RIDMI+

RIDMI+ bridges healthcare gaps with affordable RFID tags for portable medical records. Our decentralized solution ensures continuity of care, avoiding costly infrastructure needs.

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Inspiration

Our inspiration started with a vast disparity in healthcare services between low-income and higher-income countries like Singapore. We asked ourselves what was something that Singapore’s healthcare system had that lower-income countries did not. We quickly realised that Singapore is blessed to have an advanced centralised healthcare medical record system, which many low-income countries could not afford such an extensive database. In 2019, the average health expenditure per capita in low-income countries was approximately $286, compared to $4,353 in OECD countries, highlighting the stark resource disparity. (OECD iLibrary)

Even in low-income countries piloting electronic health systems, such as Nigeria, infrastructure limitations exist, such as poor internet access, information overload, power outages, and a lack of trained personnel to operate complex electronic health record systems. (BMJ Informatics) Inspired by these challenges, we aimed to design a solution tailored to the realities of these communities, ensuring continuity of care for patients and efficiency for healthcare providers.

Different healthcare record-keeping systems inspired us to create viable solutions, such as the child’s health booklet and the TraceTogether token used during COVID-19 in Singapore.

What it does

Our solution decentralises medical recordkeeping by empowering individuals to store their medical records in a portable, accessible format. Instead of relying on a centralised database, which can be costly and infrastructure-heavy, we use cheap and quickly acquired RFID tags (RIDMI+ Tag) —these tags act as digital health booklets, holding essential personal medical data.

The user can then bring their RIDMI+ Tag to an authorised medical professional, who can access and update these records. Regardless of which medical professional the patient goes to, the medical professional can access the patient’s records, ensuring continuity of care between different medical professionals.

As such, no significant investment in infrastructure, such as Wi-Fi or power infrastructure, is required to maintain the same effect of a central database.

How we built it

How it works

RIDMI+ Tags would contain the necessary personal medical information for each person. Patients simply bring their tags to the medical professional so that their medical professional can access the information.

We built an app for medical professionals that allows them to read and write data on their phones. The app would be connected via Bluetooth to an NFC scanner, and the medical records on the RIDMI+ Tag would be updated accordingly.

Standardisation

Standardising medical professionals' notes and history records was a significant issue. We provided input fields as a guideline for medical professionals. However, we acknowledge that medical professional notes can still be confusing and potentially misunderstood. Hence, we included a feature that whenever data is written onto the RIDMI+ Tag, contact information about the medical professional writing the data is tagged along so that future practitioners can contact the previous medical professional should they have any queries.

Losing the RIDMI+ Tag

Knowing that the RIDMI+ Tag can be easily lost in the day-to-day going about, we implemented a warranty-like feature into the app. After reading the information onto the medical professional’s phone, it would be kept for two years before being automatically deleted. This way, should a patient lose their RIDMI+ Tag, they can go to their last-seen medical professional, as long it is within two years, to obtain a new RIDMI+ Tag with their previous data written onto it.

The 2-year guarantee is reasonable, given that an OECD report stated that the annual number of medical professional consultations per person is less than one per person in Bangladesh and Cambodia, relatively lower-income countries. This also limits the data stored on the medical professional’s phone and reduces the exposure risk of data privacy issues.

Challenges we ran into

To address the constraints of operating in low-income countries, we leverage RIDMI+ Tags to lower the cost of a centralised database while ensuring seamless information transfer between medical professionals. However, patients still incur a fee to obtain a RIDMI+ Tag. To resolve this, we propose a network strategy similar to VISA: doctors will join the network and use terminals to read and write patient data. Each access incurs a small fee paid by the doctor, which funds the production of RIDMI+ Tags, effectively making the system free for patients. Doctors also benefit from cost savings by avoiding the need to re-triage patients they haven’t previously diagnosed. Additionally, they save time with faster access to digital patient records compared to handling paper documents for previously diagnosed cases.

A technical challenge we ran into was the lack of firmware documentation. While building the project, we encountered problems connecting the NFC scanner to the ESP32 as we could not read data on the RIDMI+ Tag into the computer. However, with a bit of perseverance, we were able to fix the issue at the FabLab. Another technical challenge was it was difficult to optimise data storage and transmission on the limited storage RIDMI+ tag and transmit over Bluetooth

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are proud of creating a solution that aligns with low-income countries' financial abilities. By decentralising medical recordkeeping, we address the gap in EHR adoption effectively, providing an alternative that bypasses the need for expensive infrastructure, such as internet capabilities and cloud databases. In addition, we also cater to the patient's financial needs by providing a cheap and affordable way to maintain their patient record.

We are also proud to build a solution that addresses the issues. For example, our solution does not require extensive infrastructure. Instead, it taps into simple existing tech solutions that can be quickly and easily implemented once the network is set up. Additionally, we can finance this free of charge for patients with a failsafe method in case they lose their tags.

Most importantly, this system bridges a critical gap in healthcare access, potentially saving lives by enabling faster and more efficient triaging.

What we learned

Not every problem requires radical new technology. Simple solutions are available; we must find new ways to implement current technologies to solve problems.

This project also reinforced the importance of designing empathetic and practical technology for underserved populations. Creating practical solutions for the context in which the solution is about to be deployed is essential to ensuring the product's viability in the real world. Lastly, decentralisation and spreading costs can be viable strategies for problems in a resource-constrained setting.

What's next for RIDMI+

Many low-income countries have multiple languages spoken. As such, we hope to develop the app further to translate different languages and dialects into the spoken language of medical professionals. The app would also use AI-powered natural language processing to standardise medical professional notes, making the records universally interpretable.

We then plan to pilot this system with NGOs, local healthcare providers and mission doctors. We aim to explore partnerships for mass production and distribution, ensuring the solution remains affordable for widespread adoption.

In the long term, we aim to refine the AI standardisation feature to cover more languages and medical terminologies and optimise the RFID tags for better durability. We also want to explore the use case of allowing patients to see doctors on a line of credit using the RFID tag as a ledger. This would enable patients to see a doctor during times of emergency without the fear of having to pay now.

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