“In the Know” – Project Code Name: sphinx

I’ve been looking for a good project to jump on, and I think I have found it!……..actually I think Aliya found it :^/

So here’s the deal, Aliya has taken a strong interest in the AIDs epidemic.  She has done all kinds of research on the topic and even worked in Africa for a while with infected individuals.  Having said this, she has a new idea for how to help stop (or i should say SLOW) the rapid spread of HIV and AIDs, particularly in her own city of Washington, DC where the problem is out of control (highest rate in the nation if I’m not mistaken).

To address the issue, a new and innovative way of information disclosure must be developed.  Of course, when dealing with a sensitive topic such as HIV/AIDs privacy is the most valued thing, which must be leveraged from two different angles.  Once the concept of Aliya’s plan is explained, you will be able to see exactly what I mean.

The concept in its basic form is very simple.  Imagine this scenario:  A young lady meets a guy at a party and they hit it off.  After exchanging numbers, the two begin a seemingly substantive relationship, which is really going somewhere.  The guy is ready to take the relationship to the next level (let’s be real….it’s probably the guy that wants to take it there anyway)…..so he begins to bring up the topic.  The young lady has decided that it’s time that they move on to have a more intimate relationship, so she is now curious about the young man’s sexual history and if he’s been tested for HIV.

Pause…lol

So at this point the young lady is now trusting that A) the guy tells the truth about ALREADY being tested, B) the guy provides FACTUAL papers about being tested, or C) the guy tells the truth that he is GOING to get tested.  (After C….please see point B again…lol)

Now…lol

The program that Aliya is proposing hopes to provide a little more assurance as to a person’s HIV testing status….and also give information around when it was conducted and when it expires.   Because of the nature of this concept, I’ve dubbed the concept “In the Know”……which of course could change because Aliya hasn’t co-signed at all on that, as a matter of fact she’s probably just reading this as you are

The Program…

So here is how it works…..Aliya please correct me if I’m wrong and I’ll update the post.  Upon going to the doctor’s office/clinic and receiving your HIV testing the doctor will ask if you’d like your testing status posted on “In the Know” (from now on i’ll use ITK for the program).  Of course the patient has the option of posting or not posting the status, however you will see later how not posting your status could be a hindrance in your personal life .  If a person elects to post their testing status on ITK, they will be mailed or sent a special ID in some some secure fashion.  The patient can then go to the ITK website and enter their ID.  With a valid ID, and in the event that the test returns NEGATIVE results (you do not have HIV), the patient can see his/her name, testing date, expiration date, status (positive or negative), and any other relevant information.  The site choses to disclose names and other information for valid IDs ONLY if results are negative and the patient has agreed to enter the database.

Women all over DC could potentially begin to ask men for their IDs before sleeping with them…..which could make a huge impact on who is “getting with” who.

Loopholes….

So now it’s time to address any possible loopholes in this program that may seem to be workarounds.  Right now I can’t really see them except for application security…

**I’ll add any loopholes as I find them….and as YOU find them***

So from all of this, of course i begin thinking about how to implement it, thus :^)…..the idea of sphinx is now born.  This clearly is a web application that at this point has only basic CRUD (create, retrieve, update, delete) functionality.  The web app will need a secure administration portion in order to restrict the ability to insert or create records or make any modification.  The web app will need to provide the ability to search by ID and retrieve/display records for that id.  I assume in a real world situation mobile or PDA support for the application can be very helpful as healthcare professionals are using these devices for work more and more.

The whole concept is in its incubator stages, but I think it’s an excellent starting point.  Let me know what you all think….moreso on the whole idea right now than the technology.