Installing and Implementing a Computer-based Patient Record System in Sub-Saharan Africa: The Mosoriot Medical Record System

Abstract

The Institute of Medicine has declared electronic medical records to be an essential technology for health care1 and a necessary tool for improving patient safety2 and the quality of care.3 To date, comprehensive computer-based patient records that serve these functions are uncommonly used in developed countries,4 and are rare to nonexistent in the developing world. This gulf has been termed the digital divide5 and even technological apartheid6 where the simplest technology is not available to promote health care delivery, patient outcomes, and public health.