Assessment of health management information system implementation in Ayder referral hospital, Mekelle, Ethiopia

Effective Health Management Information System (HMIS) is essential for setting priority for community based problems, for allocation of budget and human resource and decision making in general to managers and stakeholders. In Africa there are many problems in data management in the health sector in relation to missing of data in reports this leads to a picture which could not represent the country health information. A facility based cross sectional study was conducted in Ayder referral and teaching hospital. Six months reports have been assessed including all the data, which were registered in the six month. In addition the tally sheets generated during this six month were also included as part of the assessment. Out of the six-month data used 63.3% was accurate. More than 95% of the reviewed patient cards were complete. Out of the questioned 50 staffs (93%) have good attitude towards HMIS. Data consistency between register and the tally sheets was measured as 72.2% even though the value difference was not largely seen. There was 78.6% an average report completeness measure in the HMIS unit. There was no sign of using the information generated by the facility. Use of accurate data in the facility was low. In addition, information was not still used for action. The original HMIS tallies were not used in the hospital instead minimized and photocopied tallies were used. Refreshing training was not given to staff. Therefore; training should be given to the higher bodies and all staffs about the importance of HMIS and the value of health data in decision making. The performance monitoring team should have to be established. The HMIS unit staffs should have to be trained on basic indicators calculation.