Knowledge, attitudes and practices of healthcare professionals on the use of an electronic stock visibility and management tool in a middle-income country: Implications for access to medicines

Mbonane, Hlalanathi; Sibanda, Mncengeli; Godman, Brian; Meyer, Johanna Catharina; Matlala, Moliehi

doi:10.1016/j.rcsop.2023.100233

Cited by 5 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…This entails a transition from traditional paper-based systems to digital supply chains, where sophisticated technologies such as RFID, Big Data, cloud computing, IoT, UAVs, and AI are assuming greater responsibility for data creation and management ( 32 , 33 ). This transition offers substantial benefits, including enhanced efficiency and transparency ( 34 ). These emerging technologies enable organizations to develop self-optimizing and interconnected supply chain systems ( 35 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The South African National Department of Health (NDoH) is pioneering a web-based application, the Stock Visibility System (SVS), at the PHC level, replacing paper-based tools. The SVS captures real-time data, acting as an early warning system and alerting stakeholders to PHC clinics with low stock levels, preventing potential supply interruptions ( 34 , 43 ). Despite its effectiveness, the SVS does not yet include COVID-19-related commodities, hindering digital inventory management for these crucial supplies.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Co-creation of a novel approach for improving supply chain management for SARS-CoV-2 point of care diagnostic services in Mopani District, Limpopo Province: nominal group technique

Maluleke,

Musekiwa,

Nxele

et al. 2024

Front. Public Health

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IntroductionEffective supply chain management (SCM) of point-of-care (POC) tests for diseases like severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus type 2 (SARS-CoV-2) requires active participation from diverse stakeholders, government entities, and regulatory bodies. The responsibility for overseeing various aspects of POC tests, including procurement, quality assurance, storage, inventory management, distribution, and human resource capacity, lies with national, provincial, and local levels of government. This study aimed to collaboratively develop an innovative approach to enhance SCM for SARS-CoV-2 POC diagnostic services in resource-limited settings, using the Mopani District in Limpopo province, South Africa, as a case study.MethodsKey stakeholders were invited to participate in an online workshop using purposive sampling. The study employed the nominal group technique (NGT) for data collection, which consisted of two phases. Phase 1 focused on identifying barriers in the supply chain of COVID-19 rapid tests, while phase 2 aimed to devise strategies to overcome the priority barriers identified in phase 1. Participants used a Likert scale of 1–5 to rank barriers and strategies, and an overall ranking score was calculated for each. The participants were provided with the results of the ranking exercise for their feedback.ResultsEleven key stakeholders from national (n = 1), provincial (n = 4), and local government (n = 2) levels, research entities (n = 3), and non-governmental organizations (n = 1) took part in the study. Participants identified significant barriers in the supply chain, such as the availability of testing kits, unknown demand, information on SCM during a pandemic, methods of controlling stock, and procurement processes. Strategies suggested by key stakeholders included monitoring stock levels and optimizing stock visibility systems to improve test availability, enhancing information visibility and consistent data updates to address unknown demand and improve SCM during a pandemic, employing data capturing and digitization for effective stock control, and implementing demand planning and standardized procurement processes at the national level to enhance stock procurement.DiscussionThe successful collaboration with key stakeholders, facilitated by the NGT, resulted in the co-creation of a novel approach to enhance SCM for COVID-19 diagnostic services in resource-limited settings. This study holds the potential to support the provision of COVID-19 diagnostic services in such settings. A recommended follow-up study would assess the feasibility of implementing this approach.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Co-creation of a novel approach for improving supply chain management for SARS-CoV-2 point of care diagnostic services in Mopani District, Limpopo Province: nominal group technique

Maluleke,

Musekiwa,

Nxele

et al. 2024

Front. Public Health

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…All the questions from Sections B to D had five responses and were scored using a 5-point Likert scale as follows: strongly disagree (1), disagree (2), neutral (3), agree (4) and strongly agree (5). [80][81][82] The minimum and maximum score for satisfaction was 5 and 25, respectively. Participants who scored less than the mean score were considered dissatisfied towards online learning.…”

Section: Data Collectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Student’s perspectives, satisfaction and experiences with online and classroom learning during the COVID-19 pandemic: Findings and implications on blended learning

Mudenda,

Daka,

Mufwambi

et al. 2023

SAGE Open Medicine

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Objectives: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic disrupted classroom-based learning, necessitating the adoption of online learning in most universities. However, there has been a lack of information on university students’ perspectives regarding online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study assessed the perspectives, satisfaction and experiences with online and classroom learning among human health students at the University of Zambia. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted among 737 students at the University of Zambia from October 2022 to April 2023. Data were analysed using Stata version 16.1. Results: Of the 737 participants, 51.6% were female and 56.5% agreed that blended learning should continue even after the COVID-19 pandemic. However, 78.4% of the students believed that group discussions were more suitable in the classroom than online learning. Most students (67.1%) disagreed that they preferred online learning to classroom learning. Furthermore, 77.6% of the students disagreed that online learning gave more satisfaction than classroom learning. Conclusions: This study found that most students recommended the continuation of blended learning after the pandemic. However, they believed that follow-up tutorials and assessments were better undertaken in physical classrooms than online learning. These findings are important in sensitising stakeholders in the education sector and governments to consider blended learning as a teaching strategy in the future. There is a need to develop and implement curricula that offer blended learning to students as well as ensure the students have the necessary facilities and equipment to support such learning.

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“…The team was tasked to understand the factors contributing to medicines availability challenges. They subsequently identified that the specific challenges affecting medicines availability and access across the country highlighted the need for a comprehensive, evidence-based response to address ongoing concerns [ 4 , 11 , 12 ]. In South Africa in 2017, the Stop Stock-outs 4th National Survey Report was published.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The challenges of providing an adequate supply of medicines and avoiding shortages are typically aggravated by the absence of measurable objectives. Alongside this, the lack of consolidated and accessible data regarding the current availability of medicines in the system, as well as a lack of medicine value chain performance measures [ 12 , 14 ]. In addition, different understandings of protocols among key stakeholder groups as well as poorly resourced health facilities exist.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Perceptions of and Practical Experience with the National Surveillance Centre in Managing Medicines Availability Amongst Users within Public Healthcare Facilities in South Africa: Findings and Implications

et al. 2023

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The introduction of the National Surveillance Centre (NSC) has improved the efficiency and effectiveness of managing medicines availability within the public healthcare system in South Africa. However, at present, there is limited data regarding the perceptions among users of the NSC and challenges that need addressing. A descriptive quantitative study was performed among all registered active NSC users between August and November 2022. Overall, 114/169 users responded to a custom-developed, self-administered questionnaire (67.5% response rate). Most respondents used the Stock Visibility System (SVS) National Department of Health (NDoH) (66.7% for medicines and 51.8% for personal protective equipment (PPE) or SVS COVID-19 (64.9% for COVID-19 vaccines) or RxSolution (57.0% manual report or 42.1% application programming interface (API)) for reporting medicines, PPE, and COVID-19 vaccines to the NSC and were confident in the accuracy of the reported data. Most respondents focused on both medicines availability and reporting compliance when accessing the NSC, with the integrated medicines availability dashboard and the COVID-19 vaccine dashboard being the most popular. The respondents believed the NSC allowed ease of access to data and improved data quality to better monitor medicines availability and use. Identified areas for improvement included improving internet connectivity, retraining some users, standardising the dashboards, adding more data points and reports, and expanding user adoption by increasing licence limits. Overall, this study found that the NSC in South Africa provides an effective solution for monitoring and improving medicines availability.

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Knowledge, attitudes and practices of healthcare professionals on the use of an electronic stock visibility and management tool in a middle-income country: Implications for access to medicines

Cited by 5 publications

References 46 publications

Co-creation of a novel approach for improving supply chain management for SARS-CoV-2 point of care diagnostic services in Mopani District, Limpopo Province: nominal group technique

Co-creation of a novel approach for improving supply chain management for SARS-CoV-2 point of care diagnostic services in Mopani District, Limpopo Province: nominal group technique

Student’s perspectives, satisfaction and experiences with online and classroom learning during the COVID-19 pandemic: Findings and implications on blended learning

Perceptions of and Practical Experience with the National Surveillance Centre in Managing Medicines Availability Amongst Users within Public Healthcare Facilities in South Africa: Findings and Implications

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