Assessing the Use of Hospital Information Systems (HIS) to Support Decision-Making: A Cross-Sectional Study in Public Hospitals in the Huíla Health Region of Southern Angola

Hospital information systems could be relevant tools to inform hospital managers, support better management decisions in healthcare, and increase efficiency. Nonetheless, hospital managers’ effective use of these systems to support decision-making in Angola is unknown. Our study aimed to analyse the...

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Main Authors: Tomas Hambili Paulo Sanjuluca, Anabela Antunes de Almeida, Ricardo Cruz-Correia
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2022-07-01
Series:Healthcare
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9032/10/7/1267
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author Tomas Hambili Paulo Sanjuluca
Anabela Antunes de Almeida
Ricardo Cruz-Correia
author_facet Tomas Hambili Paulo Sanjuluca
Anabela Antunes de Almeida
Ricardo Cruz-Correia
author_sort Tomas Hambili Paulo Sanjuluca
collection DOAJ
description Hospital information systems could be relevant tools to inform hospital managers, support better management decisions in healthcare, and increase efficiency. Nonetheless, hospital managers’ effective use of these systems to support decision-making in Angola is unknown. Our study aimed to analyse the use of hospital information systems as a tool to support decision-making by hospital managers in Huíla, Angola. It was a descriptive, cross-sectional study inducted between July and September 2017 in seven hospitals in Huíla Province, Angola, specifically in the cities of Lubango and Matala. Thirty-six members of the hospital boards filled out a self-questionnaire that consisted of twenty questions based on the following issues: Characterisation of the interviewee’s profile; availability of information in the institution; and quality and usefulness of the available operational information. At least two thirds of the participants reported being unsatisfied or relatively satisfied with each assessed hospital information systems-specific feature. More than 50% have rarely or never used the health information system to support decision-making. Most managers do not use hospital information systems to support management-related decision-making in Angola. Improving the ability of hospital information systems to compute adequate indicators and training for hospital managers could be targets for future interventions to support better management-related decision-making in Angolan healthcare.
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spelling doaj.art-8c373d4133404ae3b02e600b0b1e45512023-12-03T15:07:28ZengMDPI AGHealthcare2227-90322022-07-01107126710.3390/healthcare10071267Assessing the Use of Hospital Information Systems (HIS) to Support Decision-Making: A Cross-Sectional Study in Public Hospitals in the Huíla Health Region of Southern AngolaTomas Hambili Paulo Sanjuluca0Anabela Antunes de Almeida1Ricardo Cruz-Correia2Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Beira Interior, 6200-386 Covilhã, PortugalDepartment of Management and Economics, Faculty of Social and Human Sciences, University of Beira Interior, 6200-209 Covilhã, PortugalDepartment of Community Medicine, Information and Decision in Health—MEDCIDS, Faculty of Medicine, University of Porto, 4200-450 Porto, PortugalHospital information systems could be relevant tools to inform hospital managers, support better management decisions in healthcare, and increase efficiency. Nonetheless, hospital managers’ effective use of these systems to support decision-making in Angola is unknown. Our study aimed to analyse the use of hospital information systems as a tool to support decision-making by hospital managers in Huíla, Angola. It was a descriptive, cross-sectional study inducted between July and September 2017 in seven hospitals in Huíla Province, Angola, specifically in the cities of Lubango and Matala. Thirty-six members of the hospital boards filled out a self-questionnaire that consisted of twenty questions based on the following issues: Characterisation of the interviewee’s profile; availability of information in the institution; and quality and usefulness of the available operational information. At least two thirds of the participants reported being unsatisfied or relatively satisfied with each assessed hospital information systems-specific feature. More than 50% have rarely or never used the health information system to support decision-making. Most managers do not use hospital information systems to support management-related decision-making in Angola. Improving the ability of hospital information systems to compute adequate indicators and training for hospital managers could be targets for future interventions to support better management-related decision-making in Angolan healthcare.https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9032/10/7/1267Angolahospital management information systemshospital information systemsupport decision-makingdata quality
spellingShingle Tomas Hambili Paulo Sanjuluca
Anabela Antunes de Almeida
Ricardo Cruz-Correia
Assessing the Use of Hospital Information Systems (HIS) to Support Decision-Making: A Cross-Sectional Study in Public Hospitals in the Huíla Health Region of Southern Angola
Healthcare
Angola
hospital management information systems
hospital information system
support decision-making
data quality
title Assessing the Use of Hospital Information Systems (HIS) to Support Decision-Making: A Cross-Sectional Study in Public Hospitals in the Huíla Health Region of Southern Angola
title_full Assessing the Use of Hospital Information Systems (HIS) to Support Decision-Making: A Cross-Sectional Study in Public Hospitals in the Huíla Health Region of Southern Angola
title_fullStr Assessing the Use of Hospital Information Systems (HIS) to Support Decision-Making: A Cross-Sectional Study in Public Hospitals in the Huíla Health Region of Southern Angola
title_full_unstemmed Assessing the Use of Hospital Information Systems (HIS) to Support Decision-Making: A Cross-Sectional Study in Public Hospitals in the Huíla Health Region of Southern Angola
title_short Assessing the Use of Hospital Information Systems (HIS) to Support Decision-Making: A Cross-Sectional Study in Public Hospitals in the Huíla Health Region of Southern Angola
title_sort assessing the use of hospital information systems his to support decision making a cross sectional study in public hospitals in the huila health region of southern angola
topic Angola
hospital management information systems
hospital information system
support decision-making
data quality
url https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9032/10/7/1267
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