Electronic Medical Records Save Lives

Winter Fundraising Success

Mon, 09 Feb 2026 17:09:51 GMT

Over £26,000 raised!!!

A huge, huge thank you to everyone who supported, sponsored, attended and donated at two events that were organised over the winter - you're amazing!

Our Winter Gala Dinner was wonderful. Everyone sparkled, the food served by Bradshaws of York was delicious, wine flowed, the silent auction had some amazing lots donated, prizes were generously bought and dancing to The Stop Outs went on until the very last minute. Over £16,000 was raised!!!

Big Deal's Reunion celebrated 40 years of them first performing together as a Cajun Dance Band. Richard Hunt, a band member, hosted and organised the foot tapping event at York's iconic De Grey Rooms and those attending very generously donated, with Outreach EMR receiving all the donations!

All who attended had a stomping good evening and the donations received amounted to an astounding £10,000!!!

A massive thank you to Richard, Big Deal and all who danced the night away.

Watch Peter's Journey to a Clinic

Sun, 12 Oct 2025 11:00:29 GMT

The Road to Bukaweka

The video below shows a section of Peter's journey to one of the Project Connect clinics he is visiting in Bukaweka, a very rural area of eastern Uganda.

Bill was on the telly!!

Thu, 09 Oct 2025 19:02:11 GMT

Listen to Bill talking about the charity

Clinic Advisor Dr. Bill Tams appeared on local TV, giving a quick overview of the charity's work.

Well done Bill!

The Start of Peter's Visit To Uganda

Thu, 09 Oct 2025 18:37:06 GMT

Peter with Jason and Tim,

RENU Business Development Managers

Four of the six clinics, which are part of Project Connect have also been visited. Peter was amazed at how well they are doing. They all love our electronic medical records system and many of the new young clinicians are using it well and with enthusiasm.

The infrastructure is also developing. A big mast is currently in the process of being built in Khololo and the Bumwalukani has a piece of fast and efficient kit providing Wi-Fi from the college over the hill!

Peter was amused to see the sophisticated cloud connection at the Bushika FIMRC Clinic, with 85,000 patients relying on a basic fan to keep it from over-heating.

Peter has been busy since he arrived in Uganda earlier this week.

His first stop was to meet with the CEO and Business Development Managers of The Research and Education Network for Uganda (RENU), a non-profit organisation who host all our Ugandan Clinics.

Peter was impressed by their enthusiasm to bridge the digital divide and provide high-speed internet to schools, health centres and universities across Uganda, including the most rural areas in which the clinics using our electronic records system are located.

The new mast in Khololo

The efficient rural Wi-Fi at Bumwalukani!

Keeping the cloud connection cool in Bushika!

Peter is heading to Uganda

Wed, 01 Oct 2025 13:51:49 GMT

A Whistle Stop Tour of Six Rural Clinics

The Charity's founder and chair, Dr. Peter Smith, is heading to Uganda at the end of this week for a whistle stop tour of six remote clinics to check on the progress of our pioneering electronic medical records system, which he helped set up there as part of 'Project Connect'.

The project has enabled the clinics to keep electronic medical records for thousands of patients, and to submit those records directly to health bosses at Uganda’s Health Ministry. It is a scheme that can enable rapid tracking of outbreaks of infectious diseases such as Ebola – potentially saving countless lives by stopping disease spreading.

The clinics were previously relying on handwritten medical records - records that can took weeks to be sent to the Health Ministry in Kampala and then weeks more to collate.

Our Outreach electronic records system (EMR) now allows this process to be done can in hours rather than weeks and saves huge amounts of paper too!! This means the quicker an outbreak is recognised, the faster actions can be taken to stop it spreading, the more lives can be saved.

Up to a million people in Africa die every year due to simple medical errors such as prescribing the wrong drugs – errors that medical records can prevent. It is estimated that our Outreach EMR system saves 250 lives a year in the 23 clinics where it operates. If we were in more clinics, we could save even more lives.

While Peter is in Uganda he will visit officials at the Ugandan Ministry of Health. He hopes to persuade them to allow Outreach EMR to roll out its system to hundreds more clinics in remote areas of Uganda.

Come back to read more Blogs about his visit soon.

Exciting Update!!

linda.murphy@outreachemr.org (Linda Murphy) — Sat, 19 Jul 2025 13:20:05 GMT

A new partnership with The University of North Texas Science Centre.

We are excited to be working with University of North Texas Health Science Centre at Fort Worth. They look after refugees coming across the border from all over the world.

Read more about their Refugee Health Initiative here https://www.unthsc.edu/.../tcoms-refugee-health.../...

A Lovely Message

linda.murphy@outreachemr.org (Linda Murphy) — Sat, 19 Jul 2025 13:19:52 GMT

A message from Bushika

We had a lovely message recently from our friend Brian Park in Bushika, Uganda. Brian used to manage the FIMRC clinic in Bushika pre Covid and had returned from the US to visit.

Here's Brian's message ..........

“Bill, Peter, Daniel, and your family, friends, and team,
Greetings from all of us to all of you! Fantastic to see the system in action and how much the team has improved and grown professionally since I was last here in 2019. Most if not all thanks to your generosity and support during that stretch. Wanyala Nabi!!!!” (Wanyala Nabi means well done).

A huge thank you to all who support us in our work.

#medicalrecordssavelives #electronicmedicalrecords #makingadifferencetogether

Find out about our Fundraising

linda.murphy@outreachemr.org (Linda Murphy) — Fri, 14 Mar 2025 16:00:41 GMT

Fundraising and Events

We have a new page dedicated to Fundraising and Events where you can find out about past and future events.

Our funding to date is largely from personal donations and local fundraising events here in the York and North Yorkshire area. Thank you to everyone who has supported us so far, we are really grateful. We couldn't do this without you!

You can also find information on our Facebook, Instagram and Linkedin pages.

News From The Development Team

Mon, 03 Feb 2025 15:21:50 GMT

The Development Team is always busy!

We’re either designing new functionality for the System, building that functionality or supporting clinics with technical issues. …and just very occasionally, we need to fix a Bug!

Over the last few months we have been focusing on two large projects, alongside Clinic Support - Project Connect & Custom Plugins for Hope for Haiti.

Project Connect …is a collaboration with the Ugandan Ministry of Health (MoH) and will achieve interoperability with DHIS2. Interoperability is when two different computer Systems ‘talk to each other’. DHIS2 is the World’s most popular Health Informatics system – and in use in each of the Nations we serve – it transforms raw health data into meaningful information, that Ministries can use to spot health trends, allocate resources most effectively.

The COVID-19 pandemic taught us all the importance of data, in terms of managing health inputs and fighting disease. Project Connect is doing exactly the same for Low Resource, High Impact Clinics across Uganda… We collect the data in the Primary Care Health Centres using Outreach EMR, we anonymise and aggregate that data, and pass it to DHIS2. Interoperability!

We are in the final stages of certification with the Ugandan MoH and hope to be deploying this important new functionality before the end of the year. We may be the first supplier to achieve this in Uganda – all enabled by your support. Thank you!

Hope for Haiti Custom Plugins

The Outreach EMR System has a modular architecture, which means that it is built-up of a series of ‘blocks’ of functionality, and clinics can pick and choose from a library of Plugins and build the System to meet their clinic’s needs.

It also means that the System can evolve, elegantly, in terms of functionality. ‘Extensible’ in programming parlance. As a joint venture with Hope for Haiti, we are developing three custom plugins. Improvements to our Prescriptions and Cash Plugins, and a totally new Dentistry Plugin.

These mini-projects are a Joint Venture in that although Hope for Haiti are funding the developments, once complete, they will be made available to all of our clinics. In this way, our clinic partners who can afford to fund new development, benefit all our hundreds of thousands of patients, which is just fabulous.

Thank you Hope for Haiti!

Bass Stewart, Systems Development Lead.

Dr Elizabeth and Mark Fowler visit Uganda this week.

billtams1@gmail.com (Bill Tams) — Wed, 14 Feb 2024 11:04:49 GMT

Dr Elizabeth and Mark Fowler are back in Uganda this week. Here they are with Henry Muwonge from Uganda UK Health Alliance at the British High Commission in Kampala. They had a positive meeting with Health Policy Officer Brenda Kabibi OutreachEMR look forward to exploring further potential partnerships with the BHC. Check facebook for more updates.

https://uukha.org

HIFA Welcomes Outreach EMR as a supporting organisation.

billtams1@gmail.com (Bill Tams) — Fri, 20 Oct 2023 14:15:35 GMT

OutreachEMR are delighted to be recognised by and work with HIFA to achieve our common goals

HIFA (Healthcare Information For All) is a professional global health network working in

official relations with WHO. HIFA has more than 20,000 global health professionals in almost

every country, committed to accelerate progress towards a world where every person has

access to the healthcare information they need to protect their own health and the health of

others.

Great News from Bushika Uganda

billtams1@gmail.com (Bill Tams) — Thu, 07 Jul 2022 17:43:18 GMT

New EMR Server in Eastern Uganda

FIMRC Bushika clinic manager Musa Kutosi was excited to tell us that thanks to the delivery of a master laptop, by Dr Bethan Rees who runs a neighbouring clinic for "Harpenden's Spotlight on Africa" UK charity, the clinic In Bushika was able to reopen this week. Full patient data was loaded by Outreach EMR's IT team in UK and Julius O'Kello Outreach EMR Senior Ambassador in Uganda who helped locally.

Musa explained this is fantastic news for the local community who rely on the service and their data being stored on our Outreach EMR system.

A sincere thank you to all concerned. Examples of such teamwork mean such a lot to the local people and is why we are all involved in this work.

Outreach EMR is our new name

billtams1@gmail.com (Bill Tams) — Fri, 19 Nov 2021 14:24:50 GMT

Our name may change but we don't!

Our new name OutreachEMR will replace EMR4DW, our former name, at the end of 2021. We feel that OutreachEMR is more representative of our aims and vision for electronic medical records into the future. We hope you agree.

Current users of our system do not have to change anything as the name OutreachEMR will be automatically added at your next system upgrade. New enquiries will use the new name from the start.

Our emails will change, in due course, but our close links with our users, will not.

Welcome to OutreachEMR

A New Year Starts With a New Clinic Using EMR4DW electronic medical records

billtams1@gmail.com (Bill Tams) — Thu, 28 Jan 2021 12:33:08 GMT

Julius Training Staff in Jinja Uganda

All at EMR4DW, Medical Records Save Lives, are delighted to congratulate Enoch Magala, and the whole team of Centre for Youth Driven Development Initiatives (CFYDDI). On the opening of their clinic in Jinja Uganda this month. Several of us have been able to visit Enoch and witness the building of this wonderful facility. I visited along with EMR4DW founder’s Dr Peter Smith and Bass Stewart in 2018, to give advice and demonstrate EMR4DW to the enthusiastic staff.

We might be in lockdown in the UK, but the picture shows our Ugandan Senior Ambassador, Julius Okello who spent 2 days helping set up EMR4DW and give staff training.

Don’t look so worried everyone!! Most clinics tell us staff, with no previous computer skills, can learn the basics in a couple of days. So it will get better!

We all wish you the absolute best of luck and are certain this clinic along with EMR4DW electronic medical records will only help in the wonderful work you do.

Watch this blog for further updates.

Happy New Year to all in Clinics using EMR4DW

billtams1@gmail.com (Bill Tams) — Mon, 04 Jan 2021 19:54:36 GMT

Keep safe and well in 2021

The Covid pandemic has made 2020 a very difficult year for the whole world. Clinics using EMR4DW are often at the forefront of such difficulties. They are often working in remote poorly funded areas making their work, caring for their community, extremely challenging. Our thoughts. prayers and best wishes go out to every one of them.

There is a glint of hope for the future as research on treatment of covid-19 showing simple inexpensive treatments can help as well as vaccines developed, in Oxford, that, I understand, have promised to be available to all countries at no profit. We hope the WHO can help to roll this out to all vulnerable people wherever they are.

One thing we are proud of is that our computer software EMR4DW is able to code Covid-19 as a disease allowing our clinics to monitor case numbers in their communities and inform health departments quickly and accurately.

When the vaccines are available every clinic will be able to document every covid-19 vaccine given. Let's hope it is soon! Keep up the good work in 2021.

Testing, Testing, Testing

billtams1@gmail.com (Bill Tams) — Sat, 06 Jun 2020 17:02:11 GMT

Our System Development Team

In coping with COVID-19 the World Health Organisation said the only way to deal with the virus is to Test,Test and keep Testing. We at EMR4DW have been in lock-down at home for some weeks but have been using the time to benefit our users by listening to the WHO. We have been testing EMR4DW Version 4.0 to ensure it is working perfectly before we roll out our implementation phase later this year. The picture shows one of our regular System Development ZOOM meetings, where we work through our testing programme and plan how we can include our User Manual within the system on screen. I know some clinics are desperate to access the latest version of EMR4DW and we are very keen that you get it but feel time spent testing now will benefit everyone once we are certain it is ready. Watch this space for further updates.

EMR4DW helping clinics in Uganda cope with COVID-19

billtams1@gmail.com (Bill Tams) — Thu, 07 May 2020 11:23:08 GMT

Clinics find EMR4DW records really help

Our thoughts have been with ALL our clinics around the world but this message from Uganda did lift our spirits!

Maegan Hubbard told us her husband Dr. Emma has been using EMR4DW for all the Covid suspects in Manafwa Uganda! He’s been using it to report to the Task Force weekly and track all the patients on self quarantine and institutional quarantine. It’s made life so much easier than a spreadsheet. Each patient has a COVID Health ID to clearly identify them.

EMR4DW has improved search facilities for diseases and with direct links to data collecting hubs via DHIS2 for fast and accurate data transfer.

Thanks Maegan keep all your family safe and keep up the good work.

We are still here!

billtams1@gmail.com (Bill Tams) — Thu, 26 Mar 2020 11:40:52 GMT

Our Thoughts and Best Wishes are with you

All of us at EMR4DW, medical records save lives, wanted to say we are thinking of all our friends and clinics on the front line in the global corona virus pandemic. Rest assured we are still available to help should you have data problems. Please let us know how you are, take care and stay well.

For information: These emergency disease codes have been suggested by the World Health Organisation

WHO Emergency use ICD codes for COVID-19 disease outbreak

The COVID-19 disease outbreak has been declared a public health emergency of international concern.

o An emergency ICD-10 code of U07.1 is assigned to a disease diagnosis of COVID-19 confirmed by laboratory testing.

o An emergency ICD-10 code of U07.2 is assigned to a clinical or epidemiological diagnosis of COVID-19 where laboratory confirmation is inconclusive or not available.

o The title of U07 will be changed back to ‘codes for emergency use’

o In ICD-11, the code for the confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19 is RA01.0 and the code for the clinical diagnosis (suspected or probable) of COVID-19 is RA01.2.

EMR4DW's Busy Visit to Uganda

bass.stewart@onyxweb.co.uk (Bass Stewart) — Sat, 08 Feb 2020 10:45:00 GMT

Dr Peter and Helen Smith deliver computers and training

Peter and Helen Smith are currently in Uganda to demonstrate EMR4DW to clinics who have expressed an interest. They are also visiting existing users explaining about the next phase of improvements to EMR4DW and crucially enlisting clinics to be involved in a planned pilot to demonstrate how EMR4DW can assist rapid data transfer to Health Departments within the country. Practically, they are also delivering essential backup systems, including donated laptops, to isolated clinics ensuring patient data is as secure as we can make it. They met up with old friends, Julius, Grace and Robert, from our original clinic in Bumwalukani who have been users of EMR4DW from day one. Their trip ends with a meeting in Kampala with the Uganda UK Health Alliance.

Project Orpans Medical Centre

bass.stewart@onyxweb.co.uk (Bass Stewart) — Fri, 29 Nov 2019 14:04:00 GMT

The latest clinic that we support

Just in from Elizabeth & Mark Fowler, who are in Uganda... "Just on way back from first visit to Projects Orphans - quite an amazing place. Medical centre only just opened so will be great to have system from start. Had several hours training today & Julius also there Tues. Staff all keen & quick to learn They provide day care for children with disability - they’re about to watch a DVD. Lovely sensory room for kids who had been v neglected at home." #projectorphans @project_orphans

https://www.projectorphans.org

EMR4DW visit Uganda November 2019

bass.stewart@onyxweb.co.uk (Bass Stewart) — Tue, 26 Nov 2019 13:38:00 GMT

Dr Elizabeth Fowler and her husband Mark embark on busy trip

As part of our ongoing support for clinics using EMR4DW Dr Elizabeth Fowler and her husband Mark are in Uganda right now. They have had a very busy schedule since they arrived in Kampala last week. Travelling north to Gulu they linked up with our Senior Ambassador in Uganda Julius Okello and all three of them have been training staff working in clinics run by the Karin Community in Unyama, Gulu.
Tomorrow they are visiting the hospital in Gulu as well as 3 community clinics to assess if EMR4DW would suit their needs for medical records.
They finish their trip by visiting the clinic in Kabbubu, near Kampala, run by our friends and sister organisation the Quicken Trust based in the UK.
We thank everyone for making them so welcome and hope the training smooths the transfer to the latest version of EMR4DW. Well done and safe journey home to Mark and Elizabeth.

Great News! EMR4DW back helping patients at Bumwalukani Clinic Uganda

bass.stewart@onyxweb.co.uk (Bass Stewart) — Mon, 14 Oct 2019 10:33:00 GMT

Picture shows Julius our Senior Ambassador in Uganda training clinic staff

All at EMR4DW share the excitement of staff at Bietrice Tierney Clinic in Uganda to have electronic medical records restarted. The clinic is run by our partner organisation, from the USA, Arlington Academy of Hope (AAH). The clinic had been without electronic records for 2 years. However a visit to Uganda by AAH new Executive Director Shannon Bryant gave us the opportunity for our IT team to replace the damaged master laptop with one containing the latest version of EMR4DW and this was posted to the USA to be taken out by AAH president Dick Burk when he visited the clinic recently.
The great cooperation between our two organisations resulted in Julius, EMR4DW's Senior Ambassador in Uganda, being able to setup the system on September 25th. The picture shows lead clinician Jamiru and other staff members having training.
We are especially pleased as this clinic was the first one to ever use EMR4DW and does great work for the community. Well done everyone!

York Meeting with Uganda UK Health Alliance

bass.stewart@onyxweb.co.uk (Bass Stewart) — Wed, 25 Sep 2019 08:16:00 GMT

EMR4DW meet with UUKHA In York

EMR4DW have been developing links with the Uganda UK Health Alliance over the past few years. They have been helpful in facilitating the introduction of EMR4DW to clinics in Uganda and hosting the meeting when we demonstrated EMR4DW to the Uganda e-health technical committee in Kampala. See previous blogs.
We were delighted to learn that Dr Solomon Kamurari was in the UK and able to meet up in York. The meeting was very successful. Solomon was interested to hear of progress with the latest version of EMR4DW and returns to Uganda keen to facilitate a pilot introducing EMR4DW with Government clinics to assist health data transfer.
Great to see you again Solomon, next time come and stay longer!

Uganda Health Ministry visit Clinics using EMR4DW

bass.stewart@onyxweb.co.uk (Bass Stewart) — Tue, 25 Jun 2019 08:35:00 GMT

EMR4DW are delighted that, last week, the Ugandan Ministry of Health e-health committee visited 2 clinics as part of their on-going assessment of EMR4DW. Our IT lead Bass initiated the assessment when he presented EMR4DW to the committee last December in Kampala. The visit could not have taken place without the continued help and support of Dr Solomon Kamurari of the Uganda UK Health Alliance (UUKHA) who facilitated the visit. We are indebted to Richard Okotel manager at Bukasakya Health Centre 3 for making the team so welcome. Also, once again, we are grateful to all at Bushika FIMRC clinic, our flagship in Africa. The picture, taken at Bushika FIMRC clinic near Mbale, shows L to R, Dr Solomon Kamurari (UUKHA), Martin( e-health visitor), Musa (Bushika Clinic manager), Julius Okello EMR4DW's local Ambassador, Joseph ( e-health visitor) and Brian (FIMRC administrator at the clinic). I love the T-shirt Julius!!
We will receive the committee's report in due course so watch this space.

We Can Make a Difference

bass.stewart@onyxweb.co.uk (Bass Stewart) — Wed, 12 Jun 2019 17:59:00 GMT

Bethan Demonstrating EMR4DW to Clinic Staff

Working with partner charity Harponden Spotlight on Africa, EMR4DW was installed at Bukasakya Health Centre 111, near Mbale Uganda in March 2019. Dr Bethan Rees, from the UK, visited and supported by our team,including Julius Okello our Ambassador in the area, who has visited to help train staff, the clinic has embraced EMR4DW and the benefits Electronic Medical Records bring.We were delighted to receive this short but powerful testimonial from Richard Okotel at the clinic‘Dear EMR4DWThe system has changed how the community now views health and also how the district health officials view the hospital where the system is being implemented from.In a special way thank you.Richard’Thanks Richard, It says it all really, well done to everyone from all at EMR4DW!

'Child of The Nile'

bass.stewart@onyxweb.co.uk (Bass Stewart) — Sun, 23 Dec 2018 08:36:00 GMT

Video from our recent trip to Uganda...

In early December, Dr Peter Smith, Dr Bill Tams and Bass Stewart visited six clinics in Uganda that are either using our system, or will be soon.

Bass also visited the Ministry of Health, with The Uganda UK Health Alliance ( www.uukha.org ) and presented our system to the eHealth sub-committee, in the hope that we will be recommended for Governement-run clinics, as well the NGO-lead clinics we aready support.

All-in-all, an exhasuting, but incredibly productive fortnight!

Big thanks to Sam Cronin ( www.samcronin.co.uk ) for allowing us to use this soundtrack.

Sam is Bass's Godson, but due to his Dad's career taking him all over the world, the two had not met since the Christening, and had lost touch except for the odd email between his Dad and Bass - including one sent just before the Uganda trip...

...completely by chance, Sam happened to by in Kampala while Bass was there! Bizarre, but true.

They hooked up for dinner, and the rest, as they say is history. Sam is a travelling musician, absorbing inspiration from the surroundings he finds himself in.

He loves Uganda too!

Perfect!

Successful Visit to Uganda

bass.stewart@onyxweb.co.uk (Bass Stewart) — Wed, 12 Dec 2018 08:50:00 GMT

Meeting with UgandaUK Health Alliance in Kampala

In our short visit we managed to visit 8 clinics. Some established, some new and some aspiring to have EMR4DW in the near future. All visits involved staff training or demonstration of EMR4DW. Bass one of our founders and IT Lead had a very important meeting with the e-health committee of the Uganda Govt. Dept of Health. This meeting was followed up when Chair Dr Peter Smith and Dr Bill Tams met with the Uganda UK Health Alliance (UUKHA) in Kampala. Very positive feedback was received about Bass's presentation and we discussed how we can take this forward. The UUKHA have facilitated contact with a new clinic in Gulu, northern Uganda, who start using EMR4DW soon. The photograph shows (LtoR) Henry Muwonge, Dr Peter Smith, Kamuravi Solomon, Dr Bill Tams, Bagala Paul and Okeny Hope of the Karin Community NGO in Gulu receiving a laptop at the meeting. This laptop was donated by a sponsor in York, Hope was thrilled and said she will ensure it will be put to good use.

Instagram!

bass.stewart@onyxweb.co.uk (Bass Stewart) — Thu, 22 Nov 2018 17:02:00 GMT

We're now on Instagram...

In preparation for our upcoming trip, we now have an Instagram account. Please follow our progress, and keep up to date with our travels, and efforts to support Primary Care clinics all over Uganda.We should be posting from Sunday 25th November, for a couple of weeks.Thanks.Bass

EMR4DW Team Visit Uganda

bass.stewart@onyxweb.co.uk (Bass Stewart) — Sat, 03 Nov 2018 09:38:00 GMT

Strong Team of Committee Members to visit in November

Dr Bill Tams Clinical Advisor, Chairman Dr Peter Smith (Pictured) and Bass Stewart, IT lead, make up the team. During this visit we hope to demonstrate EMR4DW to the Ugandan Govt. e-Health Technical Committee, thanks to the Uganda-UK Health Alliance for liaising on our behalf. We also aim to visit some new and established clinics to monitor progress with Julius our new local Ambassador in Mbale with essential equipment.
Aware of the devastating mudslides in the Bududa Mt. Elgon area the team will visit to see how our clinics in the area are managing during these difficult times offering any support we can.

New Clinic in Uganda

bass.stewart@onyxweb.co.uk (Bass Stewart) — Thu, 28 Jun 2018 11:19:00 GMT

Julius EMR4DW Ambassador helps connect computers

EMR4DW are delighted that a new Clinic, Bugobero Health Centre IV, is now using our system in the HIV clinic. This totally Govt run clinic near Mbale is fortunate to have Dr Emma, a local Dr, who has experience of using EMR4DW. HIV is complicated so Dr Emma has been adding patients and the many drugs they need onto the database which will make it so much easier when they start seeing patients.
They had problems linking the WiFi router to the master laptop. Thankfully Julius, who is based in the area for us, was aware of a local clinic, using EMR4DW, with a spare cable which he was able to borrow and connect so the clinic is set to start. Well done everyone concerned.

System Development of EMR4DW

bass.stewart@onyxweb.co.uk (Bass Stewart) — Thu, 05 Apr 2018 07:58:00 GMT

Bass Stewart visiting local play group to test finger print recognition on children

We at EMR4DW are constantly striving to improve and develop our software. This is largely in response to the needs of the clinics. The midwives, for example, have long lobbied for a separate midwifery page designed to cope with the large families they work with. This is currently under test. Development can also can occur in response to academic and research requirements. We are currently collaborating with fellow charity Medair and a University in Korea investigating the efficacy of immunisation against rota virus, in young children in the Democratic Republic of Congo in Africa. Rota virus causes severe diarrhoea and is a killer of young children. It is essential we can identify which children are being vaccinated accurately and the researchers requested we incorporate finger print technology into EMR4DW.
The picture shows co-founder of EMR4DW IT expert , Bass Stewart, visiting his local play group to test the technology on the children. Thanks to them for helping and more news on the research in due course.

New EMR4DW Ambassador in Uganda

bass.stewart@onyxweb.co.uk (Bass Stewart) — Tue, 06 Mar 2018 20:36:00 GMT

Julius Peter Okello joins our team

It has always been an aim of EMR4DW that we should make our involvement in Health Clinics as sustainable as possible. We have a number of clinics in the Mbale area of Eastern Uganda. These include the first ever, and busiest, clinic in Bushika and the remote mountainous clinic at Matuwa ( see other blogs). It was here that we first met Julius, as data manager, who showed great interest in EMR4DW and expressed an interest in helping other clinics with their data collection. Julius,seen here with Dr Bill Tams, has become our first Ambassador and will help and advise other clinics in the area. Recently he coordinated with our IT team, in the UK, to Update EMR4DW laptops from 3 clinics. Previously this would have had to wait until one of our team, from the UK, visited Uganda. We feel this is a major advance and wish to welcome Julius to our team and hope he will be a great help to clinics in Uganda.

Working with Uganda UK Health Alliance

bass.stewart@onyxweb.co.uk (Bass Stewart) — Tue, 05 Dec 2017 18:58:00 GMT

EMR4DW visit Gulu in Uganda

During their recent visit to Uganda, Dr Elizabeth and Mark Fowler travelled to Gulu in Northern Uganda with Dr Henry Muwonge from the UUKHA (Ugandan U.K. Health Alliance). This is a new partnership for EMR4DW and they visited 2 clinics run by the Karin Community a Ugandan charity based in Gulu. The 3rd clinic, St Monica’s ,was supported by the Catholic Church. All 3 clinics were well organised with trained staff who were very interested in a detailed demonstration of the system. The demos provoked interesting questions and discussions.

UUKHA had also arranged 2 hospital visits mainly to introduce ourselves and explain that some local clinics will be using the EMR4DW system. At St Mary’s Lacor a busy General hospital serving the local community since 1959 we found ourselves presenting the system to the Hospital Board - they were immediately interested to use the system in 3 rural health clinics run by the hospital. Next up was a meeting with the medical director of the Government run Gulu referral hospital generated a great deal of interest in the prescribing/pharmacy stock part of the system - plan to start using this soon for their 20000 patients. We hope these visits will promote use of EMR4DW and we are busy preparing start up documentation for them. Exciting developments for EMR4DW to look forward to in 2018. Thank you to all our sponsors who make work like this happen.

EMR4DW helps in the most unlikely places

bass.stewart@onyxweb.co.uk (Bass Stewart) — Thu, 09 Nov 2017 19:47:00 GMT

EMR4DW in use in Uganda under a gazebo!!

During the second week of their visit to Uganda it was amazing for Dr Elizabeth and Mark Fowler to see the mobile clinic at Manafwa - set up under gazebos, with a mobile lab, pharmacy, ‘consulting rooms’, examination tent etc all using the EMR4DW system firstly off mains power and later with a generator. 145 patients seen - all with consultations, results, prescriptions , diagnoses and cash payments recorded electronically on EMR4DW. Quite an inspiration for us all to continue to support these resourceful people. More from their visit soon.

Mark Fowler upgrading clinics to latest version of EMR4DW (note the electric cables!)

bass.stewart@onyxweb.co.uk (Bass Stewart) — Thu, 09 Nov 2017 19:47:00 GMT

Busy Time in Uganda for Dr Elizabeth and Mark Fowler

First week
Elizabeth and Mark started the trip with a meeting with Dr David Lawrence and Mr Enoch Magala who are building a new Health Centre near Jinja - funded by the charity CFYDDI (Centre for Youth Driven Development Initiatives). There are definite plans to use the EMR4DW system in the clinic which, as you can see, is well on its way to completion so it was really helpful to be able to discuss how other clinics use the system to help them with their planning of room usage, patient flow etc.
Elizabeth and Mark then revisited 3 clinics ( Bushika, Matuwa and Manafwa mobile clinic) all well established with using the system. They spent time updating the clinics to the latest version of EMR4DW. Great to get useful feedback from staff both on how they're using the system for their patients and what they’d like to see developed for the next upgrade.

New clinic in Kubbubu Uganda uses EMR4DW

bass.stewart@onyxweb.co.uk (Bass Stewart) — Wed, 30 Aug 2017 09:00:00 GMT

New Clinic near Kampala Uganda uses EMR4DW

We at EMR4DW are excited to be working with the Quicken Trust, providing electronic medical records for their fantastic clinic at Kubbubu Uganda. The quicken Trust is a Sussex based charity which is transforming the lives of people living in the village of Kubbubu Uganda. Nurse Susan and her team, pictured, are excited they have the latest version of EMR4DW which will help them screen for malnutrition and monitor the many patients suffering with HIV/Aids in the community. They go live with real patients this month and we wish them every success. A key feature of EMR4DW is to remain uncomplicated and therefore valuable in rural communities in the developing world. Good luck team!

EMR4DW Meet Former Secretary of State for International Development

bass.stewart@onyxweb.co.uk (Bass Stewart) — Sun, 23 Jul 2017 16:19:00 GMT

The Rt Hon Priti Patel MP

Trustee Gail Tams and committee members Mark Fowler and Dr Bill Tams attended an informal group meeting with local MP Kevin Hollinrake and the then Secretary of State for Overseas Development Rt Hon Priti Patel MP in Malton on Friday 21st July 2017. Priti Patel talked about the strategy of the new Small Charities Challenge Fund the first fund from the Dept for International Development aimed at small UK charities. In a question and answer session and gave advice on the application process. Gail thanked Priti Patel for her determination in supporting small charities and for encouraging EMR4DW to apply to the fund..

EMR4DW to be taught at Kampala University

bass.stewart@onyxweb.co.uk (Bass Stewart) — Thu, 25 May 2017 07:52:00 GMT

Dr Bill Tams demonstrated EMR4DW to medical records dept St Lawrence University

During his 4 week visit to Uganda, Dr Bill Tams was invited to St Lawrence University Kampala to meet Sam Otile, head of the Public Health and Medical Records Dept. During the visit Dr Bill also met the Vice Chancellor Prof. Kakinda Frank Mbaaga. They were very interested in EMR4DW, how our system worked and how clinics had been using EMR4DW. Dr Bill give a demonstration to a number of students who came in specially for the meeting. They recognised electronic medical records as the future and Sam will be using EMR4DW in his teaching. The students are all working in different clinics in the area, which lack medical records. They were keen to take this knowledge with them when they return to their clinics.
EMR4DW is delighted to have this academic connection and look forward to developing this further.

Malnutrition Clinic Saves Children's Lives

bass.stewart@onyxweb.co.uk (Bass Stewart) — Fri, 24 Mar 2017 09:17:00 GMT

EMR4DW helps special clinic screen and treat malnutrition

10 days ago I spent time visiting the special nutritional clinic based in Mbale Uganda. The clinic travels out into remote areas screening and monitoring children who are referred with Malnutrition. It was amazing to see how central, EMR4DW is to their work. They use weight and mid upper arm circumference measurements to assess the children. These are listed in chronological order on EMR4DW so it is easy to monitor progress. Prescriptions, also on EMR4DW, dictate what special high protein and high calorie medicines are given.
The new traffic light warning system, on EMR4DW, indicates the severe patients, like this poor little boy, ensuring he is seen promptly.
As children improve the measurements change from red to green and help the staff decide when it is safe to discharge the children to routine monitoring. EMR4DW helping to save lives. We are proud of our support for this clinic.

Dr Bill starts his 4 week EMR4DW update visit in Uganda

bass.stewart@onyxweb.co.uk (Bass Stewart) — Sat, 25 Feb 2017 11:28:00 GMT

A successful start to Dr Bill's visit to support clinics with our new update

This week, Dr Bill Tams started a 4 week visit to clinics using EMR4DW, in Uganda. Dr Bill is the third and final member of EMR4DW to visit this winter. He is visiting Bumwaluki, Matuwa, Bushika and Manafwa clinics in Eastern Uganda.
An important part of Dr Bill's visit, is to update EMR4DW systems and connect with the UK to add final tweaks. The clinics run EMR4DW from generator power, so Dr Bill will visit the nearest town to get wifi to link with the UK. We have been testing the updates and Dr Bill is hoping to support staff with the changes. We are proud of how easy it is to use EMR4DW. Most of the staff members haven't worked on a computer before, but after 2 days of training they are able to use EMR4DW to keep patient records up to date, accurate and safe. Isn't that fantastic!

Dr Bill has taken 2 new laptops out with him to use as back ups in case any of the current laptops fail. He is also taking a reconditioned laptop to use at the Bushika clinic, as they are so busy with more than 30,000 patients on their data base!

One of the updates to the system is increased maternity coding to add to patient records. The new codes will help the midwives monitor their workload and select who needs extra care so mothers have safer pregnacies and healthier babies are born. Just like this baby seen at his last visit.

Edit: Great news! The update and connection to the UK went smoothly today and EMR4DW is updated and ready to roll out at the clinics! Well done to the whole EMR4DW team in UK and all those on the ground in Uganda who helped make this happen.

New Clinic at Manafwa Uganda uses EMR4DW

bass.stewart@onyxweb.co.uk (Bass Stewart) — Mon, 30 Jan 2017 16:53:00 GMT

Computer shows RED alert indicating which patients in the queue need urgent attention.

EMR4DW Chair Dr Peter Smith visited Manafwa clinic in Uganda this week and found the new clinic already using EMR4DW very well. This is a clinic which receives referrals of patients suspected of malnutrition. The photo shows the new traffic light system RED alert on the mid upper arm circumference. This measurement confirms malnutrition. Reception staff are able to triage such patients to see the Dr.
EMR4DW will also help in monitoring these babies as it lists all measurements in chronological order at the bottom of the page, so the Dr. or nurse can see if the baby is improving.
Look out for more blofs from Dr Peter when he returns later this week.

Changes to EMR4DW in action

bass.stewart@onyxweb.co.uk (Bass Stewart) — Sun, 22 Jan 2017 10:32:00 GMT

New 'Traffic Light' warning system working

EMR4DW 'traffic light' warning system shows red as a warning that this child's temperature is too high.

The newest version of EMR4DW has an exciting development. We have a 'traffic light' warning system for certain measurements. Red if you have high temperature or are severely underweight, amber if the measurements are slightly abnormal and green if measurements are as they should be. The colours show instantly, so clinicians can help the patient with no delay in checking measurements.

Dr Peter Smith, EMR4DW Chair, is in Uganda as I write this and sent this photo of a severely ill little girl who had a very high temperature. The screen shows the temperature highlighted in red. This warns ALL staff so severely ill patients are seen urgently. Dr Peter told us she had severe Malaria and is now on high dose treatment, which she received as a result of EMR4DW. The medication and her progress will be logged on EMR4DW so clinic staff can monitor her progress. We all wish her well.

The warning system is designed to be especially helpful in alerting staff to malnourished children, so their care is prioritised.

We are thrilled to see that the system works and is helping patients! EMR4DW saves lives.

Safe Arrival in Uganda

bass.stewart@onyxweb.co.uk (Bass Stewart) — Mon, 16 Jan 2017 15:35:00 GMT

Dr Peter Smith visits Clinics in Uganda

Dr Peter with staff at Matuwa Clinic

EMR4DW Chair Dr Peter Smith arrived in Uganda this week to continue our support for clinics using EMR4DW. He is revisiting our established clinics Bumwalukani, Matuwa and Bushika, in remote Eastern Uganda to continue training staff. He is supporting staff with our new and improved version of EMR4DW . One of the improvements is a new prescribing system which informs the clinician what drugs are available to prescribe and what are the recommended dosages.

He is excited to be visiting 2 new clinics in the area, that have applied to use EMR4DW. Dr Peter will be assessing the clinics to ensure they meet our policy of supporting sustainable clinics. Watch this space to see how they get on.

Dr Peter has visited the Matuwa Clinic, above, many times. This photo was from a previous visit, we are waiting for new photos that we will share with you soon.

SING 4 AFRICA

bass.stewart@onyxweb.co.uk (Bass Stewart) — Thu, 22 Dec 2016 09:32:00 GMT

This isEMR4DW are pleased to give you early notice of their next fundraising event a subtitle for your new post

Find out more here...

EMR4DW Helping in Uganda

bass.stewart@onyxweb.co.uk (Bass Stewart) — Mon, 05 Dec 2016 09:21:00 GMT

This is a subtitle for your new post

Dr Elizabeth Fowler and her husband Mark are representing EMR4DW in Uganda as I write this. As well as the essential work they have done in coordinating the downloading of the new version of EMR4DW they are helping in many other ways. They took out essential drugs and dressing to help patients in this remote, poor area and will be staying on for 2 weeks so Dr Elizabeth can continue supporting and teaching the clinical staff, especially the midwives, and Mark can give essential computer training on the new version of EMR4DW.
Congratulations to the new parents. EMR4DW is helping to make all deliveries safer as the midwives now document all antenatal clinics on the computer system.
Watch out for more blogs from Uganda!

Great Success in Uganda!

bass.stewart@onyxweb.co.uk (Bass Stewart) — Sun, 27 Nov 2016 11:59:00 GMT

Successful Download of Latest version of EMR4DW for clinics in Uganda

Our fantastic team of Jason and trustee Bass, in the UK, successfully downloaded the latest version of EMR4DW to 4 clinics in remote Uganda for final site testing. Dr Elizabeth Fowler and her husband Mark are out in Uganda and coordinated the 4 clinics to bring their master laptops down the mountain to Mbale where the internet signal was strong enough to download EMR4DW.
The work involved everyone working from 7am until late in the evening to ensure everything was completed. EMR4DW wish to thank all concerned for their efforts. Once site testing is complete we aim to roll out the new version of EMR4DW to all our clinics around the world.
This truly is a landmark occasion for our charity.

New Version of EMR4DW due soon!

bass.stewart@onyxweb.co.uk (Bass Stewart) — Mon, 31 Oct 2016 21:53:00 GMT

Grace uses EMR4DW with patients to explain about their illness and treatment

All of us at EMR4DW are very excited as the launch date of the latest version of EMR4DW approaches. This project has been 2 years in the making. Previous visits to Uganda have been valuable in collecting feedback from clinics using EMR4DW. This has been fed into our IT development team of trustee Bass Stewart and his colleague Jason, who have worked tirelessly to redesign and improve the EMR4DW software.
The latest version will include:

Improved and quicker search facility to prevent patients being entered onto EMR4DW twice.
A new page for past medical problems. No more having to repeat your details every visit.
A warning system to highlight grossly abnormal recordings. This will alert clinicians to high temperatures and malnutrition.
prescribing of drugs will link to stock showing if the drug is available and save hours of work when ordering drugs.
All diagnoses will have the appropriate World Health Internationally accepted code attached. This makes reporting more relevant

We are currently beta testing the changes to iron out any problems. Our aim is to continually improve EMR4DW whilst maintaining its unique features of being functional, reliable yet simple to use.
All clinics using EMR4DW will have the new system installed as soon as it becomes available.

Less than 3 weeks to go!

bass.stewart@onyxweb.co.uk (Bass Stewart) — Mon, 31 Oct 2016 21:53:00 GMT

Testing the laptops are suitable for EMR4DW

EMR4DW committee member Dr Elizabeth Fowler and her husband Mark, who has worked in Africa before, are busy planning for their trip to Uganda later this month. They will be visiting 4 clinics currently using EMR4DW for their medical records system. As well as taking out replacement wifi routers and computer cabling they will be carrying reconditioned laptops generously donated by a local York business. These are necessary to maintain EMR4DW as a service for patients in these remote poor areas.
They are also very excited at the prospect of being able to download the brand new version of EMR4DW which is currently being beta tested for these clinics. The area has no reliable internet so each clinic has a 'land based' system with EMR4DW loaded onto a master laptop in each clinic. These master laptops will need to be taken 3 hours away to a local town with sufficient internet to allow the EMR4DW IT experts, here in the UK, to download the latest version onto them. This can take up to 5 hours! Afterwards they will both be very busy with essential staff training.

Dr Elizabeth will also be involved in seeing patients and teaching the nurses and midwives.

This is essential work and all of us at EMR4DW wish them a safe and successful trip.
Watch the blog for further news from Uganda.

Copy of Health prevention using EMR4DW #1

bass.stewart@onyxweb.co.uk (Bass Stewart) — Thu, 25 Aug 2016 09:52:00 GMT

Treating hypertension is a first world problem, or so we thought...

Clinician Mark at Matuwa Clinic using EMR4DW to treat a patient with high blood pressure

When I visited Bumwalukani and Matuwa Clinics, Uganda, last November, I was amazed to discover patients being well treated for high blood pressure in the clinic. In the past all energies have been aimed at treating severe illness like malaria and dysentery.
The EMR4DW medical record system requires blood pressure to be measured on all adult patients as a routine check when they attend the clinic. As a result this has highlighted patients with high blood pressure, who had no symptoms and were not previously aware. High blood pressure puts patients at risk of stroke and heart disease. The clinics use an affordable but effective treatment. Blood pressure results are listed on each patients record in chronological order, enabling staff to compare pre and post treatment results and ensure their blood pressure treatment is working. It also identifies when prescriptions have not been requested or missed.
The fact that high blood pressure is being identified, monitored and treated by nurses in the clinic is a direct result of using EMR4DW electronic medical recording system.
This is health prevention using EMR4DW.

Love and thanks from the Post Test Club

bass.stewart@onyxweb.co.uk (Bass Stewart) — Sat, 16 Apr 2016 10:01:00 GMT

Feedback and thanks from the HIV Post Test Club, Bumwalukani Uganda

During a recent visit to Bumwalukani, Uganda, my wife Gail and I attended a meeting of the Post Test Club (PTC). The members of the club are all HIV positive. The club is organised by clinic worker, Musa, to improve self esteem and try to reduce stigma associated with HIV. Approximately 10 per cent of the local population are HIV positive.

I asked the members of the club if they had noticed any difference now the clinic was successfully using EMR4DW electronic medical records. They told us that appointments are shorter, as all their details are remembered on EMR4DW and this is available, even if they are seeing a new clinician for the first time. Their blood results are immediately available any where in the clinic, not just in the lab. They feel confidentiality has greatly improved because in crowded, cramped consultation rooms two clinicians can be seeing patients at the same time and they don't have to go through their past history every time. It's great to get patient feedback of this nature.

At the end of the meeting, the patients asked if they could pass their love and thanks through us to all EMR4DW supporters in the UK. In the video they cast their love into the air. we catch it and place into our hearts to bring home. What a wonderful thought.

Making a difference for Damascus, aged 11

bass.stewart@onyxweb.co.uk (Bass Stewart) — Wed, 30 Mar 2016 12:36:00 GMT

An example of how EMR4DW can make a difference

Damascus, aged 11, looking happy

Whenever I give a talk about our medical records, I am asked if EMR4DW is making a difference. One example from last year springs to mind.

In March 2015, I visited Bumwalukani Clinic (Uganda) and was asked to see Damascus, an eleven year old boy. He was brought to the clinic by his Grandma as since birth he had been having 'falling faints' two to three times a day. Consequently, he was not allowed to attend school. The village Witch Doctor had told his parents that during these faints Damascus was communicating with spirits, so they had never sought medical help. It was clear to me, that this was epilepsy and we started appropriate medication immediately. I documented this on his patient records via EMR4DW, with clear instructions to the clinic staff on how the medication was to be taken continuously and how to increase his medication, after my return to the UK.

In November 2015, I returned to the Clinic and was thrilled to see him much improved. His fits had reduced to only two a month, which resulted in school accepting him back. The electronic medical records monitored his attendance and prescriptions, allowing staff to be aware of any missed medication. Because of his progress, his family had decided to ignore the Witch Doctor and continue with his treatment.

This is just one example of how EMR4DW has helped this boy get his normal life back. EMR4DW making a difference.

New Clinic Opens in Bushika .. Rural Eastern Uganda

bass.stewart@onyxweb.co.uk (Bass Stewart) — Tue, 23 Feb 2016 20:22:00 GMT

Built by "Construction for Change" Managed by FIMRC. Electronic Medical Records by EMR4DW

Two of us from EMR4DW were able to attend the opening of a new clinic supported by FIMRC ( The Foundation for International Medical Relief of Children ) in the village of Bushika which is in a very rural part of Eastern Uganda with high levels of infant and maternal mortality. This clinic will have trained Ugandan medical staff and a maternity unit which will be open 24 hours a day. This is a huge step forward for this area of Uganda and this clinic will have Electronic Medical Records supported by 6 linked laptops in different clinical rooms. They will start with a 3 year database of chronological medical records of 18,000 patients from the area which have been transferred from the old clinic. Along with the proven track record of the existing staff from the old clinic, this health centre has a very bright future and probably the best electronic medical record database in the region.

EMR4DW Provides New Blood Testing Machine for Matuwa Clinic

bass.stewart@onyxweb.co.uk (Bass Stewart) — Sat, 30 Jan 2016 12:35:00 GMT

New blood testing machine arrives!

Julius and Betty thrilled to take delivery of the new blood testing machine.

Before Christmas, Gail Tams (EMR4DW Trustee) and her husband Bill (EMR4DW Clinical Adviser) visited the Matuwa Clinic in remote mountainous Uganda. Whilst supporting the staff in the clinic, Gail recognised how important the maternity services were to the community. The midwives use EMR4DW electronic medical records to document all antenatal visits but are hampered because the blood testing machine that midwives use for haemoglobin test ( i.e. anaemia level) has been malfunctioning for some time. Using money raised through events and donations from supporters of EMR4DW here in the UK, we have enabled the clinic to buy a new, reliable, machine.
Using the new blood machine, laboratory staff will be able to record results on EMR4DW, which will be available immediately to all clinical staff. Consultations on EMR4DW can be viewed chronologically, so results can be compared to see if treatment is needed. Essential preventative work like this will mean more healthy babies and children.
Thanks to our supporters, this was money well spent.

Making a difference with a 10p tape measure

bass.stewart@onyxweb.co.uk (Bass Stewart) — Tue, 12 Jan 2016 16:38:00 GMT

Two of us from EMR4DW leave to visit clinics in Bumwalukani and Matuwa on 23 January '16. In our luggage will be 50 of these tape measures. They measure mid-upper arm circumference in under 5s and are shown to be an excellent, but simple indicator of impending and established malnutrition. Weighing and measuring children in remote clinics can be arbitrary but these can easily be used by health care workers, where ever they are. If the reading is red or yellow, nutritional advice is needed and we shall be training staff to use them in areas where child mortality remains high. Details will then be recorded on the computer system to ensure proper follow up.

View from the Matuwa Clinic - a video

bass.stewart@onyxweb.co.uk (Bass Stewart) — Sat, 09 Jan 2016 13:24:00 GMT

I woke up on a gloomy wet morning thinking of Matuwa clinic and wanted to share this song going through my head. Whilst on a visit to Matuwa, Uganda, last month Evelyn our housekeeper was washing clothes and singing at the guest house. The view here is across the Rift Valley towards Kenya, where there are fabulous sunsets. I couldn't resist videoing this moment with her beautiful voice and the scenery around the clinic. Her words mean 'Life is good, we are happy' and I can't help but feel strong emotion when I watch this video.

How EMR4DW works at the Matuwa Clinic

My wife and I visited 3 clinics in Kenya and Uganda in November/December last year. Matuwa is high up the mountain, quite remote from towns and cities. The clinic here has been using EMR4DW for 18 months and this was a return visit for me. As well as supporting the staff as a doctor, an aim of our visit was to get feedback on EMR4DW to improve the system and take out new backup cards to safeguard the patient data.
At the clinic, there is no internet and often no power. EMR4DW is loaded onto a master laptop, so all the patient data is at risk if this gets damaged. We back up the patient data daily, to protect the patient medical records. It was essential to take new cards for this purpose.
The clinic uses 5 stations:
- to log patients in on arrival
- to do observations/vital measurements (blood pressure, temp etc)
- consultation information
- treatment and pharmacy
- checking patient understanding before they leave (their illness, how to prevent it happening again, how to take their treatment etc.)

These stations are linked to the master laptop via a wifi router. Care for patients has dramatically improved. Imagine going to see your doctor and them having no idea who you are, why you have visited in the past and have no record of previous treatment. It's clear why the staff are totally committed to EMR4DW and never want to return to having no electronic records.
If EMR4DW can work in this remote moutainous setting in Matuwa, Ugangda, we feel it can work anywhere. Now watch the video again!

A New Year - A New Clinic

bass.stewart@onyxweb.co.uk (Bass Stewart) — Thu, 31 Dec 2015 17:59:00 GMT

Dr Bill's video of the construction of the new healthcare clinic in Bumwalukani, Uganda

As the start of a new year approaches, at EMR4DW, we are thinking about a new clinic under construction in Uganda. The clinic will be using EMR4DW medical records to help their patients.
2 miles down the mountain from the Bumwalukani Clinic, workmen, engineers and architects are busy building a new healthcare clinic. Construction For Change and Project 30/30 are working hard to create the clinic which will provide healthcare for thousands of people in rural Uganda.
On his visit to Uganda last month, Dr Bill Tams (Clinical Advisor) and staff from the Bumwalukani clinic visited the site to help with computer and wiring positions to support the use of EMR4DW. Dr Bill narrates the video, to give an idea of the size of the project.
We are looking forward to finding out how the construction is progressing over the next few months, we will keep you posted!
Happy New Year from all at EMR4DW!

Christmas in Bumwalukani, Uganda

bass.stewart@onyxweb.co.uk (Bass Stewart) — Wed, 23 Dec 2015 13:46:00 GMT

A church, in a remote community, where villagers will spend time on Christmas Day

On my (Dr Bill Tams) visit to Bumwalukani Clinic, Uganda, earlier this month, I asked the staff about their Christmas traditions. The Christian religion is very important to people here and it plays a large part at Christmas. On Christmas Day many will visit their church up to 5 times. As for a Christmas meal, Robert, who works in the clinic, told us that he and his neighbours save up during the year to buy a cow. The cow is shared amongst the neighbours and is eaten on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with their families. Meat is quite a luxury here as there are no fridges and often no power. For Christmas gifts, the children are bought clothes.We, at EMR4DW, will be thinking about all our friends in Uganda, who have worked so hard using our EMR4DW system.Mulembe everyone!

A boy looking after his little brother

A week at Matuwa Clinic, Uganda

bass.stewart@onyxweb.co.uk (Bass Stewart) — Mon, 30 Nov 2015 17:13:00 GMT

Dr Bill and Gail Tams with the staff at the Matuwa Clinic

Day 1 The Matuwa clinic is in stunning Ugandan countryside, 5000 feet up Mount Elgon. We travelled along an almost impassible road past recent mudslides to reach the clinic. In spite of the remote location, there are people everywhere and little houses, bandas and shacks all over the mountainside. For the people living here, this clinic is their nearest health outpost, where they come for all their medical needs including midwifery. Two babies were born here the night we arrived! Computer update with staff and medical clinic starts at 9 in the morning.

Baby born on the night of our arrival

Day 2
One of the babies delivered last night is very ill and he lies swaddled in thick blankets next to a paraffin lamp- no incubators here. Bill refers him down the mountain to another health facility where they have more resources.There are loads of patients today, an antenatal clinic and children's vaccinations being given as well. Bill sees all the patients! I (Gail) spend time with staff to observe how they are using EMR4DW and share ideas for changes both with the clinic systems and using EMR4DW.

A family we visited on Outreach up the mountain with the CHE

Day 3
Rain, rain, rain, mud, mud and more mud! The soil (mud!) here is very red. It's a good job we had some wellies as we slipped down, then uphill on Outreach with the Community Health Educators (CHE). The CHE's are targeting areas of need as highlighted by EMR4DW. The people here are subsistence farmers and we walked past tiny plots of onions, greens, maize, coffee, cassava and beans under the bananas. Coffee and onions are the only cash crop. The other vegetables are grown to eat. The people here are struggling to produce enough food. Life here, is probably as hard as it gets.

Gail with John at Station One

Day 4
Last month the clinic had computer problems. This was our first software problem with any of our clinics after three years of use in harsh conditions. The master computer was taken by motorcycle to the town of Mbale, which is a 2-3 hour trip over dirt road. Julius, from the clinic, was able to link up via the internet in Mbale with Jason in the UK from Onyx (our software providers) and within two hours the problem was fixed! We were keen to find out if there had been any problems since and things are still running smoothly.During our trip, Bill has been supporting the staff and working as a doctor at the clinic. I have been able to support the staff to use EMR4DW. At Station One, the patients are registered onto the electronic records or if they are a returning patient, their details are checked.

Dr Bill with Mark a clinician at the clinic

Day 5
On our final day, we held an all staff meeting to give feedback, ideas and suggestions to maximise use of EMR4DW. Part of the reason for our visit is to improve the system to make it as useful as possible for all users. The staff at the Matuwa clinic are a very professional team and also skilled at using the system. We have both enjoyed our time at the clinic and feel privileged to have met the wonderful members of staff here.

Back down the mountain to Bumwalukani now. Our next blog from there will be posted soon.
Gail Tams

EMR4DW training at Osiligi Maasai clinic

bass.stewart@onyxweb.co.uk (Bass Stewart) — Mon, 16 Nov 2015 21:11:00 GMT

Computer training on site at the Osiligi Maasai clinic, Kenya

Dr Bill with Susan, Gideon and Salome

During his visit to Kenya, Dr Bill Tams has supported the staff at the Osiligi Maasai clinic to use EMR4DW with their patients.
Bill is helping Susan (Clinical Officer), Gideon (Community Health Worker) and Salome (Clinic Manager) to use EMR4DW electronic records. This laptop has only been in use at the clinic for a few weeks but staff say it is already easier than using paper records.
Many of the patients visiting the clinic are Maasai, who have no permanent address or accurate date of birth. This has made the electronic records at this clinic particularly unique.
We will hear more from Bill and Gail when they travel to Uganda to visit the Matuwa clinic this week.

Osiligi Clinic Maasai Kenya

bass.stewart@onyxweb.co.uk (Bass Stewart) — Thu, 12 Nov 2015 20:26:00 GMT

A blog direct from Kenya:

The waiting room at the new clinic for the Maasai village in Southern Kenya.

Gail (Trustee) and Bill Tams (Clinical Advisor) are visiting a new clinic near Nairobi, Kenya this week, to support the use of EMR4DW. The clinic staff organised an open day yesterday, with health education talks and meetings. Needless to say lots of patients were seen and the village elders were happy to endorse the project.

We hope to hear more from Gail and Bill during their time at this clinic, before they continue on to Uganda.

Africa visit 4 days away!

bass.stewart@onyxweb.co.uk (Bass Stewart) — Wed, 04 Nov 2015 10:18:00 GMT

Bill and Gail Tams visit Clinics in Africa

As part of the ongoing support for clinics using EMR4DW Trustee Gail Tams and her husband Dr Bill Tams , Clinical Advisor, leave for Africa next week. They will be visiting 3 clinics starting at a Maasai village near Nairobi Kenya where Gail will be training staff on computer use and Bill will explore how EMR4DW can be of even more use to communities by offering remote clinical support from Drs in York. This health outpost only went 'live' in September so the staff are very excited about the visit and thrilled to have such support from EMR4DW. They then travel on to Uganda to EMR4DW's more established clinics near Mbale where they will gather information to help refine EMR4DW for the future. This is essential feedback for our system development team back in the UK. Bill and Gail are taking out medicines, drugs and teaching aids and Bill will be involved in both treating patients and training clinical staff.

EMR4DW is easy to learn...

bass.stewart@onyxweb.co.uk (Bass Stewart) — Wed, 14 Oct 2015 00:00:00 GMT

...even if you have never seen a computer before!

We have firsthand experience of bringing our health records system to users who have never seen or used a computer before!

With a single day's training, they were using EMR4DW and entering patient data.

As we develop facilities for the program, we are continuallly asking ourselves, "Can this facilit be learned by someone who have never seen a computer before?"

If the answer is "no", we go back to the design and carry on until we are happy that it can.

Dr Bill Tams at Matuwa, Uganda

bass.stewart@onyxweb.co.uk (Bass Stewart) — Tue, 13 Oct 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Bill is one of our Committee members

This is Bill from EMR4DW with all the staff from the Matuwa clinic in Uganda, during his visit earlier this year. Bill worked as a volunteer doctor, teaching the medical staff and training them to use EMR4DW. There are now over 2000 patients on the medical record database at this clinic. EMR4DW provided a preloaded master laptop, a local connection router and cabling to make this happen.

Project Limon, Nicaragua

bass.stewart@onyxweb.co.uk (Bass Stewart) — Tue, 06 Oct 2015 00:00:00 GMT

...another FIMRC clinic

Past times at Project Limon, Nicaragua. Now they use EMR4DW medical records software, no-one needs to search endlessly to find one patient's records.

Bumwalukani Clinic Uganda

bass.stewart@onyxweb.co.uk (Bass Stewart) — Mon, 05 Oct 2015 00:00:00 GMT

...a clinic run by FIMRC

This is Helen from EMR4DW training Grace to use EMR4DW medical records on site at Bumwalukani Clinic, Uganda.

Our History

bass.stewart@onyxweb.co.uk (Bass Stewart) — Thu, 01 Oct 2015 00:00:00 GMT

...how our Medical Records System came about

In early 2012 Dr Peter Smith went to Uganda to volunteer in a remote rural clinic, Bumwalukani. He recognised that while what he was doing was helping, there was no record of his consultations and no way of analysing the incidence of any particular disease or complaint.
On return to Yorkshire, Peter met with Bass Stewart, who runs a Yorkshire-based IT business, and the collaboration to develop an Electronic Medical Records (EMR) System (The System) began.Goals for the System
To:
• improve the care of the individual and in particular to reduce child mortality in order to better target healthcare and education in the community by tracking disease prevalence and location.
• be easy to learn, robust and reliable, and expandable in terms both of capacity and functionality.
• run on inexpensive hardware that can be accessed by Windows, iOS and Android desktops, laptops and tablets
• be hosted in the Cloud for clinics with access to the internet

Peter and Bass knew they had an exciting product on their hands but realised that to maximise its success they would need further resources. So in late 2014 they formed a charity and invited six further Committee Members to join them, including another clinician with experience in Africa, Dr Bill Tams. Between them, the two clinicians have since spent over 6 months in Africa working in medical clinics and developing the system. All their travel and subsistence will continue to be self financed.
The charity’s objectives are:
“The relief of sickness and the preservation and protection of health by making available an electronic medical records system for use in the developing world and the provision of medicines and dressings to areas of need in the developing world.”
We now have 5 established clinics in Uganda ( 3 clinics ), Nicaragua and Costa Rica, with a site coming online in Kenya and recent enquiries from Ethiopia, India and Cambodia.In total there are over 19,000 patients on our sites. In these areas we have the ability to measure prevalence of over 80 diseases and, using our simple search facility, can detect geographical pockets of increased incidence of killer diseases such as diarrhoea and malaria and then focus scarce health care resources accordinglyWe ARE making a difference!