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A human resource for health information system (HRHIS), also known as human resource information system (HRIS) — is a system for collecting, processing, managing and disseminating data and information on human resource for health (HRH). Depending on the level of development of a country's
health care system Health, according to the World Health Organization, is "a state of complete physical, Mental health, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity".World Health Organization. (2006)''Constitution of the World H ...
and the organization of its workforce, an HRHIS can be computerized or paper-based, including information on numbers and distribution of health workers and track their career information. It is usually an integral part of a comprehensive health management information system, and may be used to monitor and assess the performance of the overall health system. For example, in Tanzania the title ''Human Resource for Health Information System'' refers to an
open-source software Open-source software (OSS) is computer software that is released under a license in which the copyright holder grants users the rights to use, study, change, and distribute the software and its source code to anyone and for any purpose. Op ...
for HRH information management developed by the Department of Computer Science,
University of Dar es Salaam The University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM) is a public university in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. It was established in 1961 as an affiliate college of the University of London. The university became an affiliate of the University of East Africa (UEA) in 1 ...
for the
Ministry of Health and Social Welfare (Tanzania) The Ministry of Health is a government ministry of Tanzania. Its central offices are located in Dodoma. Its mission is to "facilitate the provision of basic health services that are good, quality, equitable, accessible, affordable, sustainable an ...
, and funded by the
Japan International Cooperation Agency The is a governmental agency that delivers the bulk of Official Development Assistance (ODA) for the government of Japan. It is chartered with assisting economic and social growth in developing countries, and the promotion of international co ...
(JICA) and other development partners. The system supports the capture of data linked to any level in the organizational hierarchy and is customizable at both the input and output sides. In Canada, the HRHIS is composed of multiple computerized components, including the National Physician Database and the Registered Nurses Database. Similar systems have been developed and implemented elsewhere. In Uganda, an open-source HRHIS was implemented under the request of the Ugandan Ministry of Health (MOH), to link and better manage a variety of independent sources of health workforce data, including data from censuses and other national surveys, MOH administrative records, district level sources, independent research studies, and health professional council data. In Brazil, the national web-based HRHIS (known in Portuguese as ''sistema de informação e gestão de recursos humanos em saúde'') was implemented by the Brazilian Ministry of Health under a process of health systems reform and decentralization, catalyzed by the availability of new information technologies at the level of local health organizations.
Botswana Botswana (, ), officially the Republic of Botswana ( tn, Lefatshe la Botswana, label=Setswana, ), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory being the Kalahar ...
developed its HRHIS in 1994, and Ministry of Health staff used the data as a basis for coordinated national
workforce planning The workforce or labour force is a concept referring to the pool of human beings either in employment or in unemployment. It is generally used to describe those working for a single company or industry, but can also apply to a geographic regio ...
efforts with other agencies and ministries, such as the Department of Local Government which employs health workers in local regions.


HRHIS in Tanzania

The Tanzania Ministry of Health and Social Welfare (MOHSW) identified health workforce information as a key area needing to be strengthened for fast tracking implementation of its Human Resource Strategic Plan.United Republic of Tanzania Ministry of Health and Social Welfare
''Health Sector Strategic Plan III, July 2009–June 2015.''
Dar es Salem, 2009.
The HRHIS was implemented as an effort to improve human resources for health (HRH) management. A situation analysis indicated the existence of several databases within and outside the ministry dealing with HRH, often with similar information fields. It was agreed these sources should be harmonized, and housed under Health Management Information System (HMIS) for consistency. The HRHIS software thus became part of the HMIS and was fully integrated with the District Health Information System (DHIS) software through import/export mechanisms. The HRHIS was built using free and open source technologies
PHP PHP is a general-purpose scripting language geared toward web development. It was originally created by Danish-Canadian programmer Rasmus Lerdorf in 1993 and released in 1995. The PHP reference implementation is now produced by The PHP Group ...
(server scripting language),
PostgreSQL PostgreSQL (, ), also known as Postgres, is a free and open-source relational database management system (RDBMS) emphasizing extensibility and SQL compliance. It was originally named POSTGRES, referring to its origins as a successor to the In ...
(database management system) running on multi-platform (Windows,
Linux Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, which ...
) architecture, and designed to be user-friendly allowing administrators or authorized users to add additional elements as new needs arise. The initial database was populated with the minimum dataset as requested by the MOHSW. The HRHIS provided import/output mechanisms for data at different levels, such as national, regional, district or facility level. It was designed to provide flexibility to: *Capture and store health personnel's data and history by organizational unit, cadre, and other characteristics; *Add any number of datasets or elements required by any sector (such as the central health ministry, local governments, civil services or private providers); *Update organizational unit details according to users' requirements (e.g. allowing additional regions, districts and health facilities to be added dynamically without entering into system codes); *Generate web-enabled reports in different formats (general and aggregated), including graphical reporting. Since human resource information/data are personal and confidential, the HRHIS system was developed with high security measures for protecting the data entered. Security measures include a login mechanism such that only authorized personnel can use the system, and also a Users Administration functionality which allows the system administrator to limit users' access to certain functions. The system was built by
UDSM The University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM) is a public university in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. It was established in 1961 as an affiliate college of the University of London. The university became an affiliate of the University of East Africa (UEA) in ...
developers and analysts considered conversant with the changing needs of the health sector and Tanzania's context. It is used in MOHSW headquarters, across the Coast region (regional level and all districts), and implementation has covered all Regions and Districts in Tanzania Mainland


HRHIS in Canada

The
Canadian Institute for Health Information The Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) is a government-controlled not-for-profit Crown corporation that provides essential information on Canada's health systems and the health of Canadians. CIHI provides comparable and actionable ...
maintains several HRH databases as part of a comprehensive national HRHIS. They include: *Registered Physicians Database *Registered Nurses Database *Pharmacist Database *Occupational Therapist Database *Medical Radiation Technologist Database *Medical Laboratory Technologist Database *Physiotherapist Database *Scott’s Medical Database. The databases capture and store information on workforce size, practice settings and regulatory environments, as well as trends in supply, demographics and education. They record information captured through transmission according to specifications from all provinces and territories, professional regulatory and licensing bodies, and/or educational institutions. Each database includes unique identifiers for tracking health professionals through time and as they move from one location to another; is accompanied by documentation on data quality; and is governed by security arrangements with respect to the protection of personal information of health professionals. The data are used by governments, researchers and professional associations for HRH planning.


See also

*
Human resources for health ''Human Resources for Health'' is a peer-reviewed open-access public health journal publishing original research and case studies on issues of information, planning, production, management, and governance of the health workforce, and their links w ...
general issues *
Health information management Health information management (HIM) is information management applied to health and health care. It is the practice of analyzing and protecting digital and traditional medical information vital to providing quality patient care. With the widespr ...
*
Health informatics Health informatics is the field of science and engineering that aims at developing methods and technologies for the acquisition, processing, and study of patient data, which can come from different sources and modalities, such as electronic hea ...
*
Public health informatics Public health informatics has been defined as the systematic application of information and computer science and technology to public health practice, research, and learning. It is one of the subdomains of health informatics. Definition Public ...
*''
Human Resources for Health ''Human Resources for Health'' is a peer-reviewed open-access public health journal publishing original research and case studies on issues of information, planning, production, management, and governance of the health workforce, and their links w ...
'' journal


References


Further reading

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External links


HRIS Strengthening Implementation Toolkit
USAID-supported Capacity Project
University of Dar es Salaam, Computer Science unit
Tanzania
Health Information Systems Programme
Tanzania {{Health informatics Health care software Health informatics