Towards Computerization of TB Care at Kibong’oto National TB Hospital in Tanzania

Abstract

Tuberculosis (TB) continues to pose a global threat that causes millions of deaths globally annually. Several clinical Hospital Management Information Systems (HMIS) have been developed as well as specialized e-health systems to support TB care. However, most lead to isolation of patient’s TB care data from other clinical data. At Kibong’oto Infectious Diseases Hospital (KIDH) in Tanzania, the HMIS named Care2x is also missing a module to support TB care, making the facility to use paper-based system in TB care. This study employed questionnaires, interviews, TB care documentation and Care2x system reviews to get what is required of the TB care computerization at KIDH. Responses from a total of 44 health practitioners and 2 Information Technology (IT) personnel were collected and analyzed. Findings indicate that an integration of all patient’s data with TB care data is essential. This paper therefore, provides a design of a TB module for integrating in the existing Care2x HMIS at KIDH to improve delivery of health care to TB patients with timely and accurate reports generation as per World Health Organization (WHO) specifications.