Journal of Education and Health Promotion

Development an Electronic Oral Health Record application for educational dental setting

Document Type : Original Article

Author

. Imaneh Asgari

Department of Oral Public Health, Dental Material Research Center, School of Dentistry, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran

Abstract
AIM: Worldwide, the adoption of electronic patient recording system is increasing among many
parts of the health sectors.  Although paper‑based recording of patients’ information was a routine
in many departments of dental schools, easy destruction of collected information and the costs of
its conversion to electronic data, limited the availability of updated data at the department of dental
public health. This paper aimed to explain the project of designing a system for Electronic Oral Health
Recording (EOHR) in Isfahan dental school. The initial testing of system among dental students is
reported too.
METHODS: A situation analysis was conducted among the faculty members and dental students
dealing with the Department of Oral Public Health. The content of EOHR was developed based on
the WHO STEPwise model for chronic disease surveillance systems. The system was developed as
an application for smartphone and a web‑based database. The spiral model was applied in software
development which was accomplished by the object‑oriented programming method. After that, alpha
and beta testing were done in target population. Data were compiled during the interview and oral
examination by 40 dental students among 200 schoolchildren. It has been stored as a data bank
following the network connection.  The pitfalls of the system during its usage in dental public health
course were evaluated as well.
RESULTS: The baseline analysis of situation generally revealed a perception of need to change the
existing paper‑based recording system among the dental students and the academic members; it was
summarized in five areas as follows: benefits restrictions, structural barriers, perceived advantages
and feasibility. The application was designed and completed as six pages interface including
demographic and follow‑up page, socioeconomic status of family, oral health‑related behavior,
dental and gingival status, and quality of life. Drawbacks, such as nonresponded items, common
assumptions, student registration page on the mobile, and modification in the output Excel file for
analysis variables, have been resolved.
CONCLUSION: A  software application and web‑based database were designed regarding the
characteristics of Agile Unified Process development and educational dental setting. This system
should be improved and established gradually.

Keywords

Community dentistry
dental students
electronic health record oral health
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Journal of Education and Health Promotion
Volume 8, Issue 10
October 2018
Pages 1-7

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