Influence of Health Information Data Quality on Decision-Making Among Healthcare Professionals in Tertiary Hospitals in Bayelsa State

Clinical and administrative decision-making relies on the availability of accurate, complete, timely, consistent, reliable, and relevant health information, which is critically important to healthcare decision-making. The effect of health information data quality on decision making of healthcare professionals in tertiary hospitals in Bayelsa State was studied. This study was of a cross-sectional survey type. The population were healthcare professionals in tertiary hospitals of Bayelsa State with 307 respondents selected for the study. A four-point Likert scale was used to collect the data, with a structured questionnaire. This instrument evaluated key aspects of the quality of the information about health and the quality of decisions about health. Frequencies, percentages, mean, standard deviations and simple linear regression were used to analyse the data at 5% level of significance. The results indicated that the general mean of the respondents was around 3.20, which is above the criterion mean of 2.50, meaning that they generally agreed that quality health information facilitated the process of decision-making. Respondents strongly felt that having accurate, complete, timely, reliable, consistent and relevant health information ensured professional decisions and that it enhanced the effectiveness of healthcare decisions. The regression analysis revealed that data quality was negatively, but not significantly, related to decision-making effectiveness (B = −0.091, β = −0.069, t = −1.201, p = .231). The p value was > 0.05, thus the null hypothesis was not rejected. The study found that, while the quality of information on health was perceived as important to the decision-making process, data quality was not a significant predictor of the effectiveness of the decision-making process in the study context. The study suggested improving data quality monitoring, continuing to train healthcare professionals, conducting frequent data quality audits, making information systems more accessible, and linking data quality improvement to other organisational and professional decision support efforts.