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EXPLORING THE CHALLENGES IN HEALTHCARE DATA COLLECTION: ORAL HEALTHCARE
PERSONNEL EXPERIENCES
NMRR-18-3194-44965

Syirahaniza MS, Mohd Zulkarnain S, Mohd Zarawi MN, Badariah TC

Introduction: A high quality oral healthcare data is critical for program monitoring,
continuous assessment and reporting. However, number of data collected amplifies as
the demand for progress reporting increased due to the introduction of new programs
and activities. With the increment of workload, multiple challenges have arisen, of which
could potentially impact the quality of the data collected. To the best of author’s
knowledge, no study has been conducted to understand these profound changes.
Objectives: To explore the challenges in routine healthcare data collection met by public
oral healthcare personnel in Kelantan, Malaysia. Materials and Methods: This
phenomenology study was conducted within the primary oral healthcare service in public
oral health facilities. A total of 80 dental personnel comprising dentists, dental therapists,
dental technicians and dental surgery assistants participated in the study. Eight focus
group discussions (FGDs) and 52 hours of researcher-participant observation were
conducted to collect the desired data. The oral healthcare data were collected through
paper-based method within each dental facilities and data aggregation was done at the
district and state level prior to submission through online system or email for analysis.
Data were analysed by ATLAS.ti software version 8.0, using the thematic analysis method.
Results: There were three broad themes identified namely the individuals or personal
challenges, organisational challenges, and technical challenges in data collection. Of three
broad themes generated, 12 sub-themes identified. The sub-themes for individuals’
challenges were knowledge and understanding of the work process, personnel age and
attitude, their work experience and interest. As for organisational challenges, the sub-
themes include facilities provided, workload distribution and human resources allocation.
The last theme consists of challenges faced in training, the work process and computer
skills. Conclusion: This study illustrates the complex challenges in routine health data
collection experienced by the oral health personnel. The challenges should be taken into
account as a key factor for promoting changes, improvement in the data collection
process or implementation of new data collection.

Keywords (MeSH): patient-generated health data, health personnel, data collection, focus groups
Dr Syirahaniza Mohd Salleh Dr Mohd Zarawi Mat Nor
Perlis Oral Health State Office School of Medical Sciences
Kangar Perlis Universiti Sains Malaysia
Kelantan Malaysia

Dr Mohd Zulkarnain Sinor Dr Badariah Tambi Chek
School of Dental Sciences Oral Health Division
Universiti Sains Malaysia Kelantan State Health Department
Kelantan Malaysia Malaysia

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