Abstract

ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND :
Health information systems in most countries are inadequate in providing the needed management support and the current health information systems are therefore widely seen as management obstacles rather than as tools.
OBJECTIVE:
The current study is an attempt to assess Health information system performance in Iraq.
METHODS:
A cross-sectional study was conducted with a total of seven districts selected from six Iraqi governorates by simple random sampling , and a total of twenty six health centers were selected from the seven districts, also by simple random sampling. The performance Diagnostic tool was used to measure Health information system performance, it is one of the PRISM package tools that are used to assess the Health information system performance.
RESULTS:
The data accuracy at the facilities was 29.03%, while at the districts was 55.35%, the completeness rate at the facility level was 96.38% and at the district level was 98.23%. For that of the timeliness, the results revealed 70.43% timeliness at the district level; the information use for a given feedback at the facility was 50% and at the district was 82.12% and for observed meeting records it was 41.6% for the facility and 50% for the district level.
CONCLUSION:
Health information system has a low data quality in the form of accuracy at the facility and district levels. The timeliness is relatively weak at the district level, while it is good in the form of completeness at both facility and district level; on the other hand information use at the district level was better than that of the facility level.