Conference Abstract | Volume 9 (ConfPro8): Abstract 75 | Published: 10 Oct 2026
Eric Yiadom Boakye1, &, Peter Agyei-Baffour1
1Department of Health Policy, Economic and Management, School of Public Health, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana
&Corresponding author: Eric Yiadom Boakye, Department of Health Policy, Economic and Management, School of Public Health, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana, Email: boakyeyiadomeri27@gmail.com, ORCID: https://org.orcid/0009-0005-8133-0021
Received: 11 Mar 2026, Accepted: 30 Aug 2026, Published: 10 Oct 2026
Domain: Health Information Systems
Keywords: Routine utilization of health information (RUHI), Health information system, decision-making, Kwadaso, Ghana
©Eric Yiadom Boakye et al. Journal of Interventional Epidemiology and Public Health (ISSN: 2664-2824). This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution International 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Cite this article: Eric Yiadom Boakye et al., Moving beyond data collection: Determinants of routine health information system utilization for decision-making among healthcare professionals in Kwadaso Municipality, Ghana. Journal of Interventional Epidemiology and Public Health. 2026;9(ConfPro8):75. https://doi.org/10.37432/JIEPH-CONFPRO8-0075
At every level of the health sector, health information systems (HIS) are essential for producing the data required for evidence-based decision-making and effective resource management. Yet in practice, healthcare professionals often fall short in translating routinely collected data into meaningful action, weakening health system performance. Despite substantial investment in platforms such as DHIMS2, this gap persists at the facility level, with limited evidence on the specific factors of RUHI underutilization among healthcare providers at community level. The general objective was to assess healthcare decision making processes, routine utilization of health information (RUHI) for decision making and the factors influencing the use among healthcare professionals in health facilities within Kwadaso Municipality.
A cross-sectional facility-based study was carried out among 603 healthcare providers across public, private, and CHAG facilities in Kwadaso Municipality, selected through multi-stage stratified sampling. Data was gathered using a PRISM-adapted questionnaire assessing technical, organizational, and behavioral determinants of RHIS utilization. Excel was used for data entry and cleaning, while Stata version 17.0 was used for analysis where descriptive statistics and multiple linear regression to determine predictors of utilization (p < 0.05).
Out of 603 health professionals, most participants were female 417 (69.2%) and nurses 240 (39.8%), with a median age of 34 years (IQR: 28–40). Overall RUHI was moderate at 61.1% (60.13%–62.12%). Multiple linear regression revealed that higher RUHI was significantly predicted by stronger data quality before submission (β=0.049, 95% CI: [0.009–0.088], p = 0.015), adequate of written feedback (β=0.058, 95% CI: [0.019–0.098], p = 0.004), availability of enough physical registers and tally sheets (β = 0.059, 95% CI: [0.018–0.099], p = 0.005), integration of reporting forms into DHIMS 2 (β = 0.043, 95% CI: [0.003–0.083], p = 0.035), competence in calculating indicators (β = 0.055, 95% CI: [0.015–0.094], p = 0.007), development of practical data-based solutions (β = 0.045, 95% CI: [0.008–0.088], p = 0.018) and motivation for accurate reporting (β = 0.042, 95% CI: [0.001–0.082], p = 0.046). Department Heads showed significantly higher utilization than Facility Manager (β = 0.349, 95% CI: [0.141, 0.557], p = 0.001).
There was definitely space for improvement, but RUHI was mild. Organizational, technical and behavioral investment specifically, data quality enforcement, written feedback, data collection tool availability, DHIMS II integration, indicator calculation skills, data-driven problem solving and motivation for accurate reporting were found to be strongly associated with effective RUHI. Facility tier procedures might be conforming with Ghana’s Health Information Systems Strategic Plan and evidence-based informed decision-making should be strengthened by enhancing data infrastructure, resource availability, feedback encouragement, and focused capacity training.
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