Development of Health Information System in Phayao Province, Thailand

Abstract

This action research aimed to develop a health information system in Phayao province by: (1) analyzing the situation of health information system in Phayao Province, (2) developing an applied health information system in Phayao province, Thailand according to the System Development Life Cycle (SDLC) framework, and (3) assessing the development of health information systems at the provincial and operational levels by using a questionnaire developed by the researchers and adapted from related theories. The sample consisted of 144 personnel under the Phayao Provincial Public Health Office and in hospitals under the Phayao Provincial Public Health Office. The data were analyzed by descriptive statistics (percentage, mean, standard deviation) and paired T-test.

The results showed that: (1)The health information system in Phayao province had various weaknesses and obstacles. Namely, the district-level information center was not yet strong. There was a lack of supervision and monitoring of information operations. Healthcare workers lacked knowledge and understanding of data recording. Strengths and opportunities included executives at the provincial level. Executives gave viewed the system as important and supported information technology operations. (2) We found some successful milestones already accomplished and future areas for the development of health information systems in Phayao Province. We found that the provincial and district information centers were established. We identified issues for developing information systems. We saw the need for exchange and sharing information between hospitals and sub-district health promoting hospitals. We observed the development of an information system. This system returns information at the district level via the web. www.pheathcenter.com (3) In our assessment of health information system development in Phayao Province, most of our participants were female (71.4%) and aged 40-49 years. In our sample, 34.4% (Mean=39,SD±9.37) graduated with a bachelor's degree, 61.0% were civil servants, 66.2% belonged to sub-district health promoting hospitals. In terms of job position, 68.2% were public health academics, computer academics, or nurses. Over half (56.5%) had worked in their current position for more than 10 years (years worked: Mean=12.31,SD±8.70), while 48.1% had less than 5 years work experience in information technology.  39.0% (Mean=8.9,SD±6.82). We found compared scores of knowledge about health information systems among those responsible for health informatics work before and after the operation. We found that after the operation, knowledge increased by 36.78% (Mean = 6.98, SD± 2.35) and the increase was statistically significant (p-value <0.001). The use of database processing in monitoring health indicators at all levels should be utilized under the Ministry of Health's requirements.