Health workers with good self-perceived competency have lower actual competency levels on HIS in Eastern Ethiopia: A cross-sectional study

Abstract

Introduction: Utilization of health information is critical to meeting service performance goals and for making informed decisions. However, in resource limited countries, health data is rarely used in decisions around program improvements. This study aimed to assess the determinants of competency levels for health workers who utilized data from health information systems in Eastern Ethiopia.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out from April - May 2021 at selected public health facilities in the Dire Dawa city and Harar regions. A total of 129 health professionals were included in the study and simple random sampling techniques were used to select health facilities. Data was collected using face-to-face interviews and competency levels were measured using a tool adapted from the Performance of Routine Information Systems Management (PRISM) framework. STATA version 16 was used for data analysis. A linear regression model was applied to determine the linear relationship between self-perceived competency and the actual competency levels of the healthcare workers. Adjusted beta (β) along with a 95% confidence interval (CI) was used to measure the strength of the association with a p-value < 0.05.

Results: The overall mean for the actual competency levels of health workers who utilized data was 20.45 [95% CI: 16.71, 24.19]. Being head of a hospital/health center (β: 19.24, 95% CI: 4.42, 34.06), perusing HIS training (β: 14.38, 95% CI: 6.10, 22.67) and good perceived competency to perform RHIS tasks (β: -12.96, 95% CI: -25.49, -0.43) were significantly associated with actual competency levels.

Conclusion: The Health workers with high perceived competency levels were found to have actual competency levels that were low. Health information system focused trainings were found to be positively associated with actual competency levels and being a hospital or health center head was found to be associated negatively to the actual competency levels of health workers. This research has found that providing health information system training for health workers could prove to be beneficial. There is also a need for initiatives aimed at enhancing competency in order to improve the health information systems related competency levels and data use.