Development in Health Information System in Special Economic Zone, Tak Province, 2014

Abstract

This study aimed to evaluate the needs and problems of data utilization in public health manage-ment in special economic zone to understand data situations, data networking and system development for better quality, accurate and timely coverage. The study was also intended to analyze problematic situations as database for further in-depth research. This research assessed data system in normal areas and special economic zone, analyzed data quality, data demand, problem finding for planning and execution by re-viewing data from the public health units, including annual reports, the standard data set of Ministry of Public Health (the 43-file reports), special reports, websites of other governmental organizations, minutes from meetings of committees in special economic zone. In addition, the study had collected data from in-depth interviews with officers in immigration offices, NGOs, central units of Ministry of Public Health, personnel in Department of Local Administration, neighboring countries and provincial public health of-fices. It was found that most administrators and officers encouraged human resource development and support budgets for data center system management in all 9 districts at border areas and special economic zone; and data were disseminated through the website of Tak Provincial Public Health Office. In addition, over 50% of the data from 43-file report were found to be more accurate and complete than the data from the survey. Such information had resulted in increasing workload, inability to assess quality and accuracy of the data, out-of date, and lack of specific data from other agencies with regard to the progress in special economic zone development, such as construction, business registration, labor movement, labor registra-tion, number of labors in social security system, illness situations, and disease control from other public heath offices e.g. PU-AMI, SMRU, Maetao clinic. Moreover, most evaluation reports emphasized more on quantity of data than data quality. Hardware and people ware should be readily prepared and quality of data should be closely evaluated in order to minimize errors in inappropriate data usage, and improve coordination between personnel responsible for data management and personnel of special economic zone for more accurate and complete data collection.