District Health Information System Assessment: A Case Study in Iran

Abstract

IntroductionHealth care managers and personnel should be aware and literate of health information system in order to increase the efficiency and effectiveness in their organization. Since accurate, appropriate, precise, timely, valid information and interpretation of information is required and is the basis for policy planning and decision making in various levels of the organization. This study was conducted to assess the district health information system evolution in Iran according to WHO framework.MethodsThis research is an applied, descriptive cross sectional study, in which a total of twelve urban and eight rural facilities, and the district health center at Falavarjan region were surveyed by using a questionnaire with 334 items. Content and constructive validity and reliability of the questionnaire were confirmed with correlation coefficient of 0.99. Obtained data were analyzed with SPSS 16 software and descriptive statistics were used to examine measures of WHO compliance.ResultsThe analysis of data revealed that the mean score of compliance of district health information system framework was 35.75 percent. The maximum score of compliance with district health information system belonged to the data collection process (70 percent). The minimum score of compliance with district health information system belonged to information based decision making process with a score of 10 percent.ConclusionsDistrict Health Information System Criteria in Isfahan province do not completely comply with WHO framework. Consequently, it seems that health system managers engaged with underlying policy and decision making processes at district health level should try to restructure and decentralize district health information system and develop training management programs for their managers.

Level of Commitment and associated factors to Use District Health Information System (DHIS2) for decision making among health providers in a resource limited settings: Cross-sectional survey

“…(95% CI: [40.00, 52.8]), which is greater than the study conducted in Iran 35.75% (18). This might be due to the fact that nowadays the government of Ethiopia has given special attention to the utilization of health information systems for decision making and the internal commitment of healthcare providers to use data (19).…”

Assessment of Nutrition Information System Using Health Metrics Network Framework

“…14 Holding a training for staff in information system management becomes one aspect needed to be awared of. 15,16 Training related to production, analysis and use of data becomes one of keys in strengthening information system. 17 The training is also addressed not only how managers understand the work system in an information system, however, they are also expected to understand urgency and benefits of information system use.…”

Evaluation of the District Health Information System 2 supported malaria reporting system in Solomon Islands

“…For health information management in resource-limited settings, WHO advocates the use of District Health Information Systems 2 (DHIS2). Since 1994, DHIS2 has evolved and is currently used in 67 countries for managing health information [13][14][15][16]. DHIS2 is an open-source information system with few hardware requirements and a exible user interface that allows users to specify their content without the need for programming [17][18][19] (Figure 1).…”

“…Thirdly, data that are collected but not used are an untapped resource, and processes are needed to realize the potential value of the data collated within DHIS2 to inform action. Fourthly, crucial infrastructure is often lacking, including internet reliability and coverage [15,17,25,26]. However, there has been no speci c evaluation of DHIS2 as a tool to support infectious disease surveillance.…”