Overview

Together with students from the University of Applied Sciences Munich and doctors from the LMU Clinic Munich, a challenge was set up this semester with the aim of improving medical care for newborns in Ethiopia. Ethiopia is one of the countries with the highest infant mortality rate in the world. In contrast to Germany (ranked at 0.3%), Ethiopia is holding a high-ranked place with 5.8% percent. This is due, for example, to the fact that in cities like Jimma, a city with 200,000 inhabitants, there is not a single neonatologist and one hospital complex is responsible for the care of an area with several million people.

Doctors at the LMU Clinic in Munich did not want to stand by and watch any longer. For 20 years, they have been travelling regularly to Ethiopia as part of the Jimma Neo project to train hospital staff in dealing with newborns. However, due to the corona pandemic, the trainings could no longer take place. Travel and contact restrictions prevented the German doctors from entering the country, but they did not want to give up the programme because of this.

Approach

Through a cooperation with the DTLab and students in the Computer Science course with focus “Software Engineering” at HM, they worked on a solution to let medical trainings take place online. Their goal was to create an e-learning platform that would help the doctors and nurses in Jimma to learn new knowledge about neonatology in a structured, flexible and fun way. The students worked in teams of three to design different features of the platform.

Method

During the challenge, the students received support from Amazon Web Services (AWS). AWS helped them to create and elaborate their "Big Idea" by giving them a free quota of credits and by introducing them to the working backwards strategy, which is also used at Amazon. This involved analysing the needs of the end customers and creating various artefacts, for example a storyboard and a fictional newspaper article detailing the end product.

Prototype

The user, a doctor or nurse, can log on to the platform and take tests with multiple-choice questions. All chapters are modular and structured across topics so that the user can follow a meaningful learning path. In addition to private learning functions, each user also has access to a community share function, which makes it possible to disseminate one's own knowledge in the form of videos, comments or academic essays and to network with one another. The positive effect that interactive work has on the learning process is called the "cross-learning" effect.

It was also important to the students that those involved help and motivate each other. One impetus for motivation here are, for example, the quizzes that users have to take in order to complete certain topics, and the avatars that they can equip more and more as the learning process progresses. This principle of "gamification" was very well received by the users, as it makes learning easier through play.

The education programme also emphasises the principle of "learning by doing". Therefore, it was important to add features that promote this principle. For example, German doctors can upload videos explaining how to use equipment or organise Zoom conferences for live tutorials.

Next steps

The next goal for the doctors in Germany is to hold a training in presence at Jimma University Specialised Hospital in 2022. Until then, the platform will help both sides keep the workshops going online.