Assessing Health Workers’ Knowledge and Understanding of National Health Management Information System Data Tools in Primary Healthcare Facilities

Nigeria's National Health Management Information System (NHMIS) underpins routine health data collection nationwide, giving planners, monitors, and evaluators a shared data infrastructure. How well that system functions, however, depends largely on the day-to-day competence of the frontline workers who record and submit the data. This study examined how well health workers attached to the Ughelli South Primary Health Authority in Delta State know and understand NHMIS data tools. Using a descriptive cross-sectional design, the researchers surveyed all 104 health workers directly involved in NHMIS data collection, recording, and reporting across the area's primary healthcare facilities. Data were gathered through a structured questionnaire, reinforced by an observation checklist, and the instrument achieved a Cronbach's alpha of 0.86, indicating acceptable internal consistency. Overall knowledge of NHMIS tools proved moderate: half of respondents (50%) fell into the moderate-knowledge band, a third (33%) scored low, and only 17% demonstrated high knowledge. Health workers were noticeably more at ease with paper-based registers than with electronic platforms such as DHIS2. Understanding followed a comparable pattern, clustering in the low-to-moderate range, with 46% rated moderate, 40% rated low, and just 14% rated high. Formal training was rare, reflected in a mean score of 2.65 on a five-point scale, and health workers were far more comfortable with everyday registers for outpatient visits and maternal and child health than with summary forms or surveillance instruments. Many carried out their duties without a solid grasp of reporting standards or indicator definitions, and the application of NHMIS data to actual decisions was similarly weak (mean = 2.73). The study concludes that lifting NHMIS performance will require deliberate investment in knowledge and understanding alike, through structured training, closer supervision, and the incorporation of health information systems content into pre-service curricula.

National Health Management Information System, Health Workers, Knowledge, Understanding, Data Tools, Primary Healthcare

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