HEALTH INFORMATION:

Definition, Uses And Resources.

By Dr. Aesha Farheen

Department of Community & Family
Medicine,
Medical College(Girls center)
King Khaled University,
Abha
HEALTH INFORMATION SYSTEM
• DEFINITION:
A Mechanism for the collection,
processing,analysis and transmission
required for organising and operating
health services , and also for research and
training.
 REQUIREMENTS
• The system should be population based
and Problem oriented
• The system should avoid the unnecessary
agglomeration of data.
• The system should employ functional and
operations terms (eg. episodes of
illness,treatment regimens,laboratory
tests.)
 …Requirements Contd
• The system should express information
briefly and imaginatively (Tables, charts,
percentages).
• The system should make provision for the
feedback of data.
 COMPONENTS OF A HEALTH
INFO SYSTEM
• Demographic and vital events.
• Environmental health statistics
• Health Status-Mortality, morbidity, disability and
quality of life.
• Health Resources-facilities, beds, man-power
• Utilisation and non-utilisation of health services-
attendance, admissions, waiting lists.
• Indices of outcome of medical care.
• Financial statistics (cost, expenditure) related to
a particular objective.
USES OF HEALTH INFO SYSTEM
• To measure the health status of the people and
to qualify their health problems and medical and
health care needs.
• For comparison of health status–local national
and international. For comparison data should
be subjected to standardisation and quality
control.
• Planning administration and effective
management of health services and
programmes.
 ..…USES Contd
• For assessing whether health services are
accomplishing their objectives in terms of
their effectiveness and efficacy.
• For assessing the attitudes and degree of
satisfaction of the beneficiaries with the
health system.
• For research into particular problems of
health and disease.
 SOURCES OF HEALTH
INFORMATION
1. CENSUS
2. REGISTRATION OF VITAL EVENTS
3. NOTIFICATION OF DISEASES
4. HOSPITAL RECORDS
5. DISEASE REGISTERS
6. EPIDEMIOLOGICAL SURVEILLANCE
7. OTHER HEALTH SERVICE RECORDS
8. ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH DATA
9. HEALTH MANPOWER STATISTICS
10. POPULATION SURVEYS.
 .1CENSUS
• The word 'census' origins in fact from ancient
Rome, coming from the Latin word 'censere',
meaning ‘estimate’. A census is the process of
obtaining information about every member of a
population. The term is mostly used in
connection with national 'population and housing
censuses' (to be taken every 10 years according
to United Nations recommendations); agriculture
censuses (all agriculture units) and business
censuses (all enterprises).
 Census:Historical perspective
• The first known census was taken by the
Babylonians in 3800 BC, nearly 6000
years ago. Records suggest that it was
taken every six or seven years and
counted the number of people and
livestock, as well as quantities of butter,
honey, milk, wool and vegetables.
• The Bible relates stories of
several censuses.
• One of the earliest documented censuses
was taken in 500-499 BC by the
Persian Empire's military for issuing land
grants, and taxation purposes.
• Censuses were conducted in the
Mauryan Empire in ancient India.
• Rome conducted censuses to determine
taxes.
• The world's oldest extant census data
comes from China during the Han Dynasty
. Taken in the fall of 2 AD, it is considered
by scholars to be quite accurate.
 Census and the KSA
• Population censuses have been taken in
Saudi Arabia in 1962/63 (incomplete),
1974 (complete but not reliable), 1992 and
2004.
• An agriculture census was taken in 1999.
 Census VS Sampling
• The census can be contrasted with
sampling in which information is only
obtained from a subset of a population.
• Census data is also commonly used for
research, business marketing, planning
purposes and not at least as a base for
sampling surveys.
 CENSUS COSTS
• It is widely recognized that population and
housing censuses are vital for the
planning of any society. Traditional
censuses are however becoming more
and more costly. A rule of thumb for
census costs in developing countries have
for a long time been 1 USD / enumerated
person. More realistic figures today are
around 3 USD.
 .2REGISTRATION OF VITAL
EVENTS
• Legal registration,statistical recording,and
reporting of the occurrence of and the
collection, compilation,presentation,
analysis and distribution of statistics
pertaining to vital events.
(UN Definition)
 VITAL EVENTS
• Vital events in demographic literature are
defined as events which bring changes in
composition of human population.
• Live births
• Deaths
• Foetal deaths
• Marriage
• Divorce Adoption
• Legitimations
• Recognitions
• Annulmants
• Legal separations
• Previously only births and deaths were
treated as Vital Events. With the passage
of time and development of the
subject;Marriages,Widowhood and
Divorces came under the domain of Vital
Events.
• These events do not cause
increase/decrease in number of people
directly but have an indirect impact of
change in population size.
 HOSPITAL RECORDS.3
• RECORDS OF PATIENTS ARE MAINTAINED
IN THE HOSPITALS REGARDING ALL THEIR
ASPECTS.

• THEY ARE A SOURCE FOR DATA IN MANY

TYPES OF STUDIES,ESP SOME
RETROSPECTIVE STUDIES AND THE CASE
CONTROL STUDIES ETC.
 DISEASE NOTIFICATION.4
• Some disease are notifiable i.e to be reported at
once to the health authorities at higher levels of
administration.
• At the national level, it helps to plan and
implement health promotional and intervention
strategies.
• It helps to monitor disease trends over time. In
time this will permit an evaluation of the
effectiveness of promotional and intervention
strategies.
• It helps to implement immediate interventions .
 DISEASE REGISTERS.5
In epidemiology the term register is applied
to the file of data concerning all cases of a
particular disease or other health-relevant
condition in a defined population such that
the cases can be related to a population
base.
Last, 1995
AIM OF DISEASE REGISTERS
• To strengthen the information base on
chronic diseases in the population by
establishing a series of registers specific
for disease is called as disease registers.
 HOW DRS WORK
Primary care trusts identify and
maintain registers of those at greatest risk
from serious illness - concentrating
particularly on areas where ill health is
most prevalent – so that people can be
offered preventive treatment”
 USES OF DISEASE REGISTERS
• Patient care
– regular review and recall
– structured care programmes
– monitoring high risk groups
– managing demand / regulating access
– communication
– risk stratification
 …Uses Contd
• Public Health
– surveillance
– planning the provision of health care
– monitoring the burden of ill health
– monitoring the impact of prevention
 …Uses Contd
• Technology assessment
• Research
– descriptive studies
– improving the performance of clinical trials
– studies of process
– hypothesis testing when trials are not
available
 EPIDEMIOLOGICAL.6
SURVEILLANCE
• Is the systematic collection, analysis and
dissemination of health data for the
planning, implementation and evaluation
of public health programmes.
Epidemiological surveillance is now
universally recognized as an essential
component of public health .
• Established surveillance systems should be
regularly reviewed on the basis of explicit criteria
of usefulness, cost and quality; systems should
be modified as a result of such review.
• Attributes of quality include:
(i) sensitivity, (ii) specificity, (iii)
representativeness, (iv) timeliness, (v) simplicity,
(vi) flexibility and (vii) acceptability.
 ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH.7
DATA
• Environmental health addresses all the
physical, chemical, and biological factors
external to a person, and all the related
factors impacting behaviours. It
encompasses the assessment and control
of those environmental factors that can
potentially affect health. It is targeted
towards preventing disease and creating
health-supportive environments.
• Proper environmental management is the key to
avoiding the quarter of all preventable illnesses
which are directly caused by environmental
factors. The environment influences our health in
many ways — through exposures to physical,
chemical and biological risk factors, and through
related changes in our behaviour in response to
those factors.
• Thirteen million deaths annually are due to
preventable environmental causes. Preventing
environmental risk could save as many as four
million lives a year, in children alone, mostly in
developing countries.
 :Env health data is about
• Air quality, including both ambient outdoor
air and indoor air quality, which also
comprises concerns about
environmental tobacco smoke.
• Body art safety, including tattooing,
body piercing and permanent cosmetics.
• Climate change and its effects on health.
• Disaster preparedness and response.
• Food safety, including in agriculture,
transportation, food processing, wholesale and
retail distribution and sale.
• Hazardous materials management, including
hazardous waste management, contaminated
site remediation, the prevention of leaks from
underground storage tanks and the prevention of
hazardous materials releases to the
environment and responses to emergency
situations resulting from such releases.
• Childhood lead poisoning prevention.
• Land use planning, including smart growth
.
• Liquid waste disposal, including city
wastewater treatment plants and on-site
waste water disposal systems, such as
septic tank systems and chemical toilets.
• Medical waste management and disposal.
• Noise pollution control.
• Housing, including substandard housing
abatement and the inspection of jails and
prisons.
• Occupational health and industrial hygiene
.
• Radiological health, including exposure to
ionizing radiation from X-rays or
radioactive isotopes.
• Recreational water illness prevention,
including from swimming pools, spas and
ocean and freshwater bathing places.
• Safe drinking water.
• Solid waste management, including
landfills, recycling facilities, composting
and solid waste transfer stations.
• Toxic chemical exposure whether in
consumer products, housing, workplaces,
air, water or soil.
• Vector control, including the control of
mosquitoes, rodents, flies, cockroaches
and other animals that may transmit
pathogens.
 EXAMPLES OF ENV HEALTH
DATA
• Air pollution levels
• Safe water availability
• Sanitation
• Drinking water quality
• Radiation levels
• Soil pollution levels
• Waste management
• Water related diseases
 HEALTH MANPOWER.8
STATISTICS
• The availability of health personnel. It
includes the demand and recruitment of
both professional and
allied health personnel, their present and
future supply and distribution, and their
assignment and utilization.
 HEALTH MANPOWER STATISTICS-
KSA
• Indicator Number
• Physicians (number) ? 34,261 (2004)
• Physicians (density per 1 000 population)
? 1.37 (2004)
• Nurses (number) ? 74,114 (2004)
• Nurses (density per 1 000 population) ?
2.97 (2004)
• Dentists (number) ? 4,235 (2004)
 ..Data contd
• Dentists (density per 1 000 population) ?
0.17 (2004)
• Pharmacists (number) ? 5,485 (2004)
• Pharmacists (density per 1 000
population) ? 0.22 (2004)
• Other health workers (number) ? 39,073
(2004)
• Other health workers (density per 1 000
population) ? 1.57 (2004)
 POPULATION SURVEYS.9
• CPS(Current population surveys)
• Sample surveys
• Census
OTHER HEALTH SERVICES.10
RECORDS
Client Records
Laboratory Inspection Records
Laboratory Test Requests
Licensure Records
Non-Student Medical Records
Patient Logs
Patient Satisfaction Surveys
Pharmacy Prescription Dispensation Records
Practitioner Schedules
Radiographic Quality Assurance Records
Health Insurance Records
Surgical Instrument Sterilization Records
THANK YOU