ANT perspective of healthcare big data for service delivery in South Africa

Abstract

In South Africa, there has been for many years challenges in how healthcare big data are accessed, used, and managed by facilities, particularly the small health facilities. The challenges arise from inaccuracy and inconsistency of patients’ data and have impact on diagnoses, medications, and treatments, which consequently contributes to fatalities in South Africa, particularly in the rural areas of the country. The problem of inaccuracy and inconsistency of patients’ data is often caused by lack of or poor analysis (or analytics) of data. Thus, the objective of this research was to understand the factors that influence the use and management of patients’ big data for healthcare service delivery. The qualitative methods were applied, and a South African healthcare facility was used as a case in the study. Actor network theory (ANT) was employed as a lens to guide the analysis of the qualitative data. Based on the findings from the analysis, a model was developed, which is intended to guide analytics of big data for healthcare purposes, towards improving service delivery in the country.