The implementation and evaluation of ohasis, a health information system in a health laboratory service

Introduction
OHASIS is an occupational health information system, which collects data on worker’s health assessments, hazards and incidents in the workplace. The tool assists decision makers, front line workers, health and safety committees and researchers to monitor employee health and safety programmes. OHASIS was developed by the Global Health Research Program at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. In July 2011, OHASIS was installed at the National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS), South Africa. The NHLS employs in excess of 6700 employees in 349 pathology laboratories across South Africa, there are also 2 national institutes. Barriers and challenges to use will be evaluated to inform the introduction of occupational health information system programmes in other settings.

Methods
The evaluation will focus on the incident investigation module of OHASIS. The evaluation of the system will commence three months after first implementation and will focus on the barriers to use, the challenges of implementation and use of the module by laboratory personnel. Focus group discussions with health and safety committees as well as self administered questionnaires to 30% of managers and telephonic interviews with 15% of the end users of the incident module will be conducted.

Results
This presentation will present the results of the evaluation of implementation of OHASIS and the challenges of use by personnel during incident investigations.

Discussion
Although OHASIS is in use in other locations in South Africa this is the first time that it has been used on an expanded platform involving multiple sites and modules. The solutions will assist in the future rollout and the expansion of OHASIS.