| dc.description |
Background: Blockchain technology is a distributed electronic ledger containing digital records,
transactions or events that are protected with advanced encryptions, extremely hard to tamper, and
updateable through a consensus algorithm agreeable to all connected network nodes. In Sub-Sahara Africa,
the technology has started to be adopted in real estate, supply chain, agriculture, and financial sector.
Unfortunately, there is a lack of effort in introducing this technology in the healthcare sector. Therefore,
this study aims to explore the issues facing electronic healthcare systems in Sub-Sahara Africa taking
Tanzania as a case study and introduce blockchain-based solutions for the discovered issues.
Methods: The study used qualitative methods for data collection and analysis. Data were collected through
interviews, observation and documentary analysis. Interviews were done with the sample size of 50
participants who were selected from groups of healthcare facility leaders, ICT experts, government
representatives, doctors, nurses, laboratory technicians, pharmacists, accountants, and receptionists. Direct
observation and participatory observation were used to assess different electronic healthcare records
systems’ functions. Moreover, researchers used document analysis to collect data from public records (like
policy manuals), personal documents (like incident reports), and physical evidence (like training materials
and handbooks). NVivo 11 software was applied in managing and organizing data analysis.
Results: Out of 710 healthcare facilities involved in this study, 34.5% fully implemented electronic
healthcare records systems and 78% installed Mfumo wa Taarifa za Uendeshaji Huduma za Afya
(MTUHA) also known as (District Health Information Software (DHIS) II). The findings showed that the
issues facing electronic healthcare records are; difficulties in taking care of the patients’ private information,
problems in safely sharing medical information between healthcare facilities, bandwidth issues, and
improper handling of data integrity. |
|