Medical Records Documentation of HIV/AIDS Clinical Services at Primary Health Care (PHC) Facilities and Its Implications on Continuum of Care and Operational Research in South Africa

Abstract

Background: Patients medical records are used to document care processes for communication amongst healthcare workers for continued patient management. Incomplete or inaccurate documentation can adversely affect the quality of patients' care, leading to medication and treatment errors, increased morbidity, and mortality. Quality documentation in medical records is therefore an essential component of optimal healthcare and facilitates an individual's continuity of care. This study aimed to assess the quality of documentation of clinical data through the review of the accuracy and completeness of clinical records among newly diagnosed HIV-positive persons. The study is a sub analysis of a prospective longitudinal study that followed a cohort of 12,413 persons who were newly diagnosed with HIV infection. Severe limitations in retrieving reliable information and data became an obstacle to our research and led the study team to conduct medical records documentation and data audit to verify the accuracy and completeness of the data for newly diagnosed HIV positive persons. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted using routine data generated from 75 randomly selected newly diagnosed HIV positive persons aged 12-years-old and above between June 1, 2014 and March 31, 2015 in 36 purposively selected primary health care (PHC) clinics in South Africa. The facilities were selected from three high HIV-burden districts of South Africa (Gert Sibande, uThukela and City of Johannesburg). Results: Significant differences in the accuracy and completeness of clinical records were observed between data generated through the self-assessment by the facility managers and data primarily collected through review of the patients' clinical stationery and facility registers.