Stakeholders have advocated using health information technology for improved healthcare delivery in the country.

The stakeholders made the call on Thursday at a three-day workshop in Abuja.

The Cranium Integrated Solutions organised the event in collaboration with Digital Health Organisations. In his presentation, the head of the Department of Health Information Management, Adio Adetona, said health information played a critical role in health care delivery.

According to Mr Adetona, it focuses on collecting, maintaining and using quality data and supports the information-intensive and information-reliant healthcare system.

He said health Information is the data related to a person’s medical history, including symptoms, diagnosis, procedures and outcomes.

According to him, improving patient care has become a priority for all healthcare providers with the overall objective of achieving a high degree of patient satisfaction.

Mr Adetona said advanced health records and information management could be achieved by applying health information technology.

According to him, health records and information management driven by Health Information Technology provide decision-making resources.

The co-founder of Cranium Integrated Solutions, Adekunle Adesida, said in his paper presentation that the main goal of a relational database was to reduce data duplication and make them readily and easily accessible when needed.

Mr Adesida said database development included the design of the table structures, the creation of the indexes and the development of the procedures and triggers.

He said the lack of standards had also prevented the reuse of clinical data to meet the broad range of patient safety and quality reporting requirements.

He noted that the federal government recognised the problem and was moving forward with integrating safety-related systems.

Mr Adesida, however, advocated that healthcare systems adopt digital health applications that have worldwide acceptable standards.

He said it should ensure that patient flow is seamless and effective, adoption of indigenous applications that could be fully modified and grant full rights to the database.

Tokunbo Smith, a chartered information technology practitioner, said it helped to move past short-term thinking and strategies for the organisation’s future.

(NAN)