Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2025 Jun 13;32(1):e101357.
doi: 10.1136/bmjhci-2024-101357.

Usability evaluation of a DHIS2-based electronic information management system for environmental, occupational health and food safety in Sri Lanka

Prabhadini Godage  1 , Sapumal Dhanapala  2 , Achala Jayatilleke  3
Affiliations

Usability evaluation of a DHIS2-based electronic information management system for environmental, occupational health and food safety in Sri Lanka

Prabhadini Godage et al. BMJ Health Care Inform. .

Abstract

Objectives: The Public Health Inspector (PHI) Monthly Report is a critical document that provides insights into environmental, occupational health and food safety aspects within each Medical Officer of Health area in Sri Lanka. Currently, PHIs use a paper format to track these key health indicators, resulting in incomplete and inaccurate national data. This study evaluates the usability of a DHIS2 (District Health Information Software 2) based digital solution to improve PHI reporting.

Methods: The DHIS2 system was customised to address the gaps in the current reporting process, and its usability was evaluated using the System Usability Scale (SUS) with 50 stakeholders who tested the system.

Results: The DHIS2 platform was flexible enough to be customised to meet the requirements of the new electronic Environmental, Occupational Health and Food Safety Information Management System (eEOHFSIMS). The system achieved an average SUS score of 72.25, exceeding the accepted benchmark of 68, with a high SD of 13.37. However, a 92% knowledge gap remained.

Discussion: Digitising the PHI monthly report using DHIS2 addresses the challenges of traditional paper-based reporting, enabling timely monitoring of public health indicators. The favourable SUS score confirms the system's high usability, yet the knowledge gap underscores the need for ongoing user training to ensure data quality.

Conclusions: The eEOHFSIMS demonstrated its capacity to deliver accurate, complete and timely data, greatly benefiting Sri Lanka's primary healthcare services. This system enhancement supports better-informed decision-making, aligns with national health policies and enables continuous monitoring and evaluation of public health services.

Keywords: Data Management; Public Health; Public health informatics.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: None declared.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. User feedback summary.
Figure 2
Figure 2. Boxplot of System Usability Score.
Figure 3
Figure 3. Histogram of System Usability Score.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Ministry of Health Public Health Services . Manual for the Sri Lanka public health inspector. Ministry of Health Public Health Services; 2010.
    1. PHI’s Union of Sri Lanka About us. [30-Oct-2024]. https://phi.lk/about-us.html Available. Accessed.
    1. Sri Lanka, Sustainable development goals. [30-Oct-2024]. http://www.statistics.gov.lk/sdg/index.php/sdg/page/target1 Available. Accessed.
    1. Bagayoko C-O, Dufour J-C, Chaacho S, et al. Open source challenges for hospital information system (HIS) in developing countries: a pilot project in Mali. BMC Med Inform Decis Mak. 2010;10:22. doi: 10.1186/1472-6947-10-22. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Safadi H, Chan D, Dawes M, et al. Open-source health information technology: a case study of electronic medical records. Health Policy Technol. 2015;4:14–28. doi: 10.1016/j.hlpt.2014.10.011. - DOI

LinkOut - more resources