دانلود رایگان مقاله انگلیسی مقیاس بندی سیستم اطلاعات بیمار برای بهبود درمان HIV: سیستم های مانیتورینگ بیمار - الزویر 2017

ABSTRACT

Introduction: The rapid scale-up of HIV care and treatment in resource-limited countries requires concurrent, rapid development of health information systems to support quality service delivery. Mozambique, a country with an 11.5% prevalence of HIV, has developed nation-wide patient monitoring systems (PMS) with standardized reporting tools, utilized by all HIV treatment providers in paper or electronic form. Evaluation of the initial implementation of PMS can inform and strengthen future development as the country moves towards a harmonized, sustainable health information system. Objective: This assessment was conducted in order to 1) characterize data collection and reporting processes and PMS resources available and 2) provide evidence-based recommendations for harmonization and sustainability of PMS. Methods: This baseline assessment of PMS was conducted with eight non-governmental organizations that supported the Ministry of Health to provide 90% of HIV care and treatment in Mozambique. The study team conducted structured and semi-structured surveys at 18 health facilities located in all 11 provinces. Seventy-nine staff were interviewed. Deductive a priori analytic categories guided analysis. Results: Health facilities have implemented paper and electronic monitoring systems with varying success. Where in use, robust electronic PMS facilitate facility-level reporting of required indicators; improve ability to identify patients lost to follow-up; and support facility and patient management. Challenges to implementation of monitoring systems include a lack of national guidelines and norms for patient level HIS, variable system implementation and functionality, and limited human and infrastructure resources to maximize system functionality and information use. Conclusions: This initial assessment supports the need for national guidelines to harmonize, expand, and strengthen HIV-related health information systems. Recommendations may benefit other countries with similar epidemiologic and resource-constrained environments seeking to improve PMS implementation.

CONCLUSION

This initial assessment of patient monitoring systems in Mozambique provides key insight into strategies needed to strengthen and improve utilization of health information for HIV care and treatment. The findings of this assessment highlight the challenges of implementing a nation-wide monitoring system, primarily run in public health facilities in a resource-limited setting. Findings can support key stakeholders to harmonize and strengthen both paper-based and electronic PMS. Recommendations from this assessment can benefit programming and policy-making in resource-constrained countries with high HIV burdens as they seek to incorporate electronic functionality into national sustainable HIS and harmonize systems across facilities with varying capacity. Finally, conducting assessments of health information systems on a periodic basis can help to target where investment can have the greatest impact.