1.0.

Introduction
Information Technology (I.T) has over the years since its
inception, played major roles to help solve problems in our
society. Some of these aspects of our lives that have been
affected positively and negatively by I.T include the
educational sector, business, mining industry and the health
sector. Through I.T, software, computer networks and the
internet has helped us with the processing of data, storing
the results and disseminating it making it available to the
various sectors which need it to help them in their
development.
Information Technology has presented several opportunities for
improving the performance of health systems in developing
countries. This has been demonstrated in several projects in
developing countries across the globe. The availability of
affordable and easy to use systems and equipment has also
contributed to several initiatives aimed at improving the work
of health care providers.
Mankinds continued reliance on technology is driven by the
need to maximize efficiency and also make things as convenient
as possible. As a result, E-prescription has been a possible
technological option to help solve some of the problems that
are obviously or obliviously encountered directly by health
providers and indirectly by the health care consumers.

1.1 Subject and field of study

The field of study of this thesis is Information Technology
with emphasis on Health Informatics as the subject of study
which involves the development of applications either
standalone or client-server based to help in the critical
delivery of information to the right healthcare professionals
at the right time so that they can deliver the most
appropriate care.
1.2

Study objectives

1.2.1

Global (General) Objectives

The general objective of this thesis is to develop and

implement an application to be used by health care providers
in Ghana with a reliable means of prescribing drugs to
patients without the inconvenience of unavailability of drugs
and the elimination of patient-pharmacy location problems.
1.2.2

Specific objectives

Specifically, this thesis aims at helping to meet the need for

a software that will readily be available to health care
providers in Ghana in their routine of drug prescription at
consultations. To expatiate, the software:

Will provide the relevant details of all pharmacies

within the localities of their patients.

Will enable health care providers to know if particular

drugs are available at any preferred pharmacy that is

close to their patients.

Will enable health care providers to periodically poll
the pharmacies registered in the systems database, for
the drugs in stock so that they can make a reliable
prescription.

1.3

Background to Study

In Ghana, health care providers, particularly medical doctors

and pharmacists communicate routinely with papers on which
medications have been written on. This mechanism even though
not safe and reliable have been used for quite a long time and
is still in use in both government and private hospitals and
clinics in Ghana.
Even though still in use, paper prescription in Ghana, still
has some shortfalls which need to be addressed. Obviously,
paper is susceptible to natural resources like water and when
such a material is used to make a prescription, a patient may
accidentally lose it.
Sometimes after prescriptions have been made, patients have to
get the drugs from their preferred pharmacies. In times when
the pharmacies they have chosen do not have the drugs on their
prescription, they have to go back to their doctors to report
this unavailability .Consequently, the doctors are only
compelled to prescribe other medications that are of medicinal
3

equivalence to the previous ones. However, on the side of the

patient this is an inconvenience if he or she lives far from
the health care facility. On the other hand the doctors,
competence is somewhat submerged since he or she is compelled
to opt for another option because the initial medication was
not easily accessed by his or her patient.
In other cases, patients are directed by pharmacists to other
pharmacies if they do not have the prescribed medication. This
is also an inconvenience to patients especially in critical
times since they may have to roam about from one pharmacy to
the

other

with

inconveniences,

their

ailment.

patients

in

As

critical

result

conditions

of

these

have

lost

their lives and some have developed apathy towards hospital

and

pharmacy

medication.

Therefore,

In

order

to

alleviate

these inconveniences and support different growing application

and

encouragement

proposes
health

the

care

of

E-prescription

Development
providers

in

of

their

in

mobile

Ghana,

this project

application

prescription

to

routine.

help
One

crucial problem about delivering health information in Ghana

is the specific demography, and the availability of needed
infrastructure. The proposed system will exploit the advantage
of wireless technology and combine it with other communication
technologies

such

as

wide

band

radio

packet

satisfy different local and demographic requirements.

to

1.4

Scope of study

The

scope

of

this

project

is

to

develop

and

implement

customized mobile application which can manage different Eprescription

requirements

for

health

care

providers

either

doctors or pharmacists in Ghana to eliminate the inconvenience

of unavailability and location problems.
The related data can be transmitted via wireless communication
links. As a result, the system should be able to be employed
effectively if only the lowest bandwidth is available in any
area. To achieve this objective, the system will be provided
with options of mobile telephone both GSM and CDMA, and packet
radio.

Depending

determine the

on

mode

the

of

geographic

communication

location, a
that

user

suits his

can

or

her

requirement.

1.5

Justification of the study

The need for mobile applications development is very important

in our world today. Mobile applications system saves time and
makes data accessibility convenient and available remotely.
The awkward nature of the present system used by health care
providers

in

ailments

and

competent

Ghana

makes

sickness

mobile

life

and

problematic

demand

the

that

will

application

for

people

development
help

health

with
of

care

providers with their routine at consultations and subsequently

affect their patients positively to provide a better way of
5

reliably directing patients to trusted pharmacies to get their

medication.E-prescription has been confirmed as an effective
tool

for

delivering

populations

such

as

health
the

services

United

to

States

widely
of

distributed

America

and

the

United Kingdom.
1.6

Methodology

Since the software related to this project is a safety

critical system which has to do with the risk of human life,
the waterfall software development process model will be
employed. This is to ensure that every stage in the
development process has successfully been completed before
moving on to the other stage. Also since it is obvious that
the users of the software will not be fully available during
the development process, it is appropriate to use the
waterfall model rather than agile methodology which rather
focuses on development and people but not documenting.
1.7

Expected results of the study and possible use

At the end of the study, a mobile application that transmit

and receive electronic medication prescriptions to make the
ease of prescription for health care professionals and
medication comfortable and reliable for patients will be
developed and implemented.
1.8 Presentation of thesis
The project will be presented chronologically as follows:
6

Chapter 1: this chapter will cover the introduction

of the system development to be embarked upon, the
main subject matter of the project and the summary
of the entire project.

Chapter

2:

will

contain

the

literature

review

whereby a justification of the system development

will

be

made,

establish

the

importance

of

the

proposed system and provide a background to the

project.

Chapter 3: This chapter will deal with the

description of how other software of this nature
works, how they operate that is the components or
features of the system that is already used even if
it is manual, processes and or the procedures
involved. It will also include the systems context
diagram and the process or data flow diagrams. The
strengths or advantages and the weaknesses or
disadvantages of the system they use.

Chapter 4: It will deal with the analysis of the

project.

Functional

requirements
system,

the

benefits

requirements,

major
and

non-functional

features

of

the

proposed

advantages

of

the

proposed

system and the Context Diagram for the System.

7

Chapter 5: it will deal with the detailed design of

the proposed system.

Functional processes of the system
Algorithm and flowchart of the processes
Data flow diagrams
Data dictionary (database schemas, tables, ER diagrams
and use cases)

Chapter

6:

will

also

deal

with

the

system

implementation and testing. Description of both the

hardware

and

software

requirements

for

the

implementation of the proposed system.

Chapter 7: this chapter will deal with the system

documentation and user manual for the system.

Chapter: will be the final chapter; it will cover

up

the

conclusion

and

recommendation

for

the

includes

proposed project.

1.9 Study work plan

This project will be in two phases:

Phase

will

cover

Chapters

to

which

Preliminary search for information, literature review and

explanation of methodology used in the findings. It is

expected to be completed in December 2013.

Phase 2 will cover chapters 5 to 8 which includes the
analysis and detailed design of the system followed by
the

development

required

of

the

software

specifications

and

accompanied

user

manual

by
to

software.it is expected to be completed in May 2014.

the
the