible feat a reality within a super tight timeline, amidst the loud chaos and restrictions of the pandemic. Chhattisgarh, did see an improvement in the number cases being handled and we owe it all to the expert team at AllSoft that thought of and developed a bespoke solution that could help when help was needed.
