User experience analysis of an eHealth system for TB in resource-constrained settings: A nine-country comparison
Abstract
Background
e-TB Manager, a web-based
eHealth system has been successfully institutionalized in 10
resource-constrained countries that account for one-third of the
world’s tuberculosis (TB) burden, but user experience has
never been evaluated.
Methods
A cross-sectional, anonymous
survey in eight unique languages based on the targeted
countries. e-TB Manager users included nurses, doctors,
pharmacists, statisticians/data officers, laboratory
professionals/assistants, health workers, and administrators.
Results
With an 86.3% completion
rate for all required questions, 1,511 completed responses were
analyzed. Users had worked in TB programs for a median of five
years and had used e-TB Manager for a median of two years.
Overall, 60.2% of respondents were female, 65% were clustered in
the age groups of 30–39 and 40–49 years old, and
nearly half (49%) were using e-TB Manager at the district and
sub-district levels of a country’s health system. Older
respondents aged over 50, regardless of location and with at
least 6 or more years of experience in public-sector TB
programs, had higher mean satisfaction scores than did their
younger counterparts. Overall, those who had used e-TB Manager
for more than two years had significantly higher mean scores for
the majority of the survey statements than did those who had
used e-TB Manager for less than two years. Ukraine had
significantly higher mean scores for finding patient information
available in e-TB Manager and in its benefit in improving
patient care compared to Brazil, Armenia, Nigeria, and
Indonesia. Brazil and Ukraine differed significantly from five
other countries in that they did not need additional training,
thereby demonstrating their institutional capacity after more
than five years of using e-TB Manager.
Conclusion
Although users gave high
ratings to e-TB Manager in terms of helping to improve patient
care, found it to be reliable, and were generally satisfied,
there is need for a combination of refresher training and
e-learning methodologies to keep pace with programmatic changes.
To read the full survey, click
here.
