Health Information Departmental Seminar Towards Improving Management of Health Records Library In Federal Medical Centre Bida By Comrd. Adebisi A. Abdullateef (LHRO, RHIM) @ Health Information Departmental Seminar

Information is power. Is it?: Power to the people OR PREAMBLE Information is power. Is it?: Power to the people OR Power for the people. OR Power by the people . All we need Power to get things done the right way

INTRODUCTION Library: It can be seen as an institution which holds books, and/or forms of stored information for use by the public or qualified people. Library: can be described as the collection of similar information in a non-printed form e .g Records Library. Library: a room or building containing books that can be looked at or borrowed

Health Records Library: is a room/building where Patient Health Records (Folder) are kept mainly for the purpose of health care delivery and Research. For any functioning Health Records Department, Library is perceived as the heartbeat of such department where all other unit/section revolves round. So we as Health Information Manager/officer in the hospital setting cannot do without Records Library

BASIC FUNCTION OF HEALTH RECORD LIBRARY Basically, there are three major activities in an ideal Records Library Custodian of Folder Filling of folder Retrieval of folder In carrying out these functions effectively, the following need to be considered vis-à-vis:

FILLING SYSTEM For any Health Information Department to function efficiently, it is necessary to have an organized method for storing Medical Records, which can be regarded as filling system.

Filling system can be described as a set of documents arranged in a prescribed order for conveniences of reference and preservation.

WHY?

The purpose of filling is to facilitate complete and quick retrieval of pertinent information from the folders when the need arises. The prime responsibility of the Health Information Manager in-charge of the Library is to undertake the custody, classification and confidential preservation of the patient case history (Folder and its content)

the system of operation is straight numerically system FILLING METHOD There are three basic method of filling which are alphabetical, Numerical and chronological. In FMC Bida Central library, the method adopted is Numerical Method of filling and the system of operation is straight numerically system due to some reasons and most especially its advantages which are:

Pulling of consecutively numbered records from the file is simple Training of personnel to know the system with easy (The system is easy to understand) Looking at the merits of the system, there is no pain saying that the disadvantages of the system are more than the advantages. Some of the disadvantages are……..

Misfiling are very easy to do Misfiling are very easy to do. All the digits of the records number are considered at one time The greater the number of digit that must be recall when filling/pulling, the greater the chance of error Transportation of numbers is common, e.g records 432104 can be misfiled as record 431204. The heaviest filling activities are concentrated in the same area of the filling (shelf). Which means that HIM officer filling records at the same time in such area are bound to get into each other’s way

EQUIPMENT Adequate filling equipment must be provided in the Records library. Good lightning (illumination), temperature (Air Conditioning) contributes to the productivities of the filling personnel. Other equipment need for the work of library to be effective are: fixed shelves (open or closed), Mobile shelves (manual/mechanical), elevator/ladder for short personnel etc

Filling location there are four way of filling according to location which include: Centralized; decentralized; satellite; controlled Decentralized. In FMCB we adopted the centralized method/location

Staffing in the library Personnel in Health Records Library must be high experienced. They must be ready to work and have the interest of the service they are rendering at heart without fear or favour. There must be at least seven (7) trained personnel in the library running a permanent morning shift

Problem facing Health Records Library in FMC Bida Personnel: More staff need to be recruited/posted to the Library Shelve : Additional shelves must be provided Attitude of other staff in the dept towards the use of Records Library Inability to enforce Records Library Policy Out of Bound notice Boycott of patient from clinic to library Favoritism/Nepotism on the part of some staff in the department Personal patient Appointment saga Folder tracking problem Duplication of number Documentation

Conclusion It is important to note that Records Library cannot be taking for granted in the Department of Health Information for efficient service delivery, therefore necessary measures should be put in place to ensure optimum function of the Library

Recommendation Electronic Records keeping Attitudinal change among member of the department Strictly adherence to Library Rule and regulation Posting of more staff to Records Library Dissociating Records Library from other Unit/Section e.g COPC

Thanks you for listening And God will Bless you real good