"e-Praja Suwa Arunalu": A Pilot Study of a Health Information Management System for Public Health Midwives in Sri Lanka

Abstract

We conducted a needs analysis amongst 16 Public Health Midwives (PHMs) in Sri Lanka and found that they spend most of their time on managing health records. We developed an electronic Health Information Management System (HIMS) to help them with their work. The HIMS was designed so that it could accept data from the PHMs, and generate reports which could be used by the PHMs themselves as well as by their supervisors. The HIMS was tested by a group of 16 PHMs in a remote area in the Rathnapura district. Mini-laptops with the software were distributed to the PHMs and they were given the necessary training. They started entering historical data from the registers into the system by themselves. Nearly 10,000 public health records were generated in the first three months. In a subsequent survey, all the PHMs gave positive answers indicating that they were happy with the pilot project and that they would like to continue using it to enhance their service. The system seems to be a practical solution for the field activities of PHMs in Sri Lanka. The knowledge gained from this study would be useful for future e-Health implementations in the public health sector of Sri Lanka

eHealth in Public Health Services

“…In this issue of the Journal several papers highlight how eHealth solutions have been used in the public health sector in Sri Lanka. The leading article deals with the successful implementation of a low cost solution of gathering cause of death data (3) underscoring the importance of simple but practical solutions. Two case reports of pilot implementations of simple eHealth solution to overcome the data gathering and reporting problems faced by public health midwives highlight the fact that implementation of eHealth solutions at field level is feasible in Sri Lanka (3,4) .…”

“…The leading article deals with the successful implementation of a low cost solution of gathering cause of death data (3) underscoring the importance of simple but practical solutions. Two case reports of pilot implementations of simple eHealth solution to overcome the data gathering and reporting problems faced by public health midwives highlight the fact that implementation of eHealth solutions at field level is feasible in Sri Lanka (3,4) . In addition to these a current practice article reviews how information and communication technology can be used in the fields of human resources management in public health services (5) .…”