Mobile Medical Records
Paul Brittan
Shelley Petzer
Overview
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Introduction
Problem Statement
Research Questions
Evaluation
Work Allocation
Related Work
Key Success Factors
Risks
Timeline
Conclusion
Introduction
• Aim is to investigate the secure storage of
medical records on cell phones
▫ Original idea was proposed by Simelela
▫ Provide patients with the means to securely
manage their medical records
• Main Focus for the project
▫ Compressing the data for storage
▫ Secure transfer & encryption of data
▫ Rudimentary interface for testing purposes
Problem Statement
• Designing applications in developing countries
▫ Access to more advanced technology is limited
▫ A cell phone is ideal because of its diversity
• However cell phones create issues
▫ Challenges related to the limited resources
▫ Ensuring the privacy of the medical record
Research Questions (Paul)
• Comparison of storing medical records on the
internal memory of the cell phone as opposed to
a microSD card
• The performance comparisons of compression
algorithms
▫ Involves the analysis of several lossless
compression algorithms
▫ Reducing the storage space of the medical record
whilst minimising the resources used
Research Questions (Shelley)
• The performance comparisons of encryption
algorithms
▫ Involves the analysis of several algorithms
▫ Finding an algorithm that maximises security
▫ Minimising the resources required by the cell phone
• The transmission medium between the cell phone
and a medical database
▫ Investigate the strengths and weaknesses of Bluetooth
technology and wireless networks for transmission
Evaluation
• Test the performance of the encryption &
compression algorithms
▫ Test algorithms on anonymised medical records
▫ Analysed according to efficiency and based on
resources used
• Ideally, we want comparable measurements for
▫ Execution time
▫ CPU usage
▫ Memory usage
Evaluation Cont.
• Research needs to be done on testing
applications for mid-tier phones
▫ Performance monitors
▫ Benchmark tests
• Last Resort
▫ Measure the battery power on the cell phone
before and after each test
Work Allocation (system)
Work Allocation (testing)
Ethical, professional and legal issues
• Ethical issues involved with medical record data
▫ privacy
▫ Plan to use anonymised medical records
• No ethics clearance is required
▫ No user testing will take place
Related Work
• Systems that provide electronic medical records
▫ OpenMRS
• Medical records on a cell phone
▫ JavaRosa
▫ Open Data Kit clinic
• Early stages of development
• Privacy not a priority
Anticipated outcomes
• Prototype that allows the following:
▫ Storage of medical records on a cell phone
▫ Transmission of medical records between a cell
phone and medical database
• Encryption and compression of the medical
record
• Performance analysis
Key success factors
• Storage and transmission of the medical record
▫ Efficient
▫ Secure
▫ Compressed
• Storing the medical record on the internal memory
• Transmission using Bluetooth
• Analysis of encryption and compression algorithms
Risks
• Failure to successfully measure performance
• Failure to meet milestones
• Hardware failure
• Gathering medical record data
• Group member becomes unavailable
Timeline
• Research and design: 15 days
• Algorithm implementation and testing: 20 days
• Merging components with testing: 22 days
• Dedicated report writing: 20 days
Conclusion
• The project will contribute towards a mobile
medical record framework
▫ Benefit patients and medical practitioners in
medical record management
• The project will attempt to cater for developing
areas and consider the limitations of a cell phone
Questions ?
Gantt Chart
Team
Paul
Shelley
Timeline
Task
Number of
days
Initial feasibility demonstration
Medical record transmission
15 days
Testing transmission
5 days
Medical record storage
15 days
Testing storage
5 days
Combine and final testing
7 days
Implementation
Research and Design
15 days
Encryption Implementation & Testing
20 days
Compression Implementation & Testing
20 days
Combine Components for final prototype
10 days
Final Performance Testing
5 days
Final Coding and testing
7 days