How OLGNova Digital Tool is moving JEF medical outreach from paper records to digital ware

The Jennifer Etuh Foundation, JEF, is taking steps to modernise how medical outreach records are captured, stored and used, following the pilot deployment of a digital health application developed by OLGNova Limited.

The JEF Health Tracker was tested during JEF’s five-day free medical outreach in Ifewara, Osun State, held from July 13 to 17, where more than 3,000 patients received healthcare services and 9,601 medical interventions were recorded.

The digital initiative is coming after four years of collaboration between JEF and Pro-Health International, which has generated more than 30,000 patient records from medical outreaches across underserved communities in Nigeria.

For years, much of the information has been managed through paper patient cards, a system the Foundation says is becoming increasingly difficult to sustain as the volume of records grows.

Beyond the challenge of storing large quantities of paper records, the manual system can make it harder to retrieve patients’ medical histories, compile reports and analyse health trends over time.

The OLGNova-developed JEF Health Tracker is designed to address some of these challenges by giving healthcare teams quicker access to patient information while creating a digital record that can support continuity of care during subsequent medical outreaches.

At the Ifewara pilot, about 40 patient cards were assigned unique identification codes before the information was transferred into the digital platform. Selected patients were also followed through different stages of care, from registration and triage to consultation, laboratory investigations, treatment and pharmacy services.

The exercise enabled the OLGNova data team and Pro-Health International volunteers to compare the digital workflow with the existing paper-based process while maintaining patient care.

The Foundation is also progressively entering historical patient records into the new database as part of its broader transition to digital record management.

However, the pilot exposed some practical challenges, particularly unreliable internet connectivity in remote communities where many of the Foundation’s outreaches take place.

To address this, the team is considering improved offline functionality, mobile hotspot support and stronger data synchronisation to keep the platform reliable in areas with limited network coverage.

Other proposed improvements include automated patient identification codes, voice-assisted data entry and a one-click clinical summary that would allow healthcare workers to quickly review a patient’s previous encounters.

Interface adjustments are also being considered to make the application easier and faster to use during high-volume medical outreaches.

For JEF, the move is not simply about replacing paper with technology. It is also about making the information generated during medical outreaches more useful for planning future interventions and understanding the health needs of underserved communities.

With further improvements to the platform, the JEF Health Tracker could provide a more connected system for preserving patient records, measuring programme outcomes and identifying disease patterns across communities.

The Ifewara pilot therefore marks an early step in JEF’s transition towards a more data-driven approach to community healthcare, with OLGNova’s technology supporting the Foundation’s efforts to expand and improve its medical outreach programme.