Piloting new technologies with Aweza and UCT students

AwezaMed aims to improve understanding between healthcare practitioners and non-english speaking patients in South African clinics and hospitals by providing translations of a comprehensive range of questions, explanations and reassurances into various South African languages. Through a collaboration with the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, AwezaMed supports the synthesis of all text based translations into speech, allowing the app to “speak” to the patient.

In collaboration with the UCT Clinical Skills Centre and UCT SHAWCO Health, the user-testing saw groups of 2 medical students at a time simulating a maternity health consultation. The students alternated between the role of patient and doctor, pretending to only speak one of the 3 currently supported languages fluently.

The Aweza team observed the interactions in order to identify any usability and content issues that may have come up. The ultimate goal was to identify where improvements can be made and to ensure that the quality of the app remains a priority ahead of being used in upcoming clinical pilot sites.

Through this user-testing experience, the team obtained valuable information and feedback that will be instrumental in perfecting this solution, which will soon begin its pilot phase in various urban and rural clinics and hospitals across South Africa.

The organisers thank SHAWCO Health and Dr Rachel Weiss, Head of Clinical Skills.