Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and Health Workers Proficiency as a Determinant of Health Information Management: A case study of Health Facilities Ogun Southwestern Nigeria

Abstract

The study investigated the application of ICT for health information management (HIM) in the health facilities and the proficiency of the health workers in the geopolitical east zone of Ogun State. The study adopted a non experimental survey method where self-structured questionnaires were administered to four hundred and fifty (450) health workers in the zone through a multi-stage sampling technique and frequency/percentage distributions were used to analyze the data obtained. Four hundred and twenty (420) (95.6%) health workers always use the ICT (e-mail, text messages, phones calls) for communication, followed by usage of ICT for research activities, where 345 (76.67%) use the ICT and 105 (23.33%) rarely use the ICT for research work, then the results revealed that 315 (70%) health workers always collaborate with the colleagues with the aid of ICT. The use ICT for HIM (data /records management and medical diagnosis) is relatively lower among the health workers-50 (11%) health workers use ICT for Data/Record Management while 30 (6%) use ICT for medical diagnosis. On the other hand, the average of results on the proficiency of the health workers indicated that only 35 (7.78%) of health workers are proficient, 98 (21.78%) not proficient and 321 (71.23%) were indifferent to computer system for HIM and not show interest with the computer system-the majority of the health workers are within the lower cadres where paper based systems are commonly used for health information sharing and management. The government should then equip/ implement ICT resources/ application in all the health facilities, making ICT training compulsory for the health workers and computerize the activities of the health facilities where information can be shared easily for efficient healthcare delivery system.