Key Interventions that Support the Realisation of Data Driven Hospitals

The District Health Information System (DHIS) is used in South Africa to collect routine aggregated data. Analysis of hospital data in the DHIS revealed that reporting in hospitals (especially clinical data) is generally inconsistent and incomplete. The NDoH recognize these reporting and data quality challenges in hospitals and the impact they have on the ability to make informed management decisions and monitor the impact of health interventions. A data quality improvement initiative was undertaken in ten of the biggest Central and Tertiary hospitals in South Africa. The methodology to identify areas of incomplete reporting, findings of the onsite visits and interventions implemented to improve reporting rates in these hospitals are all discussed. This initiative demonstrated that well-designed and targeted interventions tested an refined in a few health facilities can easily be replicated in other facilities, making data quality intervention more cost effective in resource constrained settings.