WhatsApp Mobile Health Platform to Support Fracture Management by Non-Specialists in South Africa

Background Traumatic fractures are common in sub-Saharan Africa, a region with a shortfall of orthopaedic surgeons, and can result in morbidity if not managed appropriately. WhatsApp is an encrypted smartphone application and ubiquitous in sub-Saharan Africa. The objective of this study was to assess the use of WhatsApp as a mobile health platform to support fracture management by non-orthopaedic surgeons in Cape Town, South Africa. Study Design A WhatsApp orthopaedic referral group was created between non-orthopaedic doctors from community health clinics and the orthopaedic team from a first-level hospital to manage traumatic fractures. Non-orthopaedic doctors posted cases on the orthopaedic referral group and the orthopaedic team provided advice. Traumatic fracture data from January 1 to June 30, 2018 were analyzed and outcomes included response time, management advice, and treatment by facility level. Results Seventy-two non-orthopaedic doctors posted 731 cases of traumatic fractures to the 5-member orthopaedic team. Six hundred and sixty-one (90%) cases were responded to within 1 hour. Three hundred and fifty-four (48%) patients were treated successfully by non-orthopaedic doctors at community health clinics, 288 (39%) were treated by the orthopaedic team at the first-level hospital, and 89 (12%) were referred directly to an orthopaedic subspecialist at a third-level hospital. Conclusions The WhatsApp orthopaedic referral group provided a free telementoring platform for non-orthopaedic doctors to successfully manage traumatic fracture cases at community health clinics. This type of mobile health platform can be applicable to other resource-limited settings if disease burden is high and specialists are scarce.