​​​​​Developed by IHiS & Changi General Hospital

• ​App helps healthcare staff communicate with patients who speak in Chinese dialects.

• Has common Cantonese phrases for use in hospital wards. 

• ​Nurses tap the phrase in English, and app reads it out in Cantonese.
  

 

 

Communication is a vital part of the care process. But what happens if a patient is able to converse only in a single language? Nurses at CGH used to struggle with giving instructions to patients who speak only in vernacular Chinese languages, particularly the elderly who tend to communicate solely in Hokkien or Cantonese, but a mobile tool launched in July 2014 has helped them with this.

i-COMM (Integrated Healthcare Communicator) was jointly developed by CGH and IHiS as a proof of concept, with 100 Cantonese phrases specific to nursing included within, such as instructions on medication and nursing care advice.

This app has now been newly expanded to include Hokkien and Malay. In total, i-COMM has 500 phrases in Hokkien, Cantonese and Malay, while a range of multimedia options including audio output, pictorial aids and visual phonics guide will help nurses identify key words so as to facilitate their learning process.

 

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Managing the Tech Behind the App

Prior to the app development, IHiS’ Product Management & Delivery Group 3-Channels & CRM team worked closely with the CGH i-COMM team in three areas - Procurement, Business Analysis and Project Management. The teams collaborated to ensure that the app business and functional requirements were met and that the enhanced app was implemented smoothly.

Project lead Sekar Daya Anandkumar evaluated CGH’s business processes and worked closely with the appointed vendor Excelsoft to deliver the project. Excelsoft has supported in ensuring the flow of information and key stakeholders were aligned, and addressed arising concerns at different project stages in a timely manner.

Here’s a preview in some of the project’s tasks:

• Streamlining workflows for business and system
• Adopting best coding practices based on IHiS security standards
• Provided advice to the users regarding system design such as inclusion of modular platform to be considered for future add-on of more languages
• Ensure configurable solutions can be managed easily by admin users
• Together with Nursing team and staff from Office of Innovation, the
  considerations for UI and UX were enhanced with advice from IHiS

The app now comes with a content management system function so that more phrases can be uploaded in the future. The team also worked with the vendor to ensure feedback from users were implemented to enhance the app. Taggle has been appointed as an exclusive licensee for i-COMM app, and they facilitated to host and market the app on both Play Store and App Store, as well as provide regular technical support to maintain and update the app.