The State of Information and Communication Technology and Health Informatics in Ghana

There are several pieces of evidence to prove that electronic health records (EHRs) can improve the quality of service, efficiency, safety, and positive patient outcomes. Past decades have seen rapid growth in EHR system implementation in healthcare institutions in developing countries. Effective implementation of EHR system provides a unique opportunity to collect a wide range of patient data to support health tracking over a time period. This study seeks to make a case as to why despite some EHR system implementations in Ghana, there has not been any significant improvement in patient outcomes. This research is not a systematic review but assesses the implementation challenges of EHRs in Ghana. Several papers were identified by searching through some databases, including Google Scholar, PubMed, and Medline, using the following topics: EHR implementation, EHR implementation challenges, and EHR system implementation and EHR challenges in Ghana. The approach to the implementation of EHR system largely depends on the country dynamics and does not necessarily follow top-down or bottom-up methods. The focus should also be on the institution and whether they have the resources to make the project implementation successful. End-users should be an integral part of the whole implementation process, and their recommendations should be followed and implemented.

Objective The study aimed to highlight the determinants of overnutrition (overweight plus obesity) in fishing communities and establish if these were the same as reported elsewhere in Ghana. Design Cross-sectional study. Setting The study was conducted in Idun, Ola and Duakor fishing communities in Cape Coast, Ghana. Subjects Adults (n 252) aged 20 to 50 years. Results Results showed that 32 % of participants were overweight/obese (BMI ≥ 25·0 kg/m2). Participants’ mean age was 31·7 (sd 1·0) years, they had 13·7 (sd 8·1) mean years of formal education, their median monthly income was $US 7·4 (interquartile range $US 3·3, 20·0) and their median daily energy intake was 7·3 (interquartile range 5·3, 9·8) MJ. Significant associations (P < 0·05) were found between BMI and gender, age, years of education, fat intake and marital status. Females were almost eight times more likely to be overweight/obese than males (adjusted OR = 7·7; 95 % CI 3·6, 16·4). Persons aged ≥40 years were about six times more likely to be overweight/obese than those aged 20–29 years (adjusted OR = 6·1; 95 % CI 2·6, 14·1). Married people were nearly three times more likely to be overweight/obese than singles (adjusted OR = 2·8; 95 % Cl 1·4, 5·7). People with more than 13 years of formal education (adjusted OR = 0·3; 95 % CI 0·1, 0·9) and people with >30 % fat contribution to daily energy intake (adjusted OR = 0·3; 95 % CI 0·1, 0·6) had reduced odds of being overweight/obese. Conclusions Overnutrition was prevalent in the fishing communities and associated with factors such as age, gender, marital status, educational status and fat intake.

The use of computers in the delivery of health care has significantly improved the way health service is delivered to clients and patients in the world. Despite the importance of computing to the delivery of health service, developing countries have not greatly benefited from it. Nursing informatics has been in existence and part of academic curriculum for the past 2 decades in some advanced countries. The Ghana Nursing and Midwifery Council introduced the nursing and midwifery informatics course during the 2015/2016 academic year. This seeks to train student nurses on the relevance of computers to health care. Two separate workshops were organised to ascertain the preparedness of tutors (teachers at the nursing and midwifery training institutions) for teaching the new nursing and midwifery informatics course as well as to compare the curriculum with other international recommendations. The nursing and midwifery informatics course is taught at the first year where students have not been introduced to the nursing processes for them to appreciate the use of nursing informatics skills. It would be better if the nursing and midwifery informatics course is rather introduced during the second year second semester when students are about going for the hands-on training at the various health care institutions. Examining the course content reveals that the practical aspect within the course is very small. It is expected that more practical contents will be introduced. Tutors are not adequately prepared to teach this new course. More training is therefore needed to make tutors fully prepared to teach both the theory and practical aspects of the nursing and midwifery informatics course. It is expected that the nursing and midwifery informatics course would prepare student nurses on all nursing informatics competencies. It is essential that nurse educators incorporate the entire concept of informatics into the education of nurses.

The coronavirus pandemic is the greatest crisis of our time, having claimed over 2 million lives and shocking the global economy. Scientists and governments have suggested the idea of a digital COVID-19 certificate, to identify vaccinated persons easily. This paper assesses the positions of stakeholders on COVID-19 vaccination certificates, their presentation, and their importance. Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) was applied in this study. Search terms with Boolean and/or operators were combined to increase relevant results. Four large digital databases were used for the search. Inclusion and exclusion criteria were used to screen 298 collated studies. Two reviewers independently assessed search results, extracted data, and assessed the quality of the included studies. It is essential to re-examine digital COVID-19 vaccination certificates, considering their benefits, such as real-time detection of fake vaccination certificates and identifying and mapping non-vaccinated areas for strategic vaccination planning. The use of a single electronic platform globally will ease verification processes while bringing economies back to their feet. Digital COVID-19 vaccination certificates may provide balance in this pandemic era. With digital COVID-19 certificate exceeding documentation purposes, it is important to recognise factors such as global economy and human rights, boosting free movements of persons.

Objectives: The use of technology in healthcare to manage patient records, guide diagnosis, and make referrals is termed electronic healthcare. An electronic health record system called Lightwave Health Information Management System (LHIMS) was implemented in 2018 at Cape Coast Teaching Hospital (CCTH). This study evaluated the impact of LHIMS on the quality of healthcare data at CCTH, focusing on the extent to which its use has enhanced the main dimensions of data quality.Methods: Structured questionnaires were administered to doctors at CCTH to enquire about their opinions about the present state of LHIMS as measured against the parameters of interest in this study, mainly the dimensions of quality healthcare data and the specific issues plaguing the system as reported by respondents.Results: Most doctors found LHIMS convenient to use, mainly because it made access to patient records easier and had to some extent improved the dimensions of quality healthcare data, except for comprehensiveness, at CCTH. Major challenges that impeded the smooth running of the system were erratic power supply, inadequate logistics and technological drive, and poor internet connectivity.Conclusions: LHIMS must be upgraded to include more decision support systems and additional add-ons such as patients’ radiological reports, and laboratory results must be readily available on LHIMS to make patient health data more comprehensive.