Introduction to Health

Information Science (HIM 201)

Dr Mubashir Uthman
(MB;BS, MPA, MPH, FWACP)

Department of Epidemiology & Community Health

Health Information Management Unit
 Course Content
• Basic concepts – data, information,
knowledge and wisdom.
• Health information Science – definition,
attributes, relationship to other disciplines
in health.
• Application of information technology to
the management of health information.
Data operations in automated health
information management system.
 Methods of Grading
• Course Delivery Strategies:
The course objectives will be achieved by
weekly face-to-face lecture on designed
topics. Theoretical materials (lecture
notes) provided during lecture, seminars.
The delivery strategies will also be
supported through seminar and tutorial
sessions.
 Course Requirements

• Students are expected to participate in all

the course activities and have minimum of
75% attendance to qualify for the final
examination.
• All written assignments must be word
processed.
 Basic Concept
• Data- facts, events, transactions, etc, which have
been recorded. They are input materials from
which information is produced.
• Information – data that have been processed in
such a way as to be useful to the recipient.

• Information management – defined as the

planning, organizing, controlling, securing and
integrating organization’s information resources
including internal and external information,
software, hardware facilities, personnel,
information system budget, information systems,
policies, procedures and methods.
 Basic concept
• Information technology – defined as the science
of collecting, storing, processing and transmitting
information.
• System – a set of interrelated parts organized or
defined for same purpose.
• Health Information System is the contents of
messages of several components of the health of
any people
• National Health Management Information System
is an integrated, unified, coordinated subsystem
of the National Health Care system for data and
information collection, processing, storage, and
dissemination to other units of the health system.
 Importance of HIS
• Availability of accurate, timely, reliable and
relevant health information is the most
fundamental step toward health and health
resources

• Governments at all levels have overriding

interest in supporting and ensuring
availability of health data and information as
a public good; for private and NGOs
utilization.
 Characteristics of good
information
• Relevant for its purpose
• Sufficiently accurate for its purpose
• Complete enough for the problem and to solve
the problem
• From a source in which the user has
confidence
• Communicated to the right person
• Communicated in time for its purpose
• Contains the right level of detail
• Communicated by an appropriate method of
communication
• Understandable by the user
 Stakeholders in Health
Management Information System
• Health care givers
• Ministries of Health,
• Health Institutions and other health care
providers.
• They need health information for the
purpose of identifying and ranking health
priorities, designing and optimizing
strategies for health action and also
monitoring and evaluation of the
operation of the health services of the
community.
 Stakeholders cont’d
• Public at large – this aspect is often
overlooked and underestimated.
• People have a desire, a need, a right to
know.
• The more knowledge people have about
health issues in there communities the
better they are prepared to make right
decisions and take appropriate actions
• Researchers – research establishments
through HIS are able to identify problems
and prioritize those for research.
• Others – this include international
agencies, donors, etc
 Uses of data / health information
• Provide relevant information to draw profile of
community by age, sex, disease, morbidity and
mortality.
• Provide information for comparison purposes
between communities, temporal changes in
communities
• Provide a surveillance system that can be used
to recognize, diagnose and control at an early
stage disease outbreak
• Provide useful sources of information for the
health worker
• Help in development of essential research
programme
 Uses of data / Information cont’d
• Help to improve output and coverage
• Improve standard of quality of care.
• Provide basis for medical handling and more
efficient use of resources
• Increase in acceptability of services in the
community
• Promote greater and more effective
involvement of the community in planning and
management
• Data is used for planning, monitoring and
evaluation, administration, decision making.
 Problems of health data collection

• Poor quality of data collection

• Inadequate data
• Missing records
• Collection of unnecessary data
• Omission of vital information
• Falsification of records
• Poor storage of data
 Problems of health data collection
• Delay in forwarding collected data.
• Poor feedback mechanisms – no feedback
on reports
• Poor accessibility and dissemination
process or results
• Lack of appreciation of the relevance of
the data and motivation on the part of
some entrusted with the job
• Variability in the forms and formats of
data collection an reporting both at the
LGA and State levels
 Sources of data in PHC
• Community based activities
– village health committees, community leaders
– voluntary village health workers and traditional
birth attendants
• Can provide simple data in form of pictorial
records of activities and events, community
demographic profile, community pregnancy
profile.
• Home based records
– PHC child health card and child treatment card
– PHC personal health card and adult treatment card
– The healthy mother card
 Sources of health data cont’d
• Health facility based records (HMIS 000
Forms)
– Tracer diseases and outpatient attendance
– Antenatal care and pregnancy outcome
– Family planning, immunization, Growth
Monitoring
– In-patient care
– Disease surveillance and notification forms
• Local Government based data
– Corresponding forms from facility based reports
(HMIS 001 Forms)
– DSN data
– Report of epidemics, etc
 Sources of health data cont’d
• Other sectors and agencies
– Agriculture, Education, Works etc
– International agencies, NGOs, etc
• Research activities
• Other sources of health data
– Census
– Voters registration
– Epidemiological surveys
– Institutional data
Health Records Management
 Key Learning Points
 What is a health record
 Characteristics of full & accurate
health records
 Why do we keep health records
 Performance measure for health
records
 Responsibilities for health records
 Record Lifecycle Management
 What is a health record?
• A health record includes any
information created by, or on
behalf of, a health professional in
connection with the care of a
patient
 What format can a health
record take?
• A health record can cover a wide range of material:
 Handwritten medical notes
 Computerised records
 Correspondence between health professionals
 Laboratory reports
 X-ray films and other imaging records
 Photographs
 Videos and other recordings
 Audio recordings
 Printouts from monitoring equipment
 Characteristics of full &
accurate health records
 Authentic
 Reliable
 Complete & unaltered
 Processes & systems have integrity
 Useable
 Transferable
 Structured
 Why do we keep health
records?
 Communication between healthcare professionals
 Continuity & evaluation of patient care
 Defence of claims & investigation of complaints
 GMC Requirement (“Good Medical Practice”)
 Risk management
 Clinical Governance
 Resource utilisation
 Research and education
 Historical purposes
 The health record should be…
• Available in the right place at the right time
to support effective patient/doctor contact
and to provide continuity of care

• Availability of the complete record when

needed is a key determinant of the
performance of Health Record Services
Responsibilities for Records
• ‘All individuals who work for an NHS organisation
are responsible for any records which they create
or use in the performance of their duties….. any
record that an individual creates is a public
record.’
• Records Management: NHS Code of Practice

• There are therefore INDIVIDUAL, STATUTORY &

MANAGERIAL responsibilities for all NHS records,
including health records
 Record Lifecycle Management

Close Record

Create Use Retention Appraisal Disposal

Be aware Monitor Control

 Data Security
• Storage
• Password protection- Restriction of access
• Antivirus
• Confidentiality/privacy
 Purposes of Health Record
Primary and Secondary
PRIMARY
1.Patient care- Informed decision about
diagnosis, treatment
• To document services received
• To constitute Proof of identity
• To Verify billing
 Patient care delivery (provider)
• To foster continuity of care
(Communication tool)
• to Describe, diseases and Causes
(support diagnosis)
• document patent risk factors
• to generate Care plan
• Reminder to provider
• to document services rendered
• Support Processes
 Patient Care management

• formulate practice guideline

• manage risk
• analyze Severity of illness
• Review utilization
• Quality assurance
 patient care Support

• Allocate resources
• Analyses of trend and forcast
• To assess overload to communicate
among dept.
 financial and other admin
Processes
• insurance and compensation
• manage cost
 Secondary
• Education
• Teaching,
• presentations
 Regulations

• Evidence in litigation
• assess Compliance with std
• to accredit health Professional and
hospital
 Research

• Trial
• assess technology
• Study patents outcome
• Develop database,
• for evaluation
•
 Public health and Security

• monitor Pubic health

• Bio terrorism
 policy making

• Allocate resources
• Conduct Strategic planning
•