The International Training and Education Center on Health

Global health training standard elevated with a powerful training management tool used in 24 countries

The International Training and Education Center for Health (I-TECH) is a collaboration between the University of Washington and the University of California, San Francisco. Its center is located in the University of Washington’s Department of Global Health. I-TECH has over 600 staff worldwide in Africa, Asia, South America, and the Caribbean who work to strengthen health systems and health workforce development, and support research, prevention, and treatment of infectious diseases.

Health informatics and health workforce development are integral to I-TECH’s work; I-TECH needed a tool to track training programs, trainers, and trainees in resource-limited settings around the globe. Fuse IQ was asked to develop this tool with two critical requirements:

  • Accessibility to any user with an Internet connection, even at dial-up speeds.
  • Design for ease of use for users with limited computer experience

The Results

The Training System Monitoring and Reporting Tool (TrainSMART), a web-based training-data collection system that helps users:

  • Accurately track data about training programs, trainers, and trainees
  • Better evaluate programs
  • Report activities to funders and stakeholders

Better Web

Fuse IQ built TrainSMART using our expertise in:

  • Usability studies
  • Information architecture development
  • Web design
  • Data modeling
  • Data entry and reporting analysis
  • Custom development

Better World

What does TrainSMART really mean?

For users: simple, intuitive data input interfaces that match the paper forms on which the data is often first recorded.

For program leaders: a permission-based web interface, which allows different user groups to see different facets of the website:

  • Administrators can configure user permissions
  • Data entry staff can enter data but not query the database
  • Managers can design and generate reports from the data
  • Funders or stakeholders can be granted a login to see a summary of activities or data

The TrainSMART application has been deployed in  24 countries with each implementation customized to meet local needs.

TrainSMART makes a difference in program funding and effectiveness: users save hours of time with customizable reports and they can easily share real-time data with funders.

Health informatics improvements like these are key to I-TECH’s vision: a world in which all people have access to high quality, compassionate, and equitable health care.

Contact Fuse IQ for a demonstration of this password protected application, or visit UW's DOGH informational site on TrainSMART.