1. Health Information Departmental Seminar
Towards Improving Management of Health Records Library In Federal Medical Centre Bida By
Comrd. Adebisi A. Abdullateef (LHRO, RHIM) @
Health Information Departmental Seminar

2. Information is power. Is it?: Power to the people OR
PREAMBLE
Information is power. Is it?:
Power to the people OR
Power for the people. OR
Power by the people
. All we need Power to get things done the right way

3. INTRODUCTION
Library: It can be seen as an institution which holds books, and/or forms of stored information for use by the public or qualified people.
Library: can be described as the collection of similar information in a non-printed form e .g Records Library.
Library: a room or building containing books that can be looked at or borrowed

4. Health Records Library: is a room/building where Patient Health Records (Folder) are kept mainly for the purpose of health care delivery and Research.
For any functioning Health Records Department, Library is perceived as the heartbeat of such department where all other unit/section revolves round. So we as Health Information Manager/officer in the hospital setting cannot do without Records Library

5. BASIC FUNCTION OF HEALTH RECORD LIBRARY
Basically, there are three major activities in an ideal Records Library
Custodian of Folder
Filling of folder
Retrieval of folder
In carrying out these functions effectively, the following need to be considered vis-à-vis:

6. FILLING SYSTEM
For any Health Information Department to function efficiently, it is necessary to have an organized method for storing Medical Records, which can be regarded as filling system.

7. Filling system
can be described as a set of documents arranged in a prescribed order for conveniences of reference and preservation.

8. WHY?

9. The purpose of filling is to facilitate
complete and quick retrieval of pertinent
information from the folders when
the need arises.
The prime responsibility of the
Health Information Manager in-charge
of the Library is to undertake the custody,
classification and confidential preservation of
the patient case history (Folder and its content)

10. the system of operation is straight numerically system
FILLING METHOD
There are three basic method of filling which are alphabetical, Numerical and chronological.
In FMC Bida Central library, the method adopted is Numerical Method of filling and
the system of operation is straight numerically system
due to some reasons and most especially its advantages which are:

11. Pulling of consecutively numbered records from the file is simple
Training of personnel to know
the system with easy (The system is easy to understand)
Looking at the merits of the system, there is no pain saying that the disadvantages of the system are more than the advantages.
Some of the disadvantages are……..

12. Misfiling are very easy to do
Misfiling are very easy to do. All the digits of the records number are considered at one time
The greater the number of digit that must be recall when filling/pulling, the greater the chance of error
Transportation of numbers is common, e.g records can be misfiled as record
The heaviest filling activities are concentrated in the same area of the filling (shelf).
Which means that HIM officer filling records at the same time in such area are bound to get into each other’s way

13. EQUIPMENT
Adequate filling equipment must be provided in the Records library. Good lightning (illumination), temperature (Air Conditioning) contributes to the productivities of the filling personnel. Other equipment need for the work of library to be effective are: fixed shelves (open or closed), Mobile shelves (manual/mechanical), elevator/ladder for short personnel etc

14. Filling location there are four way of filling according
to location which include:
Centralized; decentralized; satellite;
controlled Decentralized.
In FMCB we adopted
the centralized method/location

15. Staffing in the library
Personnel in Health Records Library
must be high experienced.
They must be ready to work and
have the interest of the service
they are rendering at heart
without fear or favour.
There must be at least seven (7) trained
personnel in the
library running a permanent morning shift

16. Problem facing Health Records Library in FMC Bida
Personnel: More staff need to be recruited/posted to the Library
Shelve : Additional shelves must be provided
Attitude of other staff in the dept towards the use of Records Library
Inability to enforce Records Library Policy
Out of Bound notice
Boycott of patient from clinic to library
Favoritism/Nepotism on the part of some staff in the department
Personal patient
Appointment saga
Folder tracking problem
Duplication of number
Documentation

17. Conclusion
It is important to note that
Records Library cannot be taking
for granted in the
Department of Health Information
for efficient service delivery,
therefore necessary measures
should be put in place to ensure
optimum function of the Library

18. Recommendation Electronic Records keeping
Attitudinal change among member of the department
Strictly adherence to Library Rule and regulation
Posting of more staff to Records Library
Dissociating Records Library from other Unit/Section e.g COPC

19. Thanks you for listening
And God will Bless you real good