DATA INFORMATION ACTION

INTRODUCTION
To summarize and coin the above in a more succinct way, “Data Capture is the father of
Information and Good Planning and Decision Making are the children of information”.
Good planning and decision making in the Health Sector is based on information available to
those responsible for decision making. Planning health services, like any other service requires
empirical data of sufficiently high quality. Indeed many services have survived simply because of
the use of information, most of which are generated by their own activities. Big retail
establishments have managed to rake in huge profits simply by studying figures, watching trends
and taking decisions based on available data. Of course some organizations have had to fold up
just by ignoring information presented by data available to management or simply not
recognizing information generated by their activities. To this end, managers use information as a
resource, an asset, or a commodity.
This explains why information is now brought to fore in the health sector. As part of her
strategies, the Regional Health Directorate is strengthening the use of information for decision
making at all levels where data is generated. With the decentralization of management of health
services, there is a strong interest in having reliable financial and clinical data for local
management purposes.
In the framework of need based management, timely and reliable information is essential at the
local level for effective planning and delivery of health care.

HEALTH INFORMATION SYSTEM

The primary function of the Health Information System is to support decision-making in the
provision of health services. This is facilitated by providing access to unbiased and complete
information. The collection, storage, analysis and dissemination of information are the major
processes for accomplishing this task.
However, there is an abundance of data collected through routine reporting system but most of
these are not analyzed systematically and are therefore not used for decision-making in many
cases. In particular in the area of hospital and health centre use, large amounts of data are
routinely collected on demographic characteristics of patients, duration, and profile of hospital
stay, as well as on case mix and outcome of hospital care. This provides an information base for
performance monitoring and epidemiological surveillance for decision-making

DATA QUALITY MATRIX

Issue Definition
1. Appropriate Is the data needed?
2. Timely Is the data there when required?
3. Current Is it the latest data available?
4. Accurate Is the data correct?
5. Accessible Can users easily obtain the data?

DATA ANALYSIS AND PRESENTATION

• Do simple analysis.
• Ensure that you have collected facts before stating the analysis.
• Compare figures over a 3 year period (Same period, e.g. half year 2002 to 2004)
• What are the likely causes (e.g. in case of drop in OPD attendances or cases of dog bite
on the increase).
 • With the above, you will be in the position to advise management and the sub Metro
Assembly for action to be taken.

 MAKING SENSE OF DATA

1. Transforming raw data into tables and graphs in order to display patterns or trends.

TABLES: - A table is the simplest means of summarizing a set of observations. It is an organized

arrangement of data, usually appearing in columns (reading down)and rows (reading across).

GRAPHS: - A graph is used as a pictorial representation of data and in most cases proves the best
medium for presenting raw data. Graphs should be designed so that they convey the general
patterns in a set of data at a single glance.

2. From Data to Indicator:

OPD:
a) Facility Utilization and Income: - Calculate the revenue per patient and OPD
coverage for each facility for quarter, half year, annual.

Revenue Per Patient = Total drug revenue + Non drug revenue

Total OPD attendance for the period.

The top number includes All Revenues: Drugs, laboratory, consulting, X-ray etc.
Where period = month, quarter, half year or annual

OPD Coverage = Total OPD Attendance X 100

Total Catchment Population

Institution Workload:

Attendances per Capita = Total OPD attendance + PH attendances X 100

Total Catchment Population

Where: PH attendances are ANC, PNC, CWC, Immunization, and Outreach

b) OPD Specific Diseases:- Compare trend of OPD priority Diseases by month (i.e. Top
Ten/Five and their respective percentages)

Calculate OPD Specific Disease Frequency

OPD Specific Disease Frequency = Disease Specific OPD Cases (New Cases) X 100
Total OPD New Cases

c) Referrals: - This tells us if cases were being referred to higher institutions.

Referrals Sent Out = Number of Referrals Sent X 100

Total Number of New Cases