Health Information Systems

This guide was developed to assist organizations in developing health human resources databases that are consistent with national standards and that provide opportunities to make comparisons between jurisdictions and professions. The guide is not intended to provide the steps to build a database; rather, it introduces the standards to be used for collecting, processing and reporting health human resources data. [from introduction]

This guidance document is for use principally by the district experts, heath extension supervisors and health extension workers all over the country as training on the health information systems requirements for local (community level) data collection, processing, analysis and dissemination, as well as linking to the national health management and information systems. [adapted from publisher]

This manual is intended as a training of trainers manual for hospital management and case teams and for hospital staff on the use of health information management systems - both in terms of how to collect, aggregate and report data, but also to help staff understand the utility and benefits of the data they collect. [adapted from abstract]

The Health Management Information System (HMIS) in Ethiopia is designed to capture and provide essential core data for planning and monitoring the health system’s performance. This document provides handout materials and other instruments to be used in HMIS training for health providers. [abstract]

This article describes the scale-up of the Community Health Information System (CHIS), a family-centered health information system designed for the health extension worker to manage and monitor her work in educating households and delivering an integrated package of promotive, preventive, and basic curative health service to families. It also documents achievements and challenges, sharing lessons learned that can be useful in CHIS implementation in other regions. [adapted from summary]

The article focuses on health staff and managers, who develop and maintain routine health information systems, and highlights specific information needs, analysis, access and dissemination required to enable local and national emergency and public health teams to mount an adequate response to disasters. [from author]

This article describes the early outcomes, achievements, and challenges from an initiative that hired university graduates without training in health information and provided on-the-job training and mentoring to create a new cadre of health worker in order to address the shortage of health information personnel within Botswana. [adapted from abstract]

The Performance of Routine Information System Management (PRISM) framework defines routine health information system (RHIS) performance as both the production of quality data and documented use of information for health services decision making. This paper describes the conceptual framework on the determinants of RHIS performances and effectiveness of strategies to improve the system. [adapted from abstract]

This paper from the International Conference on Research in Human Resources for Health examines the effectiveness an approach to using routine human resources for information system data to strengthen the health workforce in low-resourced settings. [adapted from author]

This technical brief introduces the concept of health informatics and describes the considerations to be kept in mind when designing education and training programs for health informatics. [from author]

This program is designed as an organizational process that brings together teams to focus on and develop leadership and management practices, identify and face challenges that inhibit data use, and achieve measurable results in applying data demand and use technical skills in order to make well-informed, evidence-based policy and program decisions. This curriculum has been developed as a complete program that will allow facilitators and the faculty of institutions of higher education to deliver the course. [from author]

This document outlines the development and scale up of a health management information system in Ethiopia as a core information component of effective health care delivery whose aim is to improve management and optimum use of resources for making timely decisions. [adapted from author]

This study applied a logic model to describe a pathway of how specific activities and interventions can strengthen the use of health data in decision making to ultimately strengthen the health system. [from abstract]

This technical brief outlines a human resources information system pilot project in India and presents the key results from this effort. [adapted from author]

This brief describes the impact of using health management information system (HMIS) data, including an example of how this data improved the vaccination rates for newborns in Ethiopia.

This free online course is a collaborative offering of Sana, Partners in Health, and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI). The goal of this course is the development of innovations in information systems for developing countries that will translate into improvement in health outcomes, strengthen the existing organizational infrastructure, and create a collaborative ecosystem to maximize the value of these innovations. The course offers video lectures and links to projects, examples and course materials. [adapted from publisher]

The World Health Organization (WHO) created this diagnostic tool to conduct a diagnosis on the quality of data on HRH and the degree to which information is used for evidence-based decision-making. It contains questions intended to gather information on the uses, type and quality of data on HRH at institutional level in countries to identify strengths and weaknesses of the current HRIS in countries. [adapted from publisher]

This document outlines the steps for designing and implementing a data demand and information use (DDIU) approach. It reviews the application of the information supply and demand matrix, examines the constraints to evidence-based decision, examines strategies to encourage DDIU, outlines guidelines for implementing DDIU activities and interventions, and presents a set of tools for facilitating DDIU. [adapted from author]

These data demand and use (DDU) case studies from a variety of settings give examples of how interventions have successfully facilitated data demand and changed how information is used. Examples are from Bangladesh, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and nine Caribbean countries. [from publisher]

The goal of this assessment was to evaluate the routine health Information system in Taraba state to identify the strengths, weaknesses, threats, and opportunities of the health management information system unit in the state and its local government areas with a view to identifying risks that pose a threat to the implementation of software upgrades. [adapted from publisher]

The goal of this assessment was to evaluate the routine health Information system in Imo state to identify the strengths, weaknesses, threats, and opportunities of the health management information system unit in the state and its local government areas with a view to identifying risks that pose a threat to the implementation of software upgrades. [adapted from publisher]

The goal of this assessment was to evaluate the routine health Information system in Oyo state to identify the strengths, weaknesses, threats, and opportunities of the health management information system unit in the state and its local government areas with a view to identifying risks that pose a threat to the implementation of software upgrades. [adapted from publisher]

The goal of this assessment was to evaluate the routine health Information system in Niger state to identify the strengths, weaknesses, threats, and opportunities of the health management information system unit in the state and its local government areas with a view to identifying risks that pose a threat to the implementation of software upgrades. [adapted from publisher]

The goal of this assessment was to evaluate the routine health Information system in Delta state to identify the strengths, weaknesses, threats, and opportunities of the health management information system unit in the state and its local government areas with a view to identifying risks that pose a threat to the implementation of software upgrades. [adapted from publisher]

The goal of this assessment was to evaluate the routine health Information system in Kebbi state to identify the strengths, weaknesses, threats, and opportunities of the health management information system unit in the state and its local government areas with a view to identifying risks that pose a threat to the implementation of software upgrades. [adapted from publisher]

This brief outlines a comprehensive human resources information system to support management functions in the public health sector that is being implemented by the Ministries of Health in Kenya. [adapted from author]

This free online course provides instructions on basic skills needed to administer and customize IntraHealth International’s free human resources information system software: iHRIS Manage or iHRIS Qualify systems. [from publisher]

This research attempted to test the hypothesis that health information systems data quality and data use are interrelated: poor quality data will not be used, and because they are not used, the data will remain of poor quality; conversely, greater use of data will help to improve their quality, which will in turn lead to more data use. [from introduction]

The objectives of this review were systematically assess national practices in HRIS implementation, identify main areas of weakness in HRIS implementation with attention to countries facing acute health workforce shortages, offer recommendations to ministries of health and global health policy makers on how to improve the science and application of human resources information and monitoring systems. [from author]

The West African Health Organization is implementing a regional approach to strengthening human resource information systems that is closely aligned with key principles of the US Government’s Global Health Initiative—supporting country ownership and country-led plans, encouraging sustainability through health systems strengthening and capacity-building, and leveraging partnerships. This CapacityPlus technical brief provides an overview of this approach, highlights lessons learned, and provides recommendations for other regions and countries to adopt the approach.