Do social skills improve healthcare data quality? A cross-sectional study in eight referral hospitals

IF 1 Q4 HEALTH CARE SCIENCES & SERVICES

Journal of Healthcare Quality Research Pub Date : 2026-05-01 Epub Date: 2026-03-02 DOI:10.1016/j.jhqr.2026.101192

R. Phinias , M. Muhanga , J. Malago

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Background

Reliable healthcare data is fundamental to patient safety, clinical decision-making, and health system efficiency. However, human error in monitoring and evaluation (M&E) systems remains a key barrier to data quality. This study investigated how healthcare workers’ social skills, specifically communication, teamwork, and change catalyst abilities, influence four core dimensions of data quality: accuracy, completeness, timeliness, and consistency.

Methods

A cross-sectional study was conducted between August and October 2024 in eight Tanzanian regional referral hospitals. From a sampling frame of 2650 healthcare professionals involved in routine data entry, 336 were randomly selected to complete a validated self-administered questionnaire (Cronbach's α = 0.94). Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and multiple linear regression (SPSS v27) to determine associations between social skills and data quality indicators.

Results

Communication was positively associated with accuracy (β = .247, p < .001), consistency (β = .366, p < .001), and timeliness (β = .509, p < .001), but not with completeness. Change catalyst skills significantly improved accuracy (β = .580), consistency (β = .520), and timeliness (β = .370), all p < .001, but showed no effect on completeness. Teamwork positively influenced consistency (β = .184, p < .001) and completeness (β = .282, p = .002), but was unrelated to accuracy and negatively associated with timeliness (β = −.223, p < .001).

Conclusion

Strengthening communication and change catalyst abilities among healthcare workers can improve key aspects of data quality. Tailored training in these areas, along with process-mapping to streamline teamwork, may support more accurate and timely health data management.

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社交技能能提高医疗数据质量吗？八家转诊医院的横断面研究。

背景：可靠的医疗数据是患者安全、临床决策和卫生系统效率的基础。然而，监测和评估（M&E）系统中的人为错误仍然是影响数据质量的主要障碍。本研究调查了医护人员的社交技能，特别是沟通、团队合作和变革催化剂能力，如何影响数据质量的四个核心维度：准确性、完整性、及时性和一致性。方法：横断面研究于2024年8月至10月在坦桑尼亚8家地区转诊医院进行。从参与常规数据录入的2650名医疗保健专业人员的抽样框架中，随机选择336人完成有效的自我管理问卷（Cronbach’s α=0.94）。使用描述性统计和多元线性回归（SPSS v27）对数据进行分析，以确定社交技能与数据质量指标之间的关系。结果：沟通与准确性呈正相关（β= 0.247, p）。结论：加强医护人员的沟通和变革催化能力可以提高数据质量的关键方面。这些领域的量身定制培训，以及简化团队合作的流程映射，可能支持更准确和及时的健康数据管理。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Journal of Healthcare Quality Research Medicine-Health Policy

CiteScore

1.70

自引率

8.30%

发文量

审稿时长

57 days

期刊介绍： Revista de Calidad Asistencial (Quality Healthcare) (RCA) is the official Journal of the Spanish Society of Quality Healthcare (Sociedad Española de Calidad Asistencial) (SECA) and is a tool for the dissemination of knowledge and reflection for the quality management of health services in Primary Care, as well as in Hospitals. It publishes articles associated with any aspect of research in the field of public health and health administration, including health education, epidemiology, medical statistics, health information, health economics, quality management, and health policies. The Journal publishes 6 issues, exclusively in electronic format. The Journal publishes, in Spanish, Original works, Special and Review Articles, as well as other sections. Articles are subjected to a rigorous, double blind, review process (peer review)