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Impact of Digital Health Records on Patient Data Accuracy in Nigerian Public Hospitals

Abstract

Digital health records have become increasingly important in modern healthcare systems because they provide electronic mechanisms for recording, storing, retrieving, updating, and sharing patient information. Digital health records refer to electronically generated and managed patient health information maintained through electronic medical record, electronic health record, or other digital health information systems. Patient data accuracy refers to the extent to which information contained in patient records is complete, correct, consistent, current, and free from errors or duplication. Accurate patient data are essential for clinical decision-making, diagnosis, treatment, medication administration, continuity of care, disease surveillance, health reporting, billing, research, and healthcare planning. In Nigerian public hospitals, the transition from predominantly paper-based records to digital health records has the potential to improve the accuracy, accessibility, completeness, and consistency of patient information. However, challenges such as inadequate digital infrastructure, unreliable electricity supply, limited staff training, poor system integration, data-entry errors, duplicate patient records, inadequate technical support, and resistance to technological change may affect the effective use of digital health-record systems. Effective digital health records may reduce illegible handwriting, missing information, duplication, and delays associated with manual recordkeeping, thereby improving the quality and accuracy of patient data. Against this background, this study investigates the impact of digital health records on patient data accuracy in Nigerian public hospitals. The study is anchored on the Technology Acceptance Model, the Health Information Systems Success Model, and Donabedian's Structure-Process-Outcome Model. The Technology Acceptance Model explains the adoption and use of digital health systems through perceived usefulness and ease of use, which may influence healthcare workers' effective use of electronic records. The Health Information Systems Success Model emphasizes system quality, information quality, user satisfaction, and system use as important factors influencing the effectiveness of health information systems. Donabedian's Model identifies healthcare information systems and organizational resources as structural components that influence healthcare processes and outcomes. Collectively, these theoretical perspectives provide a suitable framework for explaining how digital health records may influence patient data accuracy in Nigerian public hospitals. The study will adopt a quantitative cross-sectional research design. Primary data will be collected from selected Nigerian public hospitals using structured questionnaires for healthcare workers and health information management personnel, digital health-record system assessment checklists, patient-record audit tools, data-quality assessment forms, and relevant hospital information-system records. A multistage sampling technique will be employed to select states, public hospitals, clinical departments, healthcare workers, and patient records. Digital health records will be assessed using indicators such as level of electronic record adoption, extent of digital record use, frequency of system utilization, electronic data entry, availability of patient identification systems, accessibility of patient records, system interoperability, record retrieval efficiency, system reliability, data-entry functionality, and availability of technical support. Patient data accuracy will be assessed through indicators such as correctness of demographic information, accuracy of diagnoses, medication records, laboratory results, clinical notes, patient identification information, completeness of records, consistency across records, timeliness of updates, duplication of patient records, and discrepancies between electronic records and source documents. Patient-record audits and comparisons between digital records and relevant source documentation will be used where feasible to provide objective measures of data accuracy. Descriptive statistics will be used to summarize digital health-record utilization and patient data-quality indicators. Inferential statistical techniques, including chi-square tests, correlation analysis, and multiple regression analysis, will be used to determine the impact of digital health records on patient data accuracy. Diagnostic tests will also be conducted to assess the reliability of research instruments, model assumptions, goodness of fit, multicollinearity, and robustness of the findings. The study is expected to find that effective use of digital health records has a significant positive impact on patient data accuracy in Nigerian public hospitals. Hospitals with functional and well-utilized digital health-record systems are expected to demonstrate higher levels of completeness, consistency, correctness, and timeliness of patient information than facilities that rely primarily on manual recordkeeping. Digital systems may reduce errors associated with illegible handwriting, missing records, incomplete documentation, repeated data entry, and difficulties retrieving previous patient information. Electronic validation features and standardized data-entry fields may also reduce certain types of documentation errors and improve consistency across patient records. Conversely, poorly implemented digital systems may create new forms of data inaccuracy through incorrect data entry, duplicate records, incomplete electronic documentation, system downtime, or inadequate user training. Therefore, the quality of digital health records depends not only on the availability of technology but also on healthcare worker competence, system design, technical support, data-governance procedures, and institutional implementation practices. The study is expected to contribute to the literature on digital health records, patient data accuracy, health information systems, electronic health records, health informatics, medical records management, healthcare quality, and public health in Nigeria by providing empirical evidence on the role of digital record systems in improving patient information quality. The findings will provide useful information to the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, state ministries of health, public hospital management boards, health information management departments, healthcare administrators, digital-health stakeholders, information technology personnel, healthcare professionals, and policymakers regarding strategies for improving digital health-record implementation. The study will also provide evidence-based recommendations for strengthening electronic health-record systems, improving healthcare worker training, standardizing data-entry procedures, implementing regular patient-record audits, reducing duplicate patient records, improving system interoperability, strengthening technical support, ensuring reliable electricity and network infrastructure, and establishing robust data-quality monitoring mechanisms in Nigerian public hospitals.

Keywords: Digital health records, patient data accuracy, Nigerian public hospitals, electronic health records, health information systems, health informatics, medical records, data quality, patient information, digital healthcare, healthcare quality, public health.