Construction and usability of community health nursing database in rural north-eastern Thailand

Abstract

Introductions: Digitization could be incorporated in rural areas of resource-poor countries because information gathered by nurses working on-site could be better used.

Background: For effective management of community health information, the usage and maintenance of digital records are important. Digitization of information provides essential information for informing health policy.

Aim: To develop a sustainable database to effectively collect and manage community health information and nursing practice.

Methods: This study used a mixed method design. Phase 1 involved the development of a database system through repeated systematic focus group discussions with community health nurses. Phase 2 involved a practical trial examination of the developed system with both objective and subjective evaluations.

Results: A nursing database system was developed with templates designed for the major health problems of communities. The templates were composed of multiple-choice items and a free-text field that allowed records to be more detailed than handwritten records and maintained in standardized formats. This enables accumulation of data that were less likely to be influenced by the variance of ability in each nurse.

Discussion and conclusion: A multifaceted evaluation of the database system suggested that it could improve the efficiency of information management and contribute to the improvement of nursing care quality through standardization of the recording pattern.

Implications for nursing and health policy: The nursing database will enable high-quality information storage that will potentially better inform health and healthcare policies as well as enable visualization of data concerning nursing care challenges and activities within the relevant communities. This information is essential for policy development and implementation in areas of human and fiscal resource allocations and meeting training/education needs.

Keywords: Chronic Diseases; Community Health Nursing; Database System; Electronic Health Records; Information Technology; Resource-Poor Countries; Rural Areas; System Usability; Thailand.