Dear DHIS2 Community,
We’re excited to introduce the Pre-Hospital Record Form App, a field-ready Android solution that will enhance emergency data collection, analysis, and decision-making. Co-designed with pre-hospital teams in conflict-affected areas, the app extends DHIS2 into frontline ambulance care. Responders, the primary users, manage cases from dispatch to handover, entering structured data that standardizes workflows, ensures critical steps aren’t missed, and improves care quality. The system also supports continuous improvement by revealing trends in response and outcomes. Cases can be initiated by dispatchers via the web or by responders on the Android app, with the web platform serving as the central data hub and analytics portal.
Background: The Pre-Hospital Data Problem
Pre-hospital care systems in many emergency and humanitarian settings face fragmented data collection, with inconsistent paper use, verbal reporting, and limited digital scalability. As a result, vital information on patient care, transport, and operations is often delayed or lost, undermining real-time decision-making, quality monitoring, operational planning, and reporting to partners and donors.
The Solution: Pre-Hospital Record Form App
To address this, we are building a secure, offline-first Android app that lets ambulance responders digitally record patient care and operational data from the field. The app is fully integrated with DHIS2, enabling a seamless flow of data from ambulance to dashboard, powering analytics, planning, and coordination.
[
Watch the demonstration video!]
Technical Architecture and Integration
The Pre-Hospital Record Form App is a fork of the DHIS2 Android Capture App v3.1 developed in Kotlin with Jetpack Compose to a contemporary UI. It is built with the DHIS2 Android SDK (offline data capture and synchronization), and the DataStore (under “AMBULANCE_ANDROID”) to enable dynamic app updates without re-building the app, and SceneView integration to enable rendering of a 3D human body model to enhance clinical documentation. The architecture will provide complete offline capability, centralized form control, secure data management, and an easy user interface- making it possible to do real-time documentation accurately even in remote locations.
Functional Modules
- Individual Response Form: detailed individual patient information, covering dispatch, care, transport, and handover.
- Mass Casualty Response Form (MCI): a streamlined version for capturing data on multiple patients in mass casualty incidents
Both forms feed directly into DHIS2 for visualization, analysis, and planning through standard dashboards, tables, and maps.
Real-World Impact, Users, and Deployment
The Pre-Hospital Record Form App willtransform field operations by replacing paper forms and manual Excel entry with real-time, digital data capture at the point of care. This shift will significantly reduce the administrative burden, eliminate delays in reporting, and improve visibility into case types, response trends, and staff workloads.
It integrates seamlessly with DHIS2 dashboards, enabling better planning and coordination. Primary users include responders using mobile devices, team leads monitoring workloads, MoH and service managers accessing metrics, hospital staff receiving structured handovers, and ICRC field officers and donors leveraging real-time insights.
The app is fully offline-capable, with secure, encrypted data storage and role-based access control. Planned pilot sites are Iraq, Myanmar and Somalia, it is built to scale from small teams to national deployments. Thanks to dynamic configuration via DataStore, updates can be made without rebuilding the app. Deployment requires Android devices (ideally one per ambulance), mobile device management for security, and minimal training typically completed in a few hours.
Join the Conversation
This tool represents a collaboration between DHIS2 technologies, field-based responders, and ICRC’s digital health team. We welcome interest from ministries of health, NGOs, and developers looking to extend DHIS2 into pre-hospital emergency systems.
Drop your questions and feedback below!
dac2025#DHIS2 #DigitalHealth #EmergencyCare #PreHospitalData #AndroidSDK #HealthInformatics #OpenSource #WorkflowInnovation #HumanitarianTech #OfflineApps #AmbulanceCare
Developed by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) with 
for the global DHIS2 community