Healthcare Record Systems and Operational Difficulties in Selected Hospitals in Bayelsa State, Nigeria

Healthcare record systems form the backbone of patient information management in clinical settings. Even though digital health technology has advanced a great deal around the world, hospitals in developing countries still struggle to adopt and maintain record systems that work well. This study looked at the types of healthcare record systems currently used in three selected hospitals in Bayelsa State, Nigeria, and at the operational problems tied to managing them. A descriptive cross sectional survey was carried out among 94 Health Information Management professionals at Federal Medical Centre Yenagoa, Yenagoa Hospital and Maternity, and Kolo General Hospital. Data were gathered with a structured questionnaire and analysed using descriptive statistics and chi square tests.The results showed three distinct patterns of adoption. Paper based systems dominated at Federal Medical Centre Yenagoa, at 86.2 percent, fully electronic systems were used at Yenagoa Hospital and Maternity, at 8.5 percent, and a hybrid system was in place at Kolo General Hospital, at 5.3 percent. Operational difficulties were common across all three facilities. The most severe were unstable electricity supply (mean 4.62), insufficient maintenance funding (mean 4.55), inadequate training (mean 4.50), duplication of data entry (mean 4.48), and a shortage of computers (mean 4.41). A statistically significant association was found between facility type and system type (p less than 0.001).These findings show that healthcare digitalisation in Bayelsa State is moving at different speeds depending on each institution's infrastructure and capacity. Because the study covered only three hospitals out of the 97 in Bayelsa State, about 3.1 percent, the results cannot be generalised across Nigeria as a whole. Closing the gaps identified will require investment in power infrastructure, ongoing training built around real competency, and a phased, policy driven move toward fully electronic systems. Future studies should include the views of clinicians, administrators, technical staff, and patients, to build a fuller picture of how well these record systems actually work.