Appraisal of data use and associated factors in health service delivery in selected council hospitals in Tanzania: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

Objective: This study aimed to determine the extent of health data use and its associated factors on the improvement of health service delivery in selected council hospitals in Tanzania.
Methods: A cross-sectional design was conducted in six regions that involved 12 council hospitals. A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data from 203 members of hospital quality improvement teams. Descriptive analysis was used to determine the frequency, proportion, and mean of responses. Bootstrapping analysis was done to test the relationship between the associated factors and health data use on improvement of health service delivery.
Results: Findings indicate access to quality data in terms of data visualization and sharing through dashboards (16.3%), data dissemination through notice boards (12.3%), and data review and interpretations (20.2%). Data use for planning and decision-making in terms of ordering essential health commodities based on existing data systems (10.8%), allocating hospital staff based on patient load (10.3%), and preparing hospital plans and budget allocation based on existing data systems (33.9%).
It has also been revealed that there were no health data use guidelines and standard operating procedures. Management support on data review through quarterly quality improvement team meetings (7.9%), computer maintenance (7.9%), computerized technical support (35.5%), and health staff received training on health data use (26.1%).
Conclusion: There was underutilization of health data in most of the council hospitals in Tanzania. Lack of guidelines and standard operating procedures, and inadequate management support were the significant challenges affecting health data use for improvement of health service delivery.