electronic information management system to improve recording and reporting for tb control in...
TRANSCRIPT
Research Category 2: Public health practice
TITLE: Electronic Information Management System to Improve Recording and Reporting for TB Control in Bangladesh: Initial Experience and Opportunities AUTHORS: Kibria M. G1a, Bashar Sa, Hossain M. Ka, Husain Ab
a Systems for Improved Access to Pharmaceuticals and Services (SIAPS) Program, Management Sciences for Health (MSH), Dhaka, Bangladesh b National TB Control Program (NTP), Dhaka, Bangladesh BACKGROUND: One significant challenge for the NTP is to accurately record and report TB patient data. However, low reporting rates, a long lead time to generate TB reports, and complying with WHO reporting requirements meant more time preparing reports.
INTERVENTION: We assessed the needs of the NTP’s information management system and identified key stakeholders and constraints. An options analysis identified the solution for improving the situation and resulted in the adoption of e-TB Manager (e-TBM), a web-based system, to manage TB patients and medicines and generate key reports and indicators. The system was initially piloted at 6 sites in partnership with WHO in November 2010 and then rolled out to 110 sites. RESULTS: e-TBM reduced the lead time of report preparation to less than one minute compared to two days, thus improving timeliness. It supports assessing the quality of implementing sites’ reports and contributes to designing supervision plans at low-performing sites. Initial observation showed that the performance rate for data quality aspects, such as timeliness, completeness, and accuracy, has progressively improved to 78% in November 2013, representing an increase of 20 percentage points compared to September 2013 (58%). CONCLUSION: e-TBM can support the systematic organization of critical information needed for timely decision making in TB control. With data decentralization and more involvement of various stakeholders in health system, e-TBM has the potential to promote real-time collaboration and provide a feedback mechanism.
1 Corresponding author’s email address: [email protected]