The classification and storage of patient’s records at St. Francis Naggalama Hospital

Abstract

A study was undertaken to assess the classification and storage of patient’s records at St. Francis Naggalama Hospital. It was positioned on the following objectives; find out the types of patient’s records maintained, examine the classification systems used, storage systems used for the patient’s records, find out the challenges encountered in the classification and storage of patient’s records and also propose strategies for the classification and storage of patient’s records at St. Francis Naggalama Hospital. The study adopted a case design, data was collected using interviews, observation and document analysis. The registry staff were purposively selected for first – hand data collection because the researcher believed that they had dependable information on classification and storage of patient’s records. The main purpose of the study was to assess the classification and storage of patient’s records at St. Francis Naggalama Hospital, how it works, challenges and the possible solutions. The findings of the study revealed that the hospital serves patients from within the area, staff and as well as people from outside (private people). As a result, the hospital creates and maintains a number of patient’s records from services like laboratory, dental, family planning, and optometry among others which include medical reports, diagnostic and laboratory investigations. The registry uses a manual system for the storage and classification of patient’s records which stored alphabetically in cabinets. The registry staff surface challenges of limited space, inadequate storage equipment, dust, understaffing and inadequate funds. The study recommended automation of records functions because the e-registry supports the search, retrieval and display of patient’s records through a variety of interfaces for example file reference number, search for the records by file title and record content. The system also allows users to access all related records within the file or electronic folder, provided that the user is granted permission to view the records. Users can also identify records by browsing recently accessed files or reviewing the hierarchical structure of the file classification scheme. More so, all related records within the same file can be accessed, action officers receive a holistic perspective, seeing all related records relating to the same activity.