Electronic Health Records for Diseases Surveillance in Public Health

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Date

2019-07

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University of Ghana

Abstract

Introduction of Electronic Health Record (EHR) systems has the potential of improving the quality and accessibility of information and communication for healthcare delivery and also the quality of healthcare services in the healthcare system. Reliable, accessible health information leads to timely health policies planning and interventions, which leads to improvement in the general health status of a country. The key objective of this research is to explore if the electronic health systems being used in some health facilities in Ghana are designed with public health in mind in terms of monitoring communicable and non-communicable diseases. Method The study used an exploratory approach to examine the components and design of the electronic systems being used in some health facilities in the country. A cross sectional survey was used to collect data. The population for this study was health facilities using any form of electronic health system for collecting and storing patient data. Data obtained were summarized as frequencies and percentages using Microsoft Excel software. Results Most facility systems have all the components of an EHR system. The International Classification of Disease is the most popular standard of classification of disease used by these systems. All systems use an internally generated identification to identify patients. 50% of the facilities are able to generate report on chronic and infectious diseases. 33.3% had a form of decision support system and 16.7% provides reminders to physicians of appointment with patients. Conclusion Without a nation-wide-health-specific identification system to identify patients, it would be difficult to tell whether the EHR data is representative of the population. The ICD standard that all the facilities use is to identify the problems or the diseases the patients reported with is mainly for billing purposes, meaning the data captured does not contain enough details for clinical and/or research purposes but can serve as a trigger for investigation for public health purposes. The systems are able to capture residential address which can be used to tell the geographical location of patients. None of the systems have data on immunisations. All the systems lack the ability to produce alerts and reminders of public health interest.

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MHI.

Keywords

Public Health, Ghana Health Service, Disease Surveillance, Electronic Health Records

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