Information support for the ambulant health worker.

Health workers are trained to work in information-rich environments. Nineteen medical students evaluated 2700 patients in four villages in Kenya where there was no power or phone. A model of information support included personal digital assistants (PDA), electronic medical records (EMR), satellite telecommunications, medical software, and solar power. The students promptly found the advantages of PDA over paper. By using software for decision support and interacting with the EMR data for medical expertise, very few live telemedicine consults were needed. The cost of this information support was only US 0.28 dollars per patient visit. We conclude information resources can be provided in remote environments at reasonable cost.