Impact of Health Information Management on Healthcare Delivery
Chapter One
OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
The general objective of the study is to Determine the Impact of Health Information Management in Healthcare Delivery.
The followings are the specific objectives that guided this research. They include:
- To Determine the Impact of Health Information Management in Healthcare Delivery.
- To Find out if Health Information Management is limited to Card issuing or Registration and Documentation.
- To Find out the Consequences of not Documenting and Keeping Health Record Properly in health care delivery system.
- To Find out the Roles and Responsibility of Health Information Management Professionals in the Development and Maintenance of Health Record System.
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
INTRODUCTION
Our focus in this chapter is to critically examine relevant literature that would assist in explaining the research problem and furthermore recognize the efforts of scholars who had previously contributed immensely to similar research. The chapter intends to deepen the understanding of the study and close the perceived gaps.
HEALTH INFORMATION SYSTEMS AND THEIR CONTRIBUTIONS TO SUSTAINABLE HEALTHCARE SERVICE DELIVERY
There are basically three types of people who involved in healthcare delivery: Medical professionals, Administrative staff and the patients as identified by and it is from the three categories that the different types of healthcare information systems are driven from. The different types of healthcare information systems types contribute to healthcare delivery in different capacities. According to, there are essentially two types of information used in clinical informatics: Patient specific and knowledge based. In this paper, the researchers decided to classify the healthcare information systems according to usage. The researchers explore each class of information systems and then elaborate its contribution to the improvement of healthcare delivery. The existing body of literature indicates that the most common clinical applications in healthcare include Electronic patient record systems, laboratory information systems, knowledge-based systems, pharmacy and electronic prescription systems, bioinformatics and radiology information systems. All these applications affect the ways by which health care providers deliver care to or communicate with patients, and they all confront the almost equally same barriers impeding their widespread adoption and practical use. points out that health information systems purposefully contribute to high-quality, efficient patient care, however further highlighted that there are several factors that influence the quality of healthcare delivery like health worker motivation, quality of training received, efficiency of healthcare facilities and effectiveness of monitoring of immunisation activities .In this regard we can conclusively say of healthcare delivery does not solely depend on information systems and therefore information communication technology is a support activity in healthcare delivery. The major concern of business executive alignment applying information technology in an appropriate and timely way and in harmony with business strategies, goals and needs The information systems pyramid is the common way of classifying information systems therefore the ICT applications highlighted by the researchers above fall into the three general types of information systems: operational, tactical and strategic information systems. For the purpose of this research, it is important to note that clinical and administrative health information systems will regarded as the core of an integrated hospital clinical information system. Hospital information systems are just an instance of health information systems, in which a hospital is the healthcare environment as well as healthcare institution. The core application using patient specific information is the electronic medical records (EMR). The paper based medical record has its tradition and virtues however the researcher identified the weaknesses and strengths of manual systems including incompleteness, difficult to access, insecure from unauthorized users and data redundancy. According to the World Health Organisation, electronic patient information systems have the potential to improve health by giving health professionals improved information about their patients. They can also improve the quality of healthcare and help control costs through improved efficiency. The literature reviewed by the researcher shows that the benefits of the electronic medical records are vast including the reduction of operational errors, improvement in critical clinical decision making through the use of decision support systems during patient encounters, and universal access to interactive healthcare information in real time mode From a tactical and strategic perspective, health care providers may implement such systems in order to improve the overall quality of healthcare and consequently stay competitive. Since these healthcare information systems are used and applied at different levels, it means they are also viewed and understood from different angles. From a policy and policy maker perspective, the electronic medical record provides good opportunities for integrating patient information thereby improving the efficiency and quality of care without the limitations of the range of patient population Whilst electronic health record systems promises a number of considerable benefits to the systems users and service benefiaries, it is important to note that undesirable consequences from the implementation mayemerge. Such undesirable poor electronic health record system design and improper use may result in electronic health record related errors that consequently jeopardize the integrity of all the information, thereby endangering patient safety and decrease the quality of care. These undesirable consequences also may increase serious fraud and abuse and therefore serious legal implications on the healthcare provider and the patients. As highlighted at the beginning of this research, health delivery process is data and information intensive, therefore computer systems are used to carry out some of the voluminousclinical data processing. This complexity has facilitated the introduction of robotics in healthcare. Robotics in healthcare are being used to perform complex tasks and operation like surgery. The advantage of such systems include shorter recovery times and more reliable outcomes in some healthcare delivery procedures. According to Intuitive Surgical, Inc, it is beneficial to invest in robotics. Robotics offer the promise of sustainable and highly affordable healthcare services provision without compromising quality of care. Considering the valuable contribution of robotics in terms of health, societal and economic benefits is the technology to consider especially in environments where healthcare professionals are scarce. Health Telematics systems are another type of information system. Telematics is theelectronic transfer of complex data from one place to another. Usually the data is video or multimedia. Therefore tele conferencing (having conferences by video link) is a type of telematics. The Department of Health in Leeds has several such suites to allow people to hold meetings between Leeds and London.A common method nowadays is to use Web based technolog Administrative health care systems are used at administrative level, they are a collection of clinical information systems for administration purposes. They extract information from clinical systems and use it to manage daily activities, such as staff attendance register, scheduling appointments and billing patients for the services rendered. Decision support systems use given variables to that maybe extracted from other systems to make a decision basing on identified trends, analyze costs, or solve problem areas in operations.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
INTRODUCTION
In this chapter, we described the research procedure for this study. A research methodology is a research process adopted or employed to systematically and scientifically present the results of a study to the research audience viz. a vis, the study beneficiaries.
RESEARCH DESIGN
Research designs are perceived to be an overall strategy adopted by the researcher whereby different components of the study are integrated in a logical manner to effectively address a research problem. In this study, the researcher employed the survey research design. This is due to the nature of the study whereby the opinion and views of people are sampled. According to Singleton & Straits, (2009), Survey research can use quantitative research strategies (e.g., using questionnaires with numerically rated items), qualitative research strategies (e.g., using open-ended questions), or both strategies (i.e., mixed methods). As it is often used to describe and explore human behaviour, surveys are therefore frequently used in social and psychological research.
POPULATION OF THE STUDY
According to Udoyen (2019), a study population is a group of elements or individuals as the case may be, who share similar characteristics. These similar features can include location, gender, age, sex or specific interest. The emphasis on study population is that it constitutes of individuals or elements that are homogeneous in description.
This study was carried to examine impact of health information management in health care delivery. University of Benin Teaching Hospital, Benin, Edo – State forms the population of the study.
CHAPTER FOUR
DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS
INTRODUCTION
This chapter presents the analysis of data derived through the questionnaire and key informant interview administered on the respondents in the study area. The analysis and interpretation were derived from the findings of the study. The data analysis depicts the simple frequency and percentage of the respondents as well as interpretation of the information gathered. A total of eighty (80) questionnaires were administered to respondents of which only seventy-seven (77) were returned and validated. This was due to irregular, incomplete and inappropriate responses to some questionnaire. For this study a total of 77 was validated for the analysis.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
Introduction
It is important to ascertain that the objective of this study was to ascertain impact of health information management in health care delivery. In the preceding chapter, the relevant data collected for this study were presented, critically analyzed and appropriate interpretation given. In this chapter, certain recommendations made which in the opinion of the researcher will be of benefits in addressing the challenges of health information management in health care delivery
Summary
This study was on impact of health information management in health care delivery. Four objectives were raised which included; To Determine the Impact of Health Information Management in Healthcare Delivery, to Find out if Health Information Management is limited to Card issuing or Registration and Documentation, to Find out the Consequences of not Documenting and Keeping Health Record Properly in health care delivery system and to Find out the Roles and Responsibility of Health Information Management Professionals in the Development and Maintenance of Health Record System.. A total of 77 responses were received and validated from the enrolled participants where all respondents were drawn from University of Benin Teaching Hospital, Benin, Edo – State. Hypothesis was tested using Chi-Square statistical tool (SPSS).
Conclusion
The study established that health records management practices has significant influence on quality health care service delivery in public health facilities University of Benin Teaching Hospital, Benin, Edo – State. The study concluded that quality health care service delivery cannot be achieved without recourse to standard health records management practices being implemented in any health facility and health care settings. It has been discovered in the study that when health records management are ill-practiced, it means that no quality health care services has been rendered to patients. The study further concluded that assurance, records use and records creation are the major indicators that shows somewhat of quality health care services delivered to patients in the various public health facilities of this study. Irrefutably, health records management practices is imperative for quality health care delivery accomplishment. However, these practices has not gotten the appropriate attention from Edo State Government and health partner agencies to enable it immensely drive high-quality health care service delivery improvement and sustenance across public health facilities in Edo State and Nigeria at large.
Recommendation
- Edo State Government and her health partner agencies as a matter of necessity should diversify holistic approaches in full implementation of electronic health records management practices across the different categories of her public health facilities.
- Furthermore, this study recommends that health of facilities, health partner agencies and Edo State Government should step down the training to patients/caregivers through pep talks, jingles, flyers and as well through asynchronic and synchronic message deliveries for patients’ health education and awareness of the importance of health records management practices in delivery quality health care services.
References
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