Appreciating local variations in standardising health care data collection processes and tools: A case of health management information system in Tanzania

Background: An efficient health management information system (HMIS) improves health care delivery and outcomes. However, in most rural settings in Uganda, paper-based HMIS are widely used to monitor public health care services. Moreover, there are limited capabilities and capacity for quality HMIS in remote settings such as Kayunga district.Objectives: The quality assurance practices of HMIS in health centres (HCs) in Kayunga district were evaluated.Method: A cross-sectional descriptive study design was used to assess the quality of HMIS at 21 HCs in Kayunga district. Data were collected through in-depth interviews of HMIS focal persons as well as document analysis of HMIS records and guidelines between 15 June 2010 and 15 July 2010. The main outcomes were quality assurance practices, the HMIS programmatic challenges and opportunities. The practice of HMIS was assessed against a scale for good quality assurance practices. Qualitative data were coded and thematically analysed, whereas quantitative data were analysed by descriptive statistics using SPSS v22 software.Results: All the 21 HCs had manual paper-based HMIS. Less than 25% of HCs practised quality assurance measures during collection, compilation, analysis and dissemination of HMIS data. More than 50% of HCs were not practising any type of quality assurance during analysis and dissemination of data. The main challenges of the HMIS were the laborious and tedious manual system, the difficulty to archive and retrieve records, insufficient HMIS forms and difficulty in delivering hard copies of reports to relevant stakeholders influenced quality of data. Human resource challenges included understaffing where 43% of participating HCs did not have a designated HMIS staff.Conclusion: The HMIS quality assurance practices in Kayunga were suboptimal. Training and support supervision of HMIS focal persons is required to strengthen quality assurance of HMIS. Implementation of electronic HMIS dashboards with data quality checks should be integrated alongside the manual system.

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Knowledge and attitude of health workers toward data collection using the health management information system forms at the primary health care (PHC) centers in

Sahel Medical Journal ◽

10.4314/smj2.v11i4.12985 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 11 (4) ◽

Author(s):

OC Ekwueme ◽

DFE Nwagbo ◽

EA Nwobi

Keyword(s):

Health Care ◽

Information System ◽

Primary Health Care ◽

Management Information System ◽

Health Workers ◽

Health Management ◽

Health Management Information System ◽

Management Information ◽

Primary Health ◽

Knowledge And Attitude

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Data utilisation and factors influencing the performance of the health management information system in Tanzania

BMC Health Services Research ◽

10.1186/s12913-021-06559-1 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 21 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Leonard E. G. Mboera ◽

Susan F. Rumisha ◽

Doris Mbata ◽

Irene R. Mremi ◽

Emanuel P. Lyimo ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Health Care ◽

Information System ◽

Data Management ◽

Management Information System ◽

Health Management ◽

Health Care Facilities ◽

Health Management Information System ◽

Management Information ◽

Factors Influencing ◽

Care Facilities

Abstract Background Health Management Information System (HMIS) is a set of data regularly collected at health care facilities to meet the needs of statistics on health services. This study aimed to determine the utilisation of HMIS data and factors influencing the health system’s performance at the district and primary health care facility levels in Tanzania. Methods This cross-sectional study was carried out in 11 districts and involved 115 health care facilities in Tanzania. Data were collected using a semi-structured questionnaire administered to health workers at facility and district levels and documented using an observational checklist. Thematic content analysis approach was used to synthesise and triangulate the responses and observations to extract essential information. Results A total of 93 healthcare facility workers and 13 district officials were interviewed. About two-thirds (60%) of the facility respondents reported using the HMIS data, while only five out of 13 district respondents (38.5%) reported analysing HMIS data routinely. The HMIS data were mainly used for comparing performance in terms of services coverage (53%), monitoring of disease trends over time (50%), and providing evidence for community health education and promotion programmes (55%). The majority (41.4%) of the facility’s personnel had not received any training on data management related to HMIS during the past 12 months prior to the survey. Less than half (42%) of the health facilities had received supervisory visits from the district office 3 months before this assessment. Nine district respondents (69.2%) reported systematically receiving feedback on the quality of their reports monthly and quarterly from higher authorities. Patient load was described to affect staff performance on data collection and management frequently. Conclusion Inadequate analysis and poor data utilisation practices were common in most districts and health facilities in Tanzania. Inadequate human and financial resources, lack of incentives and supervision, and lack of standard operating procedures on data management were the significant challenges affecting the HMIS performance in Tanzania.

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Data Utilisation and Factors Influencing the Performance of the Health Management Information System in Tanzania

10.21203/rs.3.rs-150624/v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Leonard Mboera ◽

Susan Rumisha ◽

Doris Mbata ◽

Irene Mremi ◽

Emanuel Lyimo ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Health Care ◽

Information System ◽

Management Information System ◽

Health Management ◽

Health Care Facilities ◽

Health Facilities ◽

Health Management Information System ◽

Management Information ◽

Factors Influencing ◽

Care Facilities

Abstract Background: Health Management Information System (HMIS) is a set of data regularly collected at health care facilities, aimed to meet the needs of statistics on health services. This study aimed to determine the utilisation of HMIS data and factors influencing the performance of health system at the district and primary health care facility levels in Tanzania. Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out in 11 districts and involved 115 health care facilities in Tanzania. Data were collected using a standard questionnaire and an observational checklist. The collected data was cleaned, summarized into proportions and graphical presentation using STATA version 13 software. Results: This study involved 115 health facilities in 11 districts. A total of 93 health facility workers and 13 district officials were interviewed. About two-thirds (60%) of the facility respondents reported to use the HMIS data they collect. Data were mainly used for comparing performance in terms of services coverage (53%), monitoring of disease trends over time (50%), and providing evidence for community health education and promotion programme (55%). The majority (41.4%) of the facility’s personnel had not received any training on data management related to HMIS in the past 12 months. Only five out of 13 district respondents reported to routinely analyse HMIS data. Patient load was described to frequently affect staff performance on data collection and management. Less than half (42%) of the health facilities (HFs) had received supervisory visits from the district office. Nine district respondents reported to systematically receive feedback on the quality of their reports on monthly and quarterly bases from higher authorities. More than half (n=7) of district respondents reported that those responsible for HMIS activities are also responsible for other equally important activities. Conclusion: Poor data utilisation was common in most of the districts and health facilities in Tanzania. Inadequate human and financial resources, inadequate training, lack of supervision, and lack of standard operating procedures were the major challenges affecting the HMIS performance in Tanzania.

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