Challenges and Opportunities for Health Professionals in Using ICT for Health Care: The Case of Government Owned Health Centres in Addis Ababa

Ababa, Abebech Haile (2011) Challenges and Opportunities for Health Professionals in Using ICT for Health Care: The Case of Government Owned Health Centres in Addis Ababa. Masters thesis, Addis Ababa University.

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Abstract

Background Good information and communications are vital elements in public health practice. Information underpins the assessment of health needs, the development of health strategy and the monitoring of progress. Equally, communications provide the essential links for consultation, discussion and dissemination of knowledge between health professionals, other individuals and organizations affecting health and the general public. The quality of both information and communications is now more than ever linked with the effective and appropriate use of technology. Incorporation of Information Technology advancements in healthcare has gained wide acceptance in the last two decades. Developed countries have successfully incorporated IT advancements in their healthcare system thus improving healthcare. However, only a limited application of IT advancements is seen in developing countries in their healthcare system. Integrating the use of information and communication technology into existing health systems has helped to improve the delivery of health care. Objective : The overall objective of this study are to explore challenges and opportunities for health professionals in using ICTs effectively for health care in governmental health centers Addis Ababa. Methods: A cross sectional survey was conducted in Addis Ababa health centers on health professionals from February ,2011 to June ,2011 .The sampling procedure is multi stage cluster sampling .So as ,in stage one, one health center was randomly selected from 26 health centers of each sub city .In stage two health providers from the selected ten health centers were selected purposively using all available health providers during the data collection period .The quantitative data were collected using self administered questionnaire. The study was complimented with in-depth interview. Data were initially entered into EPi- 3.5.1 dos version and exported to SPSS version 16.0 for analysis. Results: The total number of study group was 321 out of them 45.8% were males and 54.2% were females .The study showed that according to the issues to be addressed in only 5 health centers out of 10 were having source of internet connection across the institution but only 23 (7.2%) respondents use internet in their work place in the other way 100% of the health centers have computer facility in the institution but found in inadequate level. Based on the study report only 35 (11%) of respondent have computer in their department and out of the total respondent 98(30.5%) response never used a computer at all. The study also discovered that different problems have been encountered by Health professionals in using ICT. Regarding problems related to utilization of internet, majority of the respondent n=321 , 256(79.8%) reported to have various technical and administration constraints. The most frequently mentioned problem was cost of service for internet café users. In the study 161(50.2%) respondents were replied that lack of access of internet service particularly in the work place was identified as a major challenge for internet users. Conclusions and recommendations: The study indicated that Existing full infrastructures at institution level should be considered by the government and other stake holders because the overall attention provided for ICT infrastructure very poor.

Item Type: Thesis (Masters)
Subjects: H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General)
Q Science > QA Mathematics > QA75 Electronic computers. Computer science
R Medicine > RA Public aspects of medicine
R Medicine > RA Public aspects of medicine > RA0421 Public health. Hygiene. Preventive Medicine
Divisions: Africana
Depositing User: Selom Ghislain
Date Deposited: 22 Jun 2018 12:37
Last Modified: 22 Jun 2018 12:37
URI: http://thesisbank.jhia.ac.ke/id/eprint/4266

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