Assessment of Health Management Information System in Harari Regional State
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Date
2010-06
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
Background: an organization succeeds by bringing together and managing resources in a productive way. Health information has been variously described as the “foundation” for better health, as the “glue” holding the health system together, and as the “oil” keeping the health system running. There is a big concern for the improvement of the health care services delivery system, which is widely seen to be attributed to the shortcomings of health management information system in the developing countries; where World Health Organization calls for reform.
Objective of the research: To asses the current status of health management information system implementation in Harari Regional Health Bureau and suggest possible solutions for improvement.
Methodology: The numbers of health facilities participated in the study were 2 hospitals and 5 health centers. A cross – sectional study was used to generate data from these health facilities in Harari Regional Health Bureau. Self administered structured questionnaire and in-depth interview with administrative units and service providers were conducted for quantitative and qualitative data collection respectively. Physical observation was also made by the investigator to supplement the qualitative findings.
Result: The sex distribution of participants working in the study units showed that 121 (44.8%) were males while 149 (55.2%) were females. Out of 270 respondents 179 (66.3%) answered that there was no regular training given about the new health management information system but 55 (20.4%) of them reported that there was regular training given to the staff’s. The remaining 36 (13.3%) didn’t know whether training was given to the staff or not. Regarding utilization of information generated from the facility at the unit/department level, 60 (22.2%) of them reported that they were using the information, whereas 202 (74.4%) of them were not utilized the information at all. Other 8 (3%) of them didn’t know whether the information was utilized or not.
Conclusion: from this study it can be concluded that the utilization level of health management information system in health facilities under the study was far below the standard expectations. It is recommended from this study that assignment of adequate staff, given on job training, and given periodic feedback to improve the HMIS of the studied facilities.
Key words: HMIS, HIS, data quality, utilization of health information system
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Keywords
HMIS, HIS, data quality, utilization of health information system