Title: Management of records in state-owned hospitals in Ghana

Authors: Monica Mensah

Addresses: The Balme Library, University of Ghana, P.O. Box LG, 24, Legon-Accra, Ghana; Department of Information Studies, University of Ghana, P.O. Box LG, 60, Legon-Accra, Ghana

Abstract: The purpose of this study is to examine the extent to which state-owned hospitals (SOH) in Ghana manage their records as against the framework of good records management standards and practices. The purposive and convenience sampling techniques were used to select 14 SOH out of 37. Data used for analysis were drawn from personnel observations, examinations and face-to-face interviews with 26 respondents selected purposively from the 14 hospitals, giving a response rate of 93%. The key finding of the study was that the SOH had a fair degree of operational direction for the management of records but the available standards and practices for records management were not suitable. The study has demonstrated the need for state-owned hospitals in Ghana to have and develop good standards for the management of their records to help them attain their set goals and objectives in a more efficient and effective manner.

Keywords: records management; state-owned hospitals; public hospitals; Ghana; hospital records; government hospitals; organisational records; healthcare management; medical records; health records.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBEX.2016.076780

International Journal of Business Excellence, 2016 Vol.9 No.4, pp.463 - 487

Received: 17 Jun 2014
Accepted: 06 Sep 2014
Published online: 01 Jun 2016 *

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