BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN

MORE than 100 healthcare professionals are getting trained to use a tool to help produce accurate national health data, and in the filing of electronic records in the Brunei Darussalam Health Information Management System (Bru-HIMS) system.

Deputy Permanent Secretary (Professional and Technical) of Health Dr Hjh Rahmah Hj Md Said said the 10th version of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) is a coding system developed by the World Health Organisation for health management.

During the launch of the training workshop at the Nursing Training and Development Centre in Kg Kiarong yesterday, she said the tool will help analyse population groups’ health situation.

“It has a significant value in monitoring the incidence and prevalence of diseases and other health problems,” she said, adding that the ICD allows different health facilities to compare and share data and produce accurate national data.

The deputy permanent secretary reminded the participants that the introduction of Bru-HIMS in 2012 provides detailed health information of the population.

She said Bru-HIMS is a platform that allows patients’ healthcare data to be accessible from any facilities under the Ministry of Health.

“But to fully realise this potential, the critical factor lies on the tips of our fingers, specifically in uploading patients’ data accurately, systematically and preferably in real-time.

“It is therefore imperative the users of ICD fully understand the architecture and framework of this coding system to protect the quality of the information captured and the reliability of the outputs of any analysis undertaken,” Dr Hjh Rahmah added.

She said the coding system is a reliable health data collection tool used globally by healthcare professionals in classifying diseases and other health problems recorded on many types of health and vital records, including death certificates and health records.

The ministry, through its Policy and Planning Department, said the workshop aimed to improve the skills of its staff in their coding duties and thus raise the quality of data on incidence of diseases.

Dr Hjh Rahmah said the workshop was conducted by Susan Mary Walker, a consultant from Queensland University of Technology, Australia.

Walker, who is a course coordinator at Australia’s National Centre for Health Information and Research and Training, School of Public Health and Social Work, will present the workshops at two hospitals and two health centres.

During the workshop, the consultant said coding helps make it easier to store, retrieve, analyse data and facilitate comparisons of data between hospitals, states, countries and across time.

“Why do we code? Because the data contained in health records is of no use if it cannot be accessed, retrieved and used … the coded data supports the improvements in patient care and when there is better information then better decisions can be made resulting in better health,” Walker said.

The Brunei Times