ABSTRACT
Historically, public health spending has
consistently accounted for a substantial portion of government expenditure. In
line with the 2022 national budget allocation analysis conducted by the Policy
Monitoring and Research Centre, it was revealed that over 13 billion kwacha had
been allocated to health services. As society continued to age and exerted a
growing strain on healthcare systems, healthcare stakeholders actively sought
solutions to address pressing concerns,
including cost management, data quality, and overall efficiency. The
study hypothesized that digitizing medical health records would improve overall
health care facility operational efficiency by improving access to patient
information, streamlining workflows, reducing documentation errors, and
improving communication among healthcare stakeholders. Furthermore, the study
aimed to identify potential implementation challenges and barriers, providing
valuable insights for healthcare institutions looking to adopt or optimize
their EHR systems. The research design used a survey-based approach with a sample
size of 150 respondents from ten public health care facilities in Lusaka using
an EHR such as SmartCare or paper-based records. The respondents included
healthcare professionals, health facility administrators, and data entry clerk
personnel. The primary data collection instrument used was a structured
questionnaire that targeted key facility operational efficiency indicators such
as time efficiency, workflow optimization, documentation accuracy, information
accessibility and cost efficiency. The collected data was analyzed using SPSS
and Microsoft Excel software. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize and
interpret survey responses, while inferential statistics were used to establish
relationships and correlations between variables. The study’s findings were presented in tables, graphs, and charts, allowing for a
thorough understanding of the findings. The results collected and analyzed
highlight the significance of addressing these issues to guarantee the
successful implementation and utilization of EHRs in healthcare facilities,
ultimately resulting in enhanced patient
care and operational efficiency. The study’s findings add to the growing
body of literature on the benefits and challenges of health records
digitization in healthcare settings, particularly in Lusaka. The findings
provide valuable recommendations for healthcare administrators, policymakers, and IT professionals on how to
effectively leverage the benefits of digitized health records to improve
operational efficiency and, ultimately, patient care.