An Assessment of the Data Integrity Status of Dispensed Drugs. A Study of Homa Bay County Referral Hospital

Maintaining the integrity of data in the supply and distribution of public health commodities, particularly human medicinal drugs, is essential for ensuring patient safety, medication effectiveness, and public confidence in healthcare systems. This study assessed the status of data integrity of dispensed drugs at Homa Bay County Referral Hospital, Kenya, focusing on four key dimensions: attributability, legibility, contemporaneousness, and originality. A mixed-methods descriptive research design was adopted, employing purposive and snowball sampling to recruit 54 participants comprising pharmacists, doctors, nurses, procurement officers, hospital administrators, information technology personnel, and patients. Data were collected through structured interviews and direct observations and analysed using descriptive statistics, thematic analysis, Pearson’s Chi-square test, and Fisher’s Exact test. The findings revealed substantial deficiencies in pharmaceutical data integrity, with an overall compliance level of 42.3%, considerably below the internationally recommended benchmark of 90%. The compliance levels for the individual dimensions were 23% for attributability, 43.3% for legibility, 55.75% for contemporaneousness, and 47% for originality. These findings indicate widespread weaknesses in medication documentation, including inadequate traceability, reliance on handwritten records, delayed documentation, and insufficient verification of original records. Inferential statistical analysis using Pearson’s Chi-square and Fisher’s Exact tests did not reveal statistically significant associations among the selected data integrity attributes (p > .05), suggesting that the observed deficiencies are systemic rather than statistically dependent on one another. The study recommends strengthening digital health infrastructure through integrated Electronic Health Record systems, standardised documentation procedures, implementation of interoperable health information standards, continuous staff training, and routine data quality audits. Addressing these deficiencies will improve medication traceability, documentation quality, regulatory compliance, patient safety, and the overall quality of healthcare service delivery.