Monday 14 December 2009

this is a very important question

Dear All,

I wish to pose a question to HIFA2015 members as it is still a big concern to me. How can we ensure that health information is utilized at the point of generation for evidence based decision making to improve the quality of care in our health care systems particularly in developing countries? In Kenya, scenarios of a patient being sent to pharmacy for drugs after being seen by the clinician and a prescription is written, only to find that the drugs are out of stock, is common. This is common at the public hospitals. If only the information on the drugs available was circulated to different clinicians seeing the patients by the beginning of the day, the patient would have saved a lot of suffering queuing for drugs only to be disappointed that they are not available. Clinicians will only prescribe for the available drugs if they had the information. This has its impact on the quality of care and also on services offered to our clients especially in the public hospitals.

Beatrice Muraguri HIFA2015 profile: Beatrice Muraguri is Health Information Officer with the Ministry of Health, Nairobi, Kenya.

MAY I add that the same scenario exists in Nigerian hospitals and patients and their relatives sometimes have to visit several pharmacies at huge expense, stress and waste of valuable time to buy medications or equipment. Why? Especially when each hospital can determine what drugs are in stock, are low in stock and finished thereby requiring replacement.

I have now sent our Chief Pharmacist at the National Hospital, Abuja, a list of the common drugs I might require in Neurosurgery for procurement. I know what drugs I need , they know what drugs my patients are likely to require, so hopefully we will get it right.

Comments and opinions please.

Biodun Ogungbo