Table 1 and Table 2 below provide a summary of the descriptive statistics of the research participants.
Table 1: Descriptive statistics for Doctors and Nurses of the 10 hospitals
|
|
|
|
Categories |
Characteristics
|
Doctors
|
Nurses
|
Frequency (%)
|
Frequency (%)
|
|
Gender Male
|
Female
|
15 (75.0) 5 (25.0)
|
3 (15.0)
17 (85.0)
|
|
|
Age (yrs.)
|
21-29
30-39
40-49
≥50
|
3 (15.0)
7 (35.0)
5 (25.0)
5 (25.0)
|
6 (30.0)
12 (60.0)
2 (10.0)
-
|
|
|
Status
|
Physician
Junior Medical Doctor
|
7 (35.0)
13 (65.0)
|
-
-
|
|
|
Department
|
Medicine
|
10 (50.0)
|
8 (40.0)
|
|
|
Obstetrics/Gynaecology
Anaesthesia
Surgery
Dental
Public Health Unit
Outpatient
|
- 2 (10.0) 1 (5.0)
- 3 (15.0)
2 (10.0)
-
1 (5.0)
|
-
-
3 (15.0)
-
1 (5.0)
6 (30.0)
|
|
|
Accident and Emergency
|
1 (5.0)
|
2 (10.0)
|
|
Source: Field Data 2020.
Table 2: Descriptive Statistics for Administrative and Health Information Professionals
|
|
Categories |
Characteristics
|
|
Administration
|
Health Information
|
Frequency (%)
|
Frequency (%)
|
Gender Male
|
Female
|
9 (45.0)
11 (55.0)
|
17 (85.0) 3 (15.0)
|
Age (yrs.)
|
21-29
30-39
40-49
≥50
|
3 (15.0)
13 (65.0)
3(15.0)
1 (5.0)
|
3 (15.0)
11 (55.0)
6 (30.0)
-
|
Status
|
Manager
Staff/Officer
|
9 (45.0)
11 (55.0)
|
6 (30.0)
14 (70.0)
|
Source: Field Data 2020
4.1 Perceptions of health staff in Health Information System
The study aimed to ascertain the perspectives of users regarding the HIS in various aspects, such as:
- the user-friendly nature of HIS work functions,
- contentment with the functionality of the present HIS system (including storage, processing, security, time-saving and confidentiality),
- precision and comprehensiveness of HIS data,
- and the perceived advantages and utility of the HIS system for the hospital.
The analysis was conducted utilizing seven (7) thematic inquiries. Elaborate findings are presented in Table 3 below.
Table 3: Summary of descriptive statistics of Health Information System exposure
Health Information System Exposure
|
Response (%)
|
|
Yes
|
No
|
Both
|
The application of an ICT system for the collection and recording of patient health information
|
80 (100.0)
|
-
|
-
|
Basic ICT infrastructure to ensure the rapid compilation of data at the hospital.
|
80 (100.0)
|
-
|
-
|
Satisfactory about ensuring patient confidentiality.
|
59 (73.8)
|
21 (26.2)
|
-
|
HIS system provides accurate and complete information
|
53 (66.3)
|
26 (32.5)
|
1 (1.2)
|
Perceived secure nature of HIS system
|
71 (88.8)
|
9 (11.2)
|
-
|
The HIS system's quality and efficacy in facilitating ease of use
|
66 (82.5)
|
14 (17.5)
|
-
|
HIS system is advantageous to the hospital
|
80 (100.0)
|
-
|
-
|
Source: Field Data 2020.
4.1.1 Theme Question 1: Do you utilize an Information and Communication Technology (ICT) system or application to gather and document health information about patients?
Healthcare practitioners, comprising doctors, nurses, and professionals specializing in health information and administration, were subjected to a survey regarding their utilization of rudimentary information and communication technology (ICT) systems during their routine activities at work. As elucidated in Table 3, all healthcare professionals (100%) who partook in the survey stated that they use such systems. This finding connotes that this personnel have had some form of exposure to information technology while functioning in their designated workplace.
4.1.2 Theme Question 2: Does the hospital possess fundamental Information and Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure such as computers, telephones and internet connectivity to facilitate swift data collection?
All of the respondents (100%) confirmed that the healthcare institutions they are affiliated with possess an Information and Communications Technology (ICT) system and relevant applications to acquire and document patient health data. Furthermore, the participants also expressed that their respective hospitals possess fundamental ICT infrastructure, including computers, telephones, and Internet connectivity, to expedite the compilation of data (refer to Table 3).
4.1.3 Theme Question 3: Are you content with the present storage, processing, security, time efficiency, and confidentiality offered by the health information system?
The present study found that a significant proportion of the respondents, specifically 73.8% of the sample (n = 59), expressed contentment with the existing storage, processing, security, time efficiency, and confidentiality features offered by the health information systems. Conversely, a minority of 26.2% held dissenting views on this matter.
4.1.4 Theme Question 4: Do you hold the opinion that how patient health information is documented facilitates the provision of precise and comprehensive information?
A considerable proportion of the participants (n = 53, % = 66.3) expressed their belief that the method of documenting patients' health data furnishes precise and comprehensive information. Although one individual (1% = 1.2) gave a conflicting response, indicating both agreement and disagreement, a notable contingent of 26 respondents (32.5%) accentuated that the means of recording patients' health information fails to deliver accurate and complete data.
4.1.5 Theme Question 5: Do you hold the perception that the information stored on your Health Information System (HIS) is sufficiently secure?
Concerning the Health Information System (HIS) in use, 88.8% of the participants (n=71) attested to the security of their stored information. Conversely, 11.2% (n=9) expressed reservations about the system's security. Consequently, it is deducible that the majority of the respondents have confidence in the secure nature of their facility's HIS system.
4.1.6 Theme Question 6: Do you deem the quality and configuration employed for disseminating information among healthcare practitioners to be efficacious and user-friendly?
A majority of the participants (82.5%) expressed that the quality and format employed for disseminating information amongst healthcare practitioners was efficacious and user-friendly, with the remaining 17.5% holding a different viewpoint.
4.1.7 Theme Question 7: Do you consider the implementation of an electronic system designed for recording, sharing, storing, and transferring patient health information to be advantageous and valuable to the hospital?
All participants, constituting 100%, expressed their indication that the Health Information System (HIS) implemented in their respective health facilities is both advantageous and practical in terms of recording, sharing, storing, and transferring patient health information, as presented in Table 3.
4.2 Assessment of Health Information System Features
To evaluate the characteristics of the Health Information System (HIS) implemented by healthcare facilities, it is imperative to recognize that the HIS is an interactive system consisting of both technological and human resources, as per the Actor-Network Theory. The most suitable approach to assess these characteristics is through the perspective of human resources, specifically the healthcare workers who utilize the technology. Consequently, the healthcare workers were tasked with scrutinizing the HIS features alongside nine thematic categories which include relevance, timeliness, accuracy, availability, accessibility, confidentiality, observability, compatibility, and interoperability.
The respondents were requested to rate these characteristics on a five-point scale ranging from 1 (very good), 2 (good), 3 (satisfactory), 4 (unsatisfactory), to 5 (poor). The outcomes of the respondents' feedback regarding these features, in alignment with the response scale, are presented in Table 4 below.
Table 4: Summary of Descriptive Analysis of Health Professionals’ Perception of the Features of Their Health Information System
Features
|
Very Good
|
Good
|
Satisfactory
|
Unsatisfactory
|
Poor
|
Relevance
|
28 (35.0)
|
34 (42.5)
|
17 (21.3)
|
1 (1.2)
|
-
|
Timeliness
|
17 (21.3)
|
33 (41.5)
|
24 (30.0)
|
3 (3.6)
|
3 (3.6)
|
Accuracy
|
17 (21.3)
|
36 (45.0)
|
19 (23.7)
|
4 (5.0)
|
4 (5.0)
|
Availability
|
20 (25.0)
|
31 (38.8)
|
24 (30.0)
|
5 (6.2)
|
-
|
Accessibility
|
22 (27.4)
|
33 (41.5)
|
18 (22.4)
|
6 (7.5)
|
1 (1.2)
|
Confidentiality
|
25 (31.3)
|
29 (36.3)
|
14 (17.5)
|
9 (11.3)
|
3 (3.6)
|
Observability
|
46 (57.5)
|
24 (30.0)
|
9 (11.3)
|
1 (1.2)
|
-
|
Compatibility
|
40 (50.0)
|
30 (37.7)
|
5 (6.2)
|
2 (2.5)
|
3 (3.6)
|
Interoperability
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
80(100)
|
Source: Field Data 2020.
Analysis of the characteristics presented in Table 4 has revealed that the majority of respondents, specifically 42.5%, perceived their health information system Relevance to be good, with 35% of the participants describing it as very good, while only one individual deemed it unsatisfactory. Concerning Timeliness, 41.5% regarded the system as good, whereas three participants assessed it as poor and unsatisfactory, respectively. Regarding Accuracy, 45% of the respondents indicated good quality, while three participants each deemed it unsatisfactory and poor. However, most respondents, specifically 38.8%, perceived the HIS system’s Availability to be good. In terms of Accessibility, 41.5% of the participants regarded the HIS as good, and 36.3% of them emphasized that the system offers good Confidentiality. An evaluation of the HIS's Observability, most health workers, specifically 57.5%, deemed it to be very good. Furthermore, 50% of the health workers indicated that the HIS’s Compatibility was very good, while 100% stated that the current HIS is poor regarding Interoperability.
4.3 Assessment of Health Information System Functions
The present study aimed to analyze the roles played by the health information system as implemented by various health facilities. The functions of the health information system were thoroughly scrutinised across five distinct themes encompassing data acquisition, transfer, processing, storage, and retrieval. To gauge the efficacy of the aforementioned characteristics, the respondents were asked to rate them on a 5-point scale ranging from 1 (very good) to 5 (poor). The results of this assessment are summarised in Table 5 presented below.
Table 5: Summary of descriptive analysis on the perception of health professionals on the functioning of their Health Information System
Functions
|
Very Good
|
Good
|
Satisfactory
|
Unsatisfactory
|
Poor
|
Data Collection
|
24 (30.0)
|
44 (55.0)
|
8 (10.0)
|
3 (3.8)
|
1 (1.2)
|
Data Transmission
|
15 (18.8)
|
39 (48.8)
|
19 (23.7)
|
5 (6.2)
|
2 (2.5)
|
Data Processing
|
11(13.7)
|
39 (48.8)
|
24 (30.0)
|
4 (5.0)
|
2 (2.5)
|
Data Storage
|
27 (33.7)
|
28 (35.0)
|
16 (20.0)
|
7 (8.8)
|
2 (2.5)
|
Information Retrieval
|
20 (25.0)
|
27 (33.8)
|
17 (21.2)
|
12 (15.0)
|
4 (5.0)
|
Source: Field data 2020.
A higher proportion of the respondents (55%) reported that the function of data collection in their health information system is commendable, while only 5% regarded it as unsatisfactory and inadequate. The data transmission function of the health information system was perceived as commendable by 48.8% of the respondents, with 18.8% perceiving it to be exceptional, whereas 8.8% perceived it as unsatisfactory and inadequate. Most respondents rated the data processing of their health information system as exceptional and commendable, while only 7.5% perceived it to be unsatisfactory and inadequate. Furthermore, 68.8% emphasized that data storage in their health information system was exceptional and commendable, although 11.3% perceived it as unsatisfactory and inadequate. The majority rated the information retrieval aspect of the health information system as exceptional and commendable, while 20% indicated that it is unsatisfactory and inadequate.