Educational Need Assessment of the Health Information Management Department Staff of Teaching Hospitals in Ferdows City, Iran

Changes caused by technological advancements in the health information management (HIM) departments of hospitals have increased the importance of this unit and created new educational needs for their staffs in this department. The current study aims to assess the educational needs of the HIM department staff of teaching hospitals in Ferdows, Iran.

This is a descriptive study conducted in 2021 in two teaching hospitals in Ferdows City. The study population consists of the staffs of the HIM department. Samples were selected using a census method. The data collection tool was Zarei et al.’s educational need assessment questionnaire in Persian. The collected data were reported using descriptive statistics in SPSS software, version 19.

Thirty HIM department staffs participated in this study. The need level for training in the fields of computer & information technology, data collection, health information classification, health statistical methods, and occupational safety and health were 65%, 70%, 70%, 65% and 60%, respectively. Results showed the high need for training (Mean: 2.1 to 3) in these five fields.

The educational needs of the HIM department staff in Ferdows City are high. The best way for improving their skills is holding training courses. Therefore, it is recommended that training courses be held according to their skill levels.