Knowledge of Health Information for Healthcare Decision Making: A Cross Sectional Study of Health Staff in Kumasi Metropolis, Ghana

Abstract

Health information collected and analyzed by health staff is the backbone for decision-making. Health staff’s Knowledge and understanding influence their usage of health information for health care planning and decision-making. This study assessed the knowledge and understanding of health information among health staffs in the Ashanti region, Ghana. This cross-sectional study was conducted from June to September 2011. The study involved 323 health staffs who were sampled from among1162 health workers from public, private, quasi and mission health facilities and the Metro Health Directorate in four of the ten sub-metros across the Kumasi metropolis. Data was analysed with STATA 11 software. The study outcome indicates a high level of knowledge of health information among health staffs in the Kumasi metropolis with 77% having comprehensive knowledge on HI (measured by correct responses of the statements to tease out knowledge). Awareness was however low among staff of quasi facilities. Staffs knowledge of health information was influenced by their academic qualification, profession and training on health information. Lack of awareness and training on health information discouraged the use of HI among health staffs (OR=0.02 and 0.08 respectively). Health information remains critical to making evidenced based decision-making. Improving the knowledge and understanding of health staffs will go a long way to increase the use of health information for planning and decision-making.

Keywords: Health information, planning, Kumasi metropolis, knowledge, decision making