EFFECT OF ELECTRONIC HEALTH INFORMATION SYSTEM ON MEDICAL RECORDS MANAGEMENT IN PUBLIC HEALTHCARE INSTITUTIONS

Abstract

The worrisome state of Nigerian hospitals in the last decades owing to continued to adopt the global trend on information systems to move away from healthcare delivery characterised by inefficiencies, poor management practices evidenced by continuous use of the traditional paper record system in most public health facilities in Nigeria, which often time causes delay and long patient waiting time, resulting in cases of infant and maternal mortality. Hence, this study investigated how an electronic health information system can improve medical records management in Nigeria’s public healthcare institutions. The study employed the numerical and qualitative research philosophy, adopted the survey and case study research strategies, the cross-sectional and qualitative research designs. The study sample covered 332 respondents spread across four selected Federal Medical Centres in Makurdi, Keffi, Lokoja and Abuja FCT, all located in the North Central Region of Nigeria. In the collection of primary data, the researcher took cognisance of ethnic consideration regarding the confidentiality of data and protection of respondents’ trust. The study used the simple frequency percentage table to analyse collected data. The finding revealed that, though there is still heavy reliance on traditional paper-based records system, however, adoption of eHIS will reduce risk of treatment errors, decrease patient waiting time, enhance timely communication among practitioners, protects patient information from unauthorised personnel and enhance healthcare service delivery. The study, therefore, recommended that the government and hospital management should prioritise the provision of necessary infrastructure in the health capital budget to support adoption and implementation of the electronic health information system and electronic medical records management to reduce high mortality rates from delayed treatments and preventable medical errors.