Lessons from Implementing a League Table Application in the Health Sector
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Lessons from implementing a league table application in the health sector A case from Malawi Kristoffer Adam Tronerud , Martin Theodor Vasbotten Master’s Thesis Spring 2016 Lessons from implementing a league table application in the health sector Kristoffer Adam Tronerud Martin Theodor Vasbotten 18th May 2016 ii Abstract Malawi’s Health Management Information System(HMIS) is currently going through a strengthening process. Though good progress has been made, the data in the system receives limited usage and is of poor quality. As HMISs are dependent on available quality data to support decision-making, further strengthening efforts are needed to increase the availability of quality data. This thesis and its research builds upon prior research suggesting that league tables can be used to improve data quality and usage in Malawi’s routine health management. Earlier research also found that creating league tables using the existing functionality of Malawi’s HMIS can be challenging, suggesting that an dedicated application could be a solution. Hence, this thesis looks at the process of designing, developing and implementing an app, called the League Tables Application(LTA) in Malawi’s HMIS. Furthermore, it looks at challenges and opportunities related to these processes. This study has involved potential users from all levels of the health system in the process in order to identify common thoughts and ideas for the application. Through demonstrations and users testing the application, feedback suggests that the LTA was a user-friendly tool to analyse data for decision-making. It also proved to give motivation as well as stimulating competition. Though the application showed promise, it also showed a lack of quality data and usage which in turn reduced the analytical value of its results. In order to properly utilize data and tools to support decision-making, efforts need to be put into increasing data quality and usage. iii iv Acknowledgements First of, we both would like to give a big thanks to our supervisor Johan Ivar Sæbø for his guidance and inspiration throughout the project. Moreover we would like to thank Jens Johan Kaasbøll for arranging meetings during our stay in Malawi in addition to contributing with his knowledge and experience. Additionally, we would like to thank Christon Mesheck Moyo and Mbongeni Chizonda from CMED Malawi for taking care of us and organizing our stay in Malawi. We also want to thank our families for all their support. Furthermore we want to thank the boys at Assembler for all the nice moments. Lastly, Kristoffer would like to thank Marthe, who’s always been there for him with her love and encouragement. v vi Contents 1 Introduction1 1.1 Background..............................1 1.2 Motivation..............................2 1.3 Scope.................................3 1.4 Research questions and objectives................3 1.5 Chapter Overview..........................3 2 Relevant literature5 2.1 Understanding Information Systems..............5 2.1.1 Information Systems as Social Systems........5 2.1.2 Information systems as Infrastructures........7 2.1.3 The Installed Base.....................8 2.2 Understanding Health Information Systems..........9 2.2.1 Common Challenges with HIS in developing countries 10 2.3 League Tables & Scorecards.................... 12 2.4 Designing for usability....................... 16 3 Research Context 19 3.1 Overview............................... 19 3.2 Infrastructure............................ 21 3.3 Health................................. 23 3.4 Health Systems........................... 24 3.4.1 Structure........................... 24 3.4.2 Health Management Information System in Malawi. 24 3.5 History of League Tables in the Malawi HMIS......... 28 3.6 Summary............................... 29 4 Methods 31 4.1 Research Perspective........................ 31 4.2 Action Research........................... 32 4.2.1 Description of the steps in the AR Cycle........ 34 4.3 Prototyping.............................. 36 4.3.1 Prototyping variants.................... 37 4.3.2 Benefits of prototyping.................. 37 vii 4.3.3 Potential disadvantages of prototyping......... 38 4.3.4 Our approach to Prototyping............... 38 4.4 Methods in app development................... 39 4.4.1 Agile Software Development............... 39 4.4.2 Scrumban in development................ 42 4.4.3 Tools for supporting development............ 43 4.4.4 Our approach to Agile Software Development.... 44 4.5 Data collection methods in deployment............. 46 4.5.1 Participants......................... 47 4.5.2 Data Analysis Approach.................. 50 5 App Development 51 5.1 District Health Information System 2.............. 51 5.1.1 Organisation Units in DHIS2............... 53 5.1.2 Indicators in DHIS2.................... 53 5.1.3 Analytics resource..................... 54 5.1.4 Pivot Table extension................... 54 5.2 League Table Application..................... 54 5.2.1 Main functionality..................... 55 5.3 Ranking & score calculations................... 60 5.3.1 Total score(for organisation unit)............ 60 5.3.2 Weighing indicator scores................ 60 5.3.3 Inverting indicator scores................. 61 5.3.4 Color & trophy distribution................ 62 5.4 Technical Solutions Description................. 62 5.4.1 AngularJS.......................... 62 5.4.2 HTTP-Calls......................... 64 5.5 Programming detours....................... 68 5.5.1 Storing tables in DHIS2, pre v2.21........... 68 5.6 Prototyping.............................. 69 5.6.1 Prototype 1.......................... 69 5.6.2 Prototype 2......................... 74 5.6.3 Prototype 3......................... 77 5.6.4 Prototype 4......................... 80 6 App Deployment 83 6.1 Installed base and the League Tables Application....... 83 6.1.1 Infrastructure........................ 84 6.1.2 Accessibility to Malawi’s HMIS/DHIS2........ 86 6.1.3 Status of data in HMIS/DHIS2(Malawi) or Status of HMIS............................. 88 6.2 Reception of League Tables Application............. 94 6.2.1 Ranking performances.................. 96 6.2.2 Colors in the league table................. 97 6.2.3 Weighting and inverting indicators........... 97 viii 6.2.4 League Tables Application as data quality assurance 98 7 Discussion 101 7.1 Challenges and opportunities presented by the HMIS in Malawi; the installed base..................... 101 7.1.1 Data in Malawi’s HMIS.................. 101 7.1.2 Functionality supporting backwards compatibility.. 105 7.1.3 ICT and electricity..................... 105 7.1.4 Summary........................... 108 7.2 Challenges and opportunities presented by the League Tables Application.......................... 109 7.2.1 Potential usages....................... 109 7.2.2 App design.......................... 110 7.2.3 Ranking........................... 111 7.2.4 Coloring distribution.................... 114 7.2.5 Functionality or Usability................. 116 7.3 Review of methodologies...................... 119 7.3.1 Lessons learned from development........... 119 7.3.2 Research approach..................... 119 7.3.3 Limitations and Shortcomings.............. 120 8 Conclusion and future work 123 ix x List of Figures 2.1 Self-reinforcing cycle[42, Chapter 9]...............8 2.2 Chiefdom league table in Moyamba district[54]........ 13 2.3 ALMA Scorecard For Accountability and Action, Quarter 4, 2015[9]................................ 15 3.1 Map of Malawi[3]........................... 20 3.2 Graph comparing the infrastructural rankings of Malawi to the rest of Africa [58, p. 10].................... 21 3.3 A filled out monthly summary form from a Health Cen- ter which needs to be sent/collected physically from com- munity to district level........................ 22 3.4 Illustration of hierarchy and data flow in Malawi....... 26 3.5 A timeline of project-based HMIS strengthening efforts – 1999 to 2014[62, p. 32]....................... 26 4.1 The cyclical process of action research after Susman et.al [83] 33 4.2 The cycles of this project...................... 35 4.3 Snapshot of Trello board used in development......... 43 4.4 Demonstration of app at district level............... 46 4.5 Steps of analytical abstraction, after Carney[18]........ 50 5.1 Accessing the LTA from an DHIS2 instance through the application menu.......................... 52 5.2 Definition of the indicator ANC 1 Coverage........... 53 5.3 A diagram showing the relationship between the DHIS2 instance, DHIS2 Web-API and League Tables application.. 55 5.4 Screenshot of dashboard page................... 56 5.5 Screenshot of create/edit league table page........... 57 5.6 Screenshot of viewing of league table page............ 58 5.7 Screenshot of viewing of user guide page............. 59 5.8 Weighted score example....................... 60 5.9 Inverted score example....................... 61 5.10 Diagram of the Model, View and Controller in an AngularJS appliaction[10]............................ 63 5.11 Excerpt of how league tables created in the LTA are stored in DHIS2 in a JSON format.................... 65 xi 5.12 Visual presentation of indicators in the app.......... 66 5.13 Table Example............................ 67 5.14 First sketch of the dashboard of the application........ 70 5.15 First sketch of the create table screen.............. 71 5.16 First sketch of viewing a table................... 72 5.17 A district hospital in Malawi.................... 75 5.18 Before and after adding