An automated index of traditional medicines for Eastern districts of Uganda

Abstract

The purpose of this project was to design and develop An Automated Index of Traditional Medicines for Eastern Districts of Uganda. The objectives of the study were; find out the types of indigenous medicines, examine the system used in retrieval of information on Traditional Medicines, establish the challenges of retrieving information on Traditional Medicines, determine the requirements necessary for designing and developing An Automated Index of Traditional Medicines, Design and develop An Automated Index of Traditional Medicines for Eastern Districts of Uganda The study employed a case study research design while adopting a qualitative approach in data collection. The researchers purposively selected 42 respondents to participate in the study. Interview, observation, and document review methods were data collection methods used to collect data from the field. The system is characterized by a lot of paper work where forms are used to record the details of the patient ailments. The system uses registers, counter books and forms in the registration of the traditional medicines. The retrieval of information about traditional medicines is tiresome, time wasting and needs much effort to accomplish the tasks. There is a lot of time wasted in retrieving the information which may be needed by the patients. Traditional medicines details are captured using counter books and the forms. The counter books and forms used to register the traditional medicines are prone to misplacement, loss and insecurity of the information. The major challenge with the current storage and retrieval system is the slow retrieval of information which is time wasting. This is because it is difficult to retrieve the files and the folders from the shelves, cabinets and boxes. The challenges were; lack of immediate retrievals, lack of immediate information storage, lack of prompt updating among others. The user requirements for the new system were; a user friendly interface, easy to search the medicines information, compatibility with the available computers, security for the information and cheap in terms of setup and maintenance