Assessment of health records storage and filing at Butabika National Referral Hospital (BNRH) Registry, Kampala

Abstract

The aim of this study was to ‘assess health records storage and filing’ at Butabika National Referral Hospital (BNRH), Kampala. The study was guided by the three research objectives which included; To find out how health records are stored and filed at Butabika National Referral Hospital registry, Kampala; To establish the challenges involved in storage and filing of health records at Butabika National Referral Hospital registry, Kampala; To suggest measures for improving storage and filing of health records in Butabika National Referral Hospital registry, Kampala. The study adopted a cross-sectional survey design which involved qualitative approaches to gather data from respondents who included health records officers at Butabika National Referral Hospital. Data was collected using interview guide as well as observation guide as data collection methods. The study employed qualitative research methodology during data collection, analysis and presentation. The findings indicated that the most common available methods of managing Butabika National Referral Hospital records are paper methods which involve filing patients’ information on paper files. The records in the Butabika National Referral Hospital are best stored in paper format while very little appears in digital/electronic format. This implied that much of the records are in paper format, highlighting the underlying challenge of lack of adequate automation of patients’ records in the Hospital. The finding indicated that record management department was facing challenges such as lack of enough lockable filing cabins to facilitate the effective storage of confidential information, low motivation, lack of modern automated system and incompetent employees in the field of storage and filing. The study recommended that records mangers and personnel should be trained in order to update their skills in the field of records management and preservation. This can be through sponsoring the staff to go for further training, encouraging them to attend seminars and any other records related meetings. This helps to expose the records personnel to different skills in the area of records management. The study also recommends that more computers be purchased installed to facilitate the automation and computerization of keeping and management. The computers should also be updated with modern and relevant programmes for record and information management.