Survey on the Health Information Need of the Community Health Practitioners

Yoo, Ji Soo; Kim, Cho Ja; Kim, Jeongeun; Roh, Youngsook; Kwon, Myungsoon

Abstract

This research was initiated as a preliminary work-up of information system development for primary health care delivery by community health practitioners in rural areas in Korea. The study was focused on the necessary information for enhancing the works of the community health practitioners and that required for health promotion and maintenance within the community. The data were obtained by a questionnaire survey from 458 community health practitioners who participated in computer related education from June 25th to September 26th, 2001. Only 288 (62.9%) of 458 responses were selected for evaluation due to incomplete returns. The majority(76.8%) of participants was using computer once a day at the healthcare centers and the duration of computer usage was more than one year in most cases. The primary usage of computer was for making documents, sending and receiving e-mails, and searching information on the internet. On the contrary, other skills and functions as data management, statistics, web development, games, program development, e-business, and searching for books and articles were not as readily utilized. The essential information for enhancing the performance of the community health practitioners appeared to be that related to drugs and diseases primarily. Other items for respondents in the decreasing order of importance were minimizing manual paper-works, computerized business, computer education, and media development and materials for health education, respectively. The overall information need of respondents was the highest on health and disease, and that on others such as health education, health promotion, elderly care, and fitness exercises were high also. In summary, the community health practitioners should have applicable information system to enhance their performance by obtaining necessary health maintenance and promotion information; by networking available resources; and by enabling them to adapt to rapidly changing policies and work environment. The outcome of this study may provide information elements necessary in development of Health Information Systems for community health practitioners.