Abstract:
Data collection systems are vital in implementation of interventions within
patient care as they allow us to better understand and improve the care given.
This is equally true in the field of psychiatric rehabilitation, which has been
steadily growing in the medical world for the past 20 years. It has recently been a
focus of psychiatric medicine in Kenya with the Kenya Mental Health Action Plan
2021-2025 calling for improvement of care in the field. With psychiatric
rehabilitation growing in low- and middle-income countries in recent years
studies have come out showing the effects of newly employed programs and
stressing the need for data collection practices that can be used to encourage
best practices in local communities. This paper describes the implementation of
data systems for the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital Nawiri Skills and
Recovery Centre (Nawiri) in Eldoret, Kenya. The goals of the data systems were
1) To collect and organize information for continuous quality improvement of
services at Nawiri, 2) To collect information for reporting to MTRH leadership,
Ministry of Health as well as private funders, 3) To provide data to assess
outcomes of people who receive services at Nawiri to create evidence for
effective interventions to help create policy to make psychiatric rehabilitation
more available to people living with Severe mental illness in Kenya. Lessons
learned from data systems implementation included insights into ease of data
collection, adaptability of data instruments to fit facility needs, and ability to
reproduce RedCap data collection in other settings
