ICT knowledge, Utilization and Perception among Healthcare Providers at National Hospital Abuja, Nigeria

Abstract

Background: Healthcare system in Nigeria is moving towards digitalization especially in the management of patients’ health information, with a view to harmonizing medical care practice for improved healthcare quality. Information and communication technology (ICT) has transformed the way people collaborate, identify potential collaborators or friends, communicate with each other, and identify information that is relevant to their practice. Rationale: Thus, ICT has been identified as one measure to ensure these emerging trends in the Nation’s healthcare systems. Design/objectives: This study deployed a cross-sectional structured questionnaire to determine ICT knowledge and utilization among healthcare providers at National Hospital Abuja (n=271). Methods: We devised stratified random sampling in the recruitment of participants. Result: It was found that profession, possession of a laptop computer, age and sex were associated with knowledge, utilization and perception of ICT. Most participants were advanced in the use of electronic mail (51.8%) and the Internet (47.1%) mostly acquired through self-efforts (46.5%). However, a greater portion of the participants exhibited poor knowledge of database management (47.8%) and statistical analysis package (46.3%). The vast majority have used computer (95.0%) and the Internet (93.6%) for more than 3 years and many (86.2 percent) expressed a desire for further ICT training. Virtually, all participants in this study opined that ICT will improve medical care quality but some anticipated concerns over medical confidentiality as ICT becomes widely adopted in the country’s healthcare systems. Aside their poor skill in database design and statistical analysis software, healthcare providers at National Hospital, Abuja possessed good knowledge and disposition towards ICT especially for the enhancement of their professional practice and for public health quality improvement. They indicated interest in further ICT training in order to enhance their information sources for an improved practice. It would be worthwhile to enrich their sources of information in order to improve public health.