Health Workers’ Perceptions on Data-informed Decision Making Practice in Primary Health Care Units at Awi Zone, Northwest Ethiopia (Preprint)

BACKGROUND Background: Data-informed decision making is influenced by organizational, technical and behavioral factors. Behavioral factors are the major contributing ones for data-informed decision making practice. OBJECTIVE This study aimed to explore health workers’ perception on data-informed decision making at primary health care units of Awi zone. METHODS Method: A qualitative study was undertaken to explore health workers’ perception on the barriers of health data-informed decision making practice. Eleven healthcare workers were purposively selected from Primary Hospital, Health centers and Health posts. Medical Doctors, Nurses, Midwifes and Health Extension Workers were selected as key informant for in-depth interview. The selected healthcare workers were asked about their perceptions that affect health data use practice. A thematic analysis was carried out using OpenCode software. Analysis was performed with three identified themes namely; organizational, behavioral and technical themes. RESULTS Results: All the respondents were aware of data-informed decision making at the point of care. Some had experienced taking notes from their customers, and most witnessed they are negligent to write all details. They also expressed their feelings that registration book timely availability had an impact on their utilization practice of data-informed decision making. CONCLUSIONS Conclusion: Health workers are well aware of the practice of data-informed decision making at the point of service delivery. Behavioral, organizational and technical factors major contributing ones. CLINICALTRIAL