Utilization of routine health data and its determinants among healthcare workers in public health facilities of harari region, eastern Ethiopia

Abstract

Background: Routine health information is the pillar of the planning and management of health services and plays a vital role in effective and efficient health service delivery, decision making, and program improvement. Little is known about evidence-based actions to successively advance the use of information for decision making. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the level and determinants of routine health data utilization among health workers in public health facilities in the Harari region, Ethiopia. Methods: An institutional-based cross-sectional study design was used from June 1 to July 31, 2020. A total of 410 health care providers from two hospitals and five health centers were selected using a simple random sampling technique. Data were collected through a structured questionnaire complemented by an observational checklist. The collected data were thoroughly checked, coding, and entered into Epi-data version 4.6 before being transferred to Stata version 14 for analysis. Frequency and cross-tabulations were performed. To measure factors associated with routine use of health data, bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analyzes were performed. The odds ratio with a 95% CI was calculated, and then a p-value of less than 0.05 was considered significant. Result: The general utilization of routine health data was 65.6%. The use of routine health data was significantly associated with healthcare workers who had a positive attitude towards data [AOR = 4 (2.3–6.9)], received training [AOR = 2.1 (1.3–3.6)], had supportive supervision [AOR = 3.6 (2.1–6.2)], received regular feedback [AOR = 2.9 (1.7–5.0)] and perceived a culture of information use [AOR = 2.5 (1.3–4.6)]. Conclusions: Sixty percent of health professionals had used routine health data utilization. Training, supervision, feedback, and the perceived culture of information were independently associated with the use of routine health data utilization. Therefore, it is critical to focus on improving data utilization practices by addressing factors that influence the use of routine health data.