Health facility data verification

[David Boone]

We didn’t get a chance to cover the health facility data verification in the forum today. This is a critical aspect of assessing and improving data quality for routine health information systems. This is the aspect of data quality assurance that has been implemented using many different tools (but with much the same method) over the years. We want to compare the reported value of an indicator for a selected reporting period to a validated/verified value for the same facility and period, and do this for a representative sample of health facilities. The result is an estimate of accuracy of reporting for the indicators in question for the whole program.

What is new in the DQR is linking it to a larger health facility assessment for service availability and readiness (e.g. SARA) to improve efficiency and benefit from larger sample sizes, as well as standardized tools to facilitate data collection and analysis. There are CSPro data collection applications for PC and tablet computers (for electronic data capture in the field) and an Excel ‘Chartbook” to standardize the output, for both facility and district level.

Dave

See the two presentations we wanted to give today about health facility data verification.

Presentation on health facility data verification in DQR

Presentation on tools for health facility data verification as part of DQR

[David Boone]

Hello all,

We recently conducted a DQR in Sierra Leone using the standard tools for data collection (adapted for country-specified indicators), including the CSPro modules for data capture on tablet computers in the field. I find CSPro a bit cumbersome for data management on the PC but it seems to work great for data entry in the field.

As part of the WHO package of tools there are guidelines that explain how to adapt the CSPro SARA and DQR modules to local systems, configure CSPro data entry modules for the tablet environment (Android and Windows OS), facilitating the remote upload of results to the central server, and for creating the indicators for use in the Excel Chartbook.

I was wondering if anyone has had experience they can share of using the WHO tools specifically, or using CSPro for health facility surveys more generally (particularly for electronic data collection in the field).

Thanks,

Dave

[Robert Pond]

The role of mobile data collection and of CSPro during surveys deserves to be discussed further. While providing technical support for a recent DQR survey in Liberia, I found that fine tuning of the CSPro and the devices required many hours of my time – I worried that this sometimes complicated my efforts to focus on other training and quality assurance issues. The Liberia M&E folks suggested that we instead try using Magpi for data collection.

I have used Magpi for a series of Red Cross household surveys and have been impressed at how quickly the questionnaires can be set up and how user friendly the Magpi website is – including a Google map showing the location of each data collection point. Of course nothing beats the complex logic that CSPro is capable of. However, for a fairly simple DQR survey, perhaps something simpler would suffice.

If CSPro is to be used, then further capacity building is required to expand the group of consultants capable of supporting it. Or perhaps closer linkage is required with the National Statistical Offices which often have lots of experience with CSPro.

Bob

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