Hospital Information System in the Context of the Use of Electronic Medical Record in Burundi

Abstract

In order to strengthen the Information System, the medical record project has been initiated since 2014. The objective of this study was to assess the Hospital Information System in the context of using the Electronic Medical Record (EMR) to highlight the factors to be strengthened. This is a cross-sectional survey carried out in October 2019 in 11 hospitals equipped with a Hospital Information System based on OpenClinic GA software. The evaluation was carried out using the Health Metrology Network (HMN) tool covering the components of the Health Information System. Data entry and analysis were carried out with the Excel tool transposed to the HMN tool format. The calculation of the scores and the thresholds used are based on the same HMN tool. The score was 61% for resources, 60% for indicators, 41% for data sources, 51% for data management, 55% for information product and 67% for information dissemination and use. According to the period of time when the EMR was first used, the 7 hospitals computerized in 2017 had an overall score of 57% compared to 53% of the 4 hospitals computerized in 2015 (p= 0.7055). District hospitals had an overall score of 61% while regional hospitals had an overall score of 50% and national hospitals had an overall score of 52% (p=0.1441). In conclusion, the results show that two components namely source of the data and data management have shortcomings. Corrective strategies should be considered to support the ongoing hospital information system strengthening reforms.