Education and training for health information management in Nigeria: a lecturer’s experience

Abstract

Background/Objectives: This paper sought to examine education and training for health records and informationmanagement in Nigeria from a lecturer’s experience. Methods/Design: It x-rays the travails and challenges faced by trainersand trainees and the pragmatic approach with which trainees are being managed. The training is not just to make traineeshave basic instructions in health records and information management (HRIM) but, to adequately equip them with specificskills to be able to operate seamlessly in the field. This is in order to plan, develop, implement, evaluate and manage healthinformation systems, including clinical and administrative data, and healthcare records in healthcare facilities and other typesof organizations in the world over. Results: Challenges affecting HRIM education in Nigeria include poor funding, lack ofadequate physical and technological infrastructure, obsolete technological environment, inadequate human resources, apathyto research and publication, poor trainers’ motivation and lack of commitment to academic excellence due to the rot in thesociety. Conclusion: Government needs to adequately fund the training schools so that they can meet up with the currenttechnological innovations and trends in today’s HRIM practice as quality education and training for HRIM cannot beachieved in the absence of ICT. Regulatory bodies are required to help in the maintenance of quality standards of training,and they need to formulate policies that will make graduates of HRIM easily absorbed into work environment. This willremove the apathy people generally have towards choosing HRIM as a course of study in life. Traditional HRIM educators should show concern for research and publications and eLearning techniques and avail themselves of opportunities toenhance their teaching skills, techniques and evaluation methods. The trainees on their part should inculcate the principle ofhard work, commitment and honesty during the period of training so that they can attain proficiency and competence in theirchosen profession.Keywords: Education, health information management, learning, research, training, Nigeria