Clinical staff members’ awareness of the security and privacy components of hospital health information governance in Kumasi,Ghana

Abstract

Background: In Ghana, the adoption of health information governance (IG) by hospitals remains in its early stages, despite the establishment of a national legislative framework mandating the reporting of health record-related information by both private and government-assisted hospitals. Objective: To assess the level of awareness among hospital IG and clinical staff regarding the privacy and security components of IG in Kumasi, Ghana. Methods: A quantitative study was conducted from September to November 2021. An online survey was administered to a proportionately weighted sample of 330 eligible medical doctors and nurses from our purposively selected hospitals in Kumasi, each with ⩾50 beds. Results: A total of 307 valid responses were obtained, representing a 93% response rate. Over half of the respondents (53%) demonstrated limited awareness of IG programs designed to manage confidential health information. Approximately half (50.3%) reported having knowledge of data breach and privacy policies. The most cited barriers to IG implementation were cost (76.6%, n = 216) and implementation complexity (65.1%, n = 200). Nearly one-quarter of respondents (24.7%) reported having experienced a data breach, with loss of information (24.3%) identified as the most significant potential consequence for their health facilities. Conclusion: The hospitals studied lacked organisation-wide IG program, and overall awareness of health information security among staff was low. Implications for health information management practice: These findings highlight the urgent need for appropriate measures to (a) engage staff and other stakeholders in the development and implementation of IG programs, (b) raise awareness of health information security practices within Ghanaian hospitals and (c) establish formal education programs for professional health information managers.