I N N O V A T E 7 2 0 1 2 40 F E A T U R E S The NDOH awarded the tender for the 3 535 project to a collaborative team comprising the Health Information Systems Programme (HISP), the Health Systems Trust (HST) and Continuing Education at University of Pretoria (CE at UP). The training programme involved 21 days of full-time training at the Hammanskraal service centre of the University of Pretoria for groups of approximately 140 learners at a time. The training covers computer literacy, health information systems, data management, as well as the District Health Information System (DHIS) and Electronic Tuberculosis Register (ETR.net) software. After completing their training, learners were transported back to their rural and urban health facilities to assist with data management, including data capturing, records management and any other administrative tasks relating to the monitoring and evaluation of health data at their facilities. This is done for the remainder of their one- year internship. Mobile post-training support As part of the agreement between the client and the service provider, post- training had to be provided. Initially this support was done telephonically and a share call facility was set up for this purpose. In addition, the service provider offered mobile post-training support as an ‘add on’ to the helpline support originally specified by the department. Mobile support was done via the Mobile Learning Engine (MLE). Linked to this was a targeted SMS service. For the project implementation, the MLE client was renamed MOBI and adapted by changing icons and adding functionality. The mobile support option was provided because South Africa has an extremely high mobile phone penetration (above 95%). MOBI offers trainees the opportunity to access the content that has been covered during the course, as well as frequently asked questions (FAQs), post questions, send messages to each other and create message groups. The current state of the project Due to a lack of funding, an estimated 900 students still need to be trained. During the past four years, the project has been monitored by the stakeholders, as well as researchers in the departments of Informatics and Information Science in the University’s School of Information Technology. Several areas of interest were identified and investigated. Telephonic vs mobile support The telephonic helpline came into effect in January 2009 and the last call was received in May 2010. The helpline was discontinued because of its underutilisation. The line was seldom accessed, despite the fact that it provides immediate gratification as opposed to the mobile platform where answers are provided asynchronously. Trainees seem to prefer the mobile environment because of the mobility of the support and fear of direct contact. When the trainees left their health facilities, they were just interns, but after a rigorous 21-day training programme, they returned as data capturing experts. The feedback received on the training course proved to be quite helpful in understanding their local situations. In a questionnaire completed by the delegates after their return to the workplace upon conclusion of the course, about 27% of the trainees mentioned problems with resources. This included access to computers, suitable software, fax machines, printing facilities, proper furniture and buildings. Another problem related to their managers or supervisors – either the lack of mentoring or the problems Mobile post-training support for data capturers in a health environment Machdel Matthee and Jacobus Liebenberg The Basic Routine Health Information System for Data Capturers (HISDC) Project was initiated by the National Department of Health (NDOH) in 2008 to address the need for data capturers to improve data quality in public health facilities in South Africa. The so-called 3 535 project aims to train 3 535 unemployed youths as data capturers over a period of three years. The HISDC Project also supports the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP), a government initiative aimed at drawing a significant number of unemployed people into productive work – in this instance, young matriculants.