Lifelong Learning of Civil Servants in COVID-19

Nowadays, a number of international developments in the economic, technological, social, and cultural fields make it necessary for more and more healthcare professionals to acquire a variety of knowledge and skills, adapted to the changes that take place, especially in information systems. To be able to meet the demands of our time, civil servants working in the field of health need to have a variety of interconnected qualifications on information systems, which must be renewed every now and then, especially due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This means that there is a need for continuing education, which will help to acquire knowledge, develop their skills, expand the prospects in the field of health information systems and at the same time will contribute to tackling the pandemic.

Accelerating implementation of District Health Information Systems: Perspectives from healthcare workers from KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Background: Although electronic health record systems are critical for healthcare management, there has been genuine concern about the quantity and quality of data generated by these systems inhibiting its full implementation.Objectives: The purpose of this article was to explore the experiences of healthcare workers (HCWs) and challenges facing the acceleration of the District Health Information System (DHIS) in the KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) province of South Africa.Methods: In this study, an interpretive research paradigm was followed to explore the current state of electronic health in South Africa from the experiences of HCWs in the KZN province. Semi-structured focus group interviews conducted with 20 participants drawn from the district office, clinical nurse practitioners and data capturers allowed thematic analysis of data using a systems approach to link the perspectives HCWs to the design of the DHIS.Results: The participants held the view that e-health is crucial for monitoring disease trends, policy development, planning and allocation of infrastructure, information technology (IT), financial and human resources. Nevertheless, the participants highlighted a concern surrounding e-health regulations, ethics and data confidentiality; data quality and lack of interoperability of Health Information Systems (HIS). This concern was attributed to data fragmentation, internal politics and lack of coordination of the data system.Conclusions: The study suggests that good quality data – from an integrated DHIS, is highly critical for the effective utilisation, implementation and acceleration of e-health systems in the province to support epidemiological surveillance and modelling of outbreaks, such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

State of the practice of health information systems: a survey study amongst health care professionals in intellectual disability care

Background Care for people with an Intellectual Disability (ID) is complex: multiple health care professionals are involved and use different Health Information Systems (HISs) to store medical and daily care information on the same individuals. The objective of this study is to identify the HISs needs of professionals in ID care by addressing the obstacles and challenges they meet in their current HISs. Methods We distributed an online questionnaire amongst Dutch ID care professionals via different professional associations and care providers. 328 respondents answered questions on their HISs. An inventory was made of HIS usage purposes, problems, satisfaction and desired features, with and without stratification on type of HIS and care professional. Results Typical in ID care, two types of HISs are being used that differ with respect to their features and users: Electronic Client Dossiers (ECDs) and Electronic Patient Dossiers (EPDs). In total, the respondents mentioned 52 unique HISs. Groups of care professionals differed in their satisfaction with ECDs only. Both HIS types present users with difficulties related to the specifics of care for people with an ID. Particularly the much needed communication between the many unique HISs was reported a major issue which implies major issues with inter-operability. Other problems seem design-related as well. Conclusion This study can be used to improve current HISs and design new HISs that take ID care professionals requirements into account.