Health Informatics Education Effectiveness in Nepal (HI-EDU)
7 de julio de 2026 actualizado por: Dip Bahadur Singh, Axon Infotech Research Academy Pvt. Ltd.
Assessing the Comparative Effectiveness of Health Informatics Education: Knowledge Retention and Technological Awareness in Health Science Students
This study evaluates the effectiveness of a blended Health Informatics (HI) course (HI471) on knowledge retention and technology awareness among health science students in Nepal.
Bachelor of Public Health (BPH) students (intervention group, n=17) received a 14-week HI471 course combining online, virtual, and in-person practical sessions.
A control group of Bachelor of Pharmacy (B.Pharm) students (n=17) continued their standard curriculum without dedicated HI instruction.
Both groups completed a validated 44-item knowledge assessment and an 11-item technology awareness survey at baseline (Week 1) and post-intervention (Week 15).
The primary outcome was the between-group difference in knowledge gain scores.
Results showed that BPH students significantly improved their total knowledge scores (median +31.5 points, r=0.879), while the B.Pharm control group showed no significant change.
BPH students achieved 100% awareness of 9 out of 11 digital health tools at post-test.
This study provides strong evidence that the HI471 blended course is highly effective in building informatics competencies in a low- and middle-income country (LMIC) academic setting.
The study was retrospectively registered.
Descripción general del estudio
Estado
Terminado
Condiciones
Intervención / Tratamiento
Descripción detallada
This controlled pre-test/post-test quasi-experimental study with a non-equivalent control group evaluated the effectiveness of the Health Informatics-471 (HI471) blended course at Madan Bhandari Academy of Health Sciences (MBAHS) in Nepal.
The intervention group (G1) consisted of all 17 Bachelor of Public Health (BPH) students enrolled in the 7th semester, who received the HI471 course.
The control group (G2) consisted of 17 Bachelor of Pharmacy (B.Pharm) 7th-semester students, randomly sampled from 29 eligible students, who received no dedicated HI instruction.
The HI471 course integrated three blended modalities over 14 weeks: (i) online asynchronous LMS instruction (pre-recorded lectures, readings, quizzes), (ii) live synchronous Google Meet sessions, and (iii) in-person practical laboratory sessions covering EHR platforms, DHIS2, SPSS/R, and telemedicine interfaces.
A validated 44-item Health Informatics Knowledge Assessment Tool (with weighted partial-credit scoring, maximum 100 points) and an 11-item binary technology awareness instrument were administered at T1 (Week 1, baseline) and T2 (Week 15, post-intervention).
The primary outcome was the between-group difference in total knowledge gain scores (Δ = T2 - T1), analyzed using non-parametric statistics (Mann-Whitney U, Wilcoxon signed-rank, Friedman, McNemar) with bootstrap effect sizes.
The study demonstrated large, significant knowledge gains in the intervention group (median +31.5 points, r=0.824, p<0.001) compared to the control group, with robust findings across three pre-specified sensitivity analyses.
The intervention group achieved near-complete technology awareness (100% on 9 out of 11 tools).
This research addresses the evidence gap for controlled educational evaluations in low- and middle-income country (LMIC) academic settings.
The study protocol was approved by the MBAHS Institutional Review Committee (IRC-134-082-083), and all participants provided written informed consent.
The study was conducted in compliance with the Declaration of Helsinki (revised 2013).
The study was registered retrospectively.
Tipo de estudio
Intervencionista
Inscripción (Actual)
34
Fase
- No aplica
Contactos y Ubicaciones
Esta sección proporciona los datos de contacto de quienes realizan el estudio e información sobre dónde se lleva a cabo este estudio.
Ubicaciones de estudio
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Bagmati
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Hetauda, Bagmati, Nepal, 31206
- Madan Bhandari Academy of Health Sciences
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Criterios de participación
Los investigadores buscan personas que se ajusten a una determinada descripción, denominada criterio de elegibilidad. Algunos ejemplos de estos criterios son el estado de salud general de una persona o tratamientos previos.
Criterio de elegibilidad
Edades elegibles para estudiar
- Adulto
- Adulto Mayor
Acepta Voluntarios Saludables
Sí
Descripción
Inclusion Criteria:
- Active enrollment in the 7th semester of the Bachelor of Public Health (BPH) program (intervention group) or the Bachelor of Pharmacy (B.Pharm) program (control group) at Madan Bhandari Academy of Health Sciences (MBAHS).
- Voluntary written informed consent obtained prior to any study procedure.
- Completion of both T1 (Week 1, baseline) and T2 (Week 15, post-intervention) assessments.
Exclusion Criteria:
- Withdrawal from the study before completion of all study procedures.
- Incomplete paired data (missing T1 or T2 assessment).
Plan de estudios
Esta sección proporciona detalles del plan de estudio, incluido cómo está diseñado el estudio y qué mide el estudio.
¿Cómo está diseñado el estudio?
Detalles de diseño
- Propósito principal: Otro
- Asignación: No aleatorizado
- Modelo Intervencionista: Asignación paralela
- Enmascaramiento: Ninguno (etiqueta abierta)
Armas e Intervenciones
Grupo de participantes/brazo |
Intervención / Tratamiento |
|---|---|
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Experimental: BPH Intervention Group
Bachelor of Public Health (BPH) 7th-semester students (n=17) who received the 14-week Health Informatics-471 (HI471) blended course, consisting of online asynchronous LMS instruction, live synchronous Google Meet sessions, and in-person practical laboratory work covering seven HI content domains.
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A 14-week blended educational course combining: (i) online asynchronous LMS instruction (pre-recorded lectures, readings, quizzes); (ii) live synchronous Google Meet sessions (2 hours, 3 days per week); and (iii) in-person practical laboratory sessions (4 hours per week) covering Electronic Health Records (EHR), DHIS2, SPSS/R, and telemedicine interfaces.
No drug, device, biological product, or surgical procedure was involved.
This is a purely educational/behavioral intervention delivered in an academic setting.
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Sin intervención: B.Pharm Control Group
Bachelor of Pharmacy (B.Pharm) 7th-semester students (n=17) who continued their standard curriculum without any dedicated Health Informatics instruction.
This group served as the non-equivalent control group.
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¿Qué mide el estudio?
Medidas de resultado primarias
Medida de resultado |
Medida Descripción |
Periodo de tiempo |
|---|---|---|
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Change in Total Health Informatics Knowledge Score
Periodo de tiempo: Baseline (Week 1) to post-intervention (Week 15)
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Measured using the Health Informatics Knowledge Assessment Tool (HIKAT) - a validated 44-item multiple-select instrument with weighted partial-credit scoring.
Scores range from 0 to 100 points, where higher scores indicate better health informatics knowledge.
Administered to both groups at T1 (Week 1, pre-test) and T2 (Week 15, post-test).
The primary causal contrast is the between-group difference in gain scores (Δ = T2 - T1), analyzed using Mann-Whitney U test with bootstrapped effect sizes.
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Baseline (Week 1) to post-intervention (Week 15)
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Medidas de resultado secundarias
Medida de resultado |
Medida Descripción |
Periodo de tiempo |
|---|---|---|
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Domain-Specific Knowledge Gains Across Six HI Content Areas
Periodo de tiempo: Baseline (Week 1) to post-intervention (Week 15)
|
Change in knowledge scores across six domain areas assessed using the Health Informatics Knowledge Assessment Tool (HIKAT): D1 General HI/Introduction to IT, D2 Operating Systems & Software, D3 Public Health & IT, D4 Database Management, D5+6 Data Analysis & Coding, and D7 Telemedicine.
Each domain score is expressed as a percentage of the domain maximum (minimum: 0%, maximum: 100%), where higher scores indicate greater domain-specific health informatics knowledge.
Domain gains are analyzed using Friedman test with Kendall W and Holm-corrected post-hoc Wilcoxon signed-rank tests within the intervention group.
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Baseline (Week 1) to post-intervention (Week 15)
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Otras medidas de resultado
Medida de resultado |
Medida Descripción |
Periodo de tiempo |
|---|---|---|
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Change in Technological Awareness Across Digital Health Tools
Periodo de tiempo: Baseline (Week 1) to post-intervention (Week 15)
|
Change in binary (Yes/No) awareness of 11 digital health tools: EHR, Telemedicine, HMIS, Public Health Informatics, GIS, HIMS, DBMS, Python, Programming Language, Telehealth Platforms, and Remote Patient Monitoring.
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Baseline (Week 1) to post-intervention (Week 15)
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Colaboradores e Investigadores
Aquí es donde encontrará personas y organizaciones involucradas en este estudio.
Patrocinador
Investigadores
- Investigador principal: Dip Bahadur Singh, Axon Infotech Research Academy
Fechas de registro del estudio
Estas fechas rastrean el progreso del registro del estudio y los envíos de resultados resumidos a ClinicalTrials.gov. Los registros del estudio y los resultados informados son revisados por la Biblioteca Nacional de Medicina (NLM) para asegurarse de que cumplan con los estándares de control de calidad específicos antes de publicarlos en el sitio web público.
Fechas importantes del estudio
Inicio del estudio (Actual)
15 de abril de 2026
Finalización primaria (Actual)
20 de junio de 2026
Finalización del estudio (Actual)
30 de junio de 2026
Fechas de registro del estudio
Enviado por primera vez
2 de julio de 2026
Primero enviado que cumplió con los criterios de control de calidad
7 de julio de 2026
Publicado por primera vez (Actual)
8 de julio de 2026
Actualizaciones de registros de estudio
Última actualización publicada (Actual)
8 de julio de 2026
Última actualización enviada que cumplió con los criterios de control de calidad
7 de julio de 2026
Última verificación
1 de julio de 2026
Más información
Términos relacionados con este estudio
Otros números de identificación del estudio
- HI471-MBAHS-2026
- IRC-134-082-083 (Identificador de registro: Madan Bhandari Academy of Health Sciences IRC)
Plan de datos de participantes individuales (IPD)
¿Planea compartir datos de participantes individuales (IPD)?
NO
Descripción del plan IPD
Individual participant data (IPD) will not be shared because participants did not provide consent for their individual-level data to be shared with external researchers.
Additionally, the small sample size (n=34) increases the risk of participant re-identification, even with de-identification.
All aggregated, anonymized summary data are presented in the published manuscript and supplementary materials
Información sobre medicamentos y dispositivos, documentos del estudio
Estudia un producto farmacéutico regulado por la FDA de EE. UU.
No
Estudia un producto de dispositivo regulado por la FDA de EE. UU.
No
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