23-05-2014, 03:24 PM
A Web-based blood donor management information system for the Red Cross Society, Uganda (WBBDMI)
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Abstract
The purpose of this study was to develop a blood management information system to assist
in the management of blood donor records and ease/or control the distribution of blood in
various parts of the country basing on the hospital demands. Without quick and timely
access to donor records, creating market strategies for blood donation, lobbying and
sensitization of blood donors becomes very difficult.
The blood management information system offers functionalities to quick access to donor
records collected from various parts of the country. It enables monitoring of the results and
performance of the blood donation activity such that relevant and measurable objectives of
the organization can be checked.
It provides to management timely, confidential and secure medical reports that facilitates
planning and decision making and hence improved medical service delivery. The reports
generated by the system give answers to most of the challenges management faces as far as
blood donor records are concerned.
INTRODUCTION
Background to the Study
Blood Donor Recruitment (BDR) is the process of drawing blood from a voluntary Blood
Donor (BD) for future blood transfusion, Wikipedia (2006). In Uganda, blood collection,
safety and management is an activity that is carried out by Uganda Red Cross Society
(URCS) in partnership with Uganda Blood Transfusion (UBTS). Founded in 1939, URCS is
part of the world wide Red Cross Humanitarian Movement whose mission is to mobilize the
power of humanity for improving the lives of the vulnerable in Uganda, Muller (2001).
URCS fulfills this mission while adhering to the principles of impartiality, neutrality,
independence, unity, universality and voluntary service for the Red Cross/Red Crescent
Movement. It operates throughout Uganda with 45 branch offices.
Besides providing
adequate supply of blood for transfusion, URCS is involved in the first aid services, road
safety, tracing, disaster mitigation/preparedness, mobilization for routine immunization,
HIV homecare, youth empowerment and Community based HealthCare (CBHC).
Web Based Management Information System
Accessing databases using a web browser as if accessing a normal database application
system can be a very significant advantage. Today’s database systems can be very
efficient in processing large amounts of data by using different type of sources. Any
information that can be defined by a relation can be fed into a database system, however
making information available on the Web requires accessing the database via a special
database algebra called SQL and by converting it to a markup language such as HTML or
XML (Weigang, 1999).
Firstly, to understand this system, it is important to understand the meaning of the Web
and how it can be integrated to a database. The WWW is a software environment based
on a computer network called Internet. It is officially described today as a “wide-area
hypermedia retrieval initiative aiming to give universal access to a large universe of
documents (Orchard, 1995) and has a variety of uses throughout the world. However, in
order to fully take advantage of these uses one must definitely be connected to the
Internet and must use some kind of software package (Web Browser) that understands
markup languages (i.e. hypertext, hypermedia)
Statement of the Problem
The BDR management system at URCS exhibited a lot of ineffectiveness and inefficiency
that had far fetched impact on the decisions taken by management. The system, which was
manual that is based on paper cards to collect blood donor data, keep records of blood
donors and disseminate results to BDs had weakness that needed IT based solutions. The
system was characterized by delays and sometimes failure to access historical records, errors
were witnessed in entry and manual analysis of results, secrecy and confidentiality of records
lacked because unauthorized persons could easily access the records.
Therefore,
management decisions such as blood distribution to hospitals, mobilization/sensitization of
blood donors were not taken basing on real facts. Under such a system, another challenge to
management was quick generation of reports pertaining to blood groups for the big number
blood donors in place. Indeed the application of IT-based solution in improving the system
was envisaged. Therefore, the existing system was reviewed and an effective/robust blood
donor management information system designed to assist management in implementing its
strategic plan in order to achieve the over all mission, goals and objectives.