Designing A Model For An Integrated Hospital Information Systems In Tanzania: A Case Of Dodoma And Manyara Regions

ABSTRACT

This study, has intended to design a model for an Integrated Hospital Information

System in Tanzania, and was conducted at four hospitals from Dodoma and

Manyara regions respectively. A sample of 90 respondents participated in the study

from a purposive and non purposive sampling. A Statistical Package for Social

Science (SPSS) was used to analyze the quantitative data.

Findings have revealed that, Integrated Hospital Information System (iHIS) in

Tanzania requires infrastructure, system development, data sharing and

interoperability and unique identification as well as information security and

privacy. Strong security measures must be observed before integration, during

integration and after integration of HIS system.

The study not only should design an architectural model for iHIS but also the design

has considered the fact that, most patients’ records which were captured by the HIS

deployed in various hospitals in Tanzania did not have either common unique

identities or biometric data, which could be used to identify a patient’s record

throughout the country. An integrated hospital information system which could

enable sharing of patients’ information between the hospitals is an important tool for

healthcare providers to provide continuous treatment to patients, understand the

background of the disease, understand how the patient was diagnosed and knows the

treatment the patient is on.

This study also, recommends the following to be the principle for achieving the

iHIS. The systems should be as flexibility as possible in order to allow further

growth and its expansion; interface engine must be constituted with technologies

that suit for integration such as XML, JSON and REST as well as patient having a

unique identification number which can be used in all integrated systems.