QR Codes Allow Health Workers Access Vaccination Records

According to the World Health Organization, immunization helps prevent 2 to 3 million deaths annually. On top of this, a total of 1.5 million children have died from diseases that could have been prevented by vaccines.

This is the reason why a group of students and faculty has come up with a mobile app that would help standardize how vaccination records are kept, so that these would be easily accessible by health workers and doctors. In the end, the mobile app works to increase the number of children vaccinated in developing nations.

The group includes:

• Akshay Sharma, assistant professor of industrial design at the College of Architecture and Urban Studies
• Susan Wyche, assistant professor at the Michigan State University
• Peter Beegle, an industrial design student at the College of Architecture and Urban Studies
• Jonathan Ballands, a computer science major at the College of Architecture and Urban Studies

The app makes use of QR codes that are kept in a safe place like a toy. It could also be worn as a necklace. When a child comes in for immunization, a health worker scan the QR code and he or she will be able to access the child’s immunization records, including a photo of the child along with the vaccines that have been administered in the past. This makes it very easy to pull up vaccination records, but the system also allows searching by the patient’s identification number or name.

The mobile app actually replaces paper records, which could be more time consuming to maintain and retrieve.

The smartphone app has received the top awards at the Design for All Foundation, an international organization that helps promote equal opportunities for people to freely participate in social, cultural, economic and recreational activities by helping people of all ages, cultures, backgrounds, gender and capabilities participate in building the society that they live in.