Implementation Level of Health Management Information System Program in Governmental Hospitals of Ethiopia

Abstract

Background: The Ethiopian Health Management Information System (HMIS) has been implemented since 2008 to improve the provision of health services, and ultimately, to improve health status of the population. Currently, information revolution is one of the transformation agenda in Ethiopia. Ironically, as in many low-income countries, lack of reliable data and grossly inadequate appreciation and use of available information for planning and management of health services were also true for the HMIS of Ethiopia. This, therefore, to assess the level of implementation HMIS program and utilization of data generated in governmental hospitals of western Oromia, Ethiopia. Methods and Material: The study was conducted in seven randomly selected Western Oromia Hospitals. A descriptive facility based cross-sectional study design with quantitative and qualitative data collection method was employed. The final sample size was calculated to be 620. The samples were selected by simple random sampling technique. The collected data was checked for any inconsistencies and analyzed by fitting multivariate logistic regression in SPSS version 17.0 statistical package. Result: Of the total 620 sampled population, 569 participated with an overall response rate of 91.8%. Of the total respondents, 504 (88.6%) were ever implemented HMIS tools to collect patients data in their respective hospital. Of which, only 85 (16.9%) perceived that they regularly analyze the collected data into meaningful information. Despite the inspiring message by H. E. Dr. Kesetebirhan Admasu former Minister, Federal Ministry of Health, Ethiopia “….health information is much more than collecting figures. Data have no value in themselves; value and relevance come after data management and analysis…the process whereby data are transformed into information and knowledge for action.” In this study, only 221 (43.8%) reported they used HMIS generated information for a different actions in their respective hospitals. This study revealed that the major challenges for consistent implementation and use of HMIS were incomplete data filling 174 (34.5%) followed by a shortage of trained human power 158 (31.3%) in HMIS. Furthermore, there was statistically significant association between consistent implementation of HMIS program with presence of HMIS reporting format, regular monitoring and evaluation, trained staffs and having regular feedback. Conclusions: In this study, more than three-fourths of participants perceived they were ever implemented HMIS to generate information. But, less than half of participants reported they used the output of HMIS generated information for reporting, planning and decision making at local level.