gms | German Medical Science

Research question: Digital technology has transformed societies worldwide over the past three decades. Digital health interventions especially have been shown to greatly improve the provision of healthcare globally. Notwithstanding their benefits, numerous digital health interventions are not efficiently implemented and or spread slowly thus affecting their usefulness. Surveillance Outbreak Response Management and Analysis System (SORMAS) is a digital health tool that allows for comprehensive disease surveillance and outbreak management on one platform. The tool has been used for COVID-19 management in Ghana. This study aims to assess the maturity of SORMAS in Ghana, factors that facilitated or inhibited its adoption and investigate factors that will ensure its sustainable implementation and integration into existing health systems. The study will also assess the impact SORMAS has had on surveillance and outbreak response in Ghana since its adoption.

Methodology: This study will use a qualitative approach. Study participants will be SORMAS stakeholders and users at all healthcare levels including field epidemiologists, surveillance officers, health information officers and laboratory personnel. Qualitative data will be collected through in-depth interviews to answer the research questions. Data will be transcribed and analyzed using Atlas.ti. The Global Good Maturity Model (GGMM) will be used to assess tool maturity and the CDC framework for evaluating surveillance systems will be used to assess the impact of the tool. Factors that affected adoption will be grouped into predisposing factors, needs and enabling resources. Data will be analysed according to the mHealth Assessment and Planning for Scale (MAPS) toolkit to determine the level of implementation of the tool in Ghana and identify measures to ensure sustainability. Ethical approval for the research will be sought from the Committee of Human Research and Publication Ethics (CHRPE), KNUST, Kumasi and the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Ghana. Informed consent will be obtained from each participant before enrollment.

Expected results: The study will identify the weaknesses of SORMAS in Ghana that need improvement and provide an overview of the impact of SORMAS on disease surveillance and outbreak response in Ghana. The study will also provide lessons for other countries on facilitators of and barriers to the adoption of SORMAS and discover practical factors that will facilitate its sustainable adoption and implementation into existing health systems.