Process Mining for Quality Improvement in Malawi...36th Medical Informatics Europe (MIE) Conference, May 25-28, 2026, Genoa, Italy.

For non-communicable disease (NCD) program management in Malawi, long waiting times are frequently cited as a reason for poor clinic attendance and treatment default. Current quality-improvement (QI) practices, such as root-cause analysis, are often subjective. This study introduces process mining (...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Published in:Studies in Health Technology & Informatics Vol. 336; pp. 1953 - 1955
Main Authors: NKHOMA, Dumisani, JOHN, Matthias, IQBAL, Usman
Format: proceedings research Journal Article
Published: Sage Publications Inc. 2026
Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
fields @attributes:
  recordID: 1
pdfLink:
plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ccm&AN=194019222&site=ehost-live
header:
  @attributes:
    shortDbName: ccm
    uiTerm: 194019222
    longDbName: CINAHL Complete
    uiTag: AN
  controlInfo:
    bkinfo:
    dissinfo:
    jinfo:
      jid:
        09269630
        U1V
      jtl: Studies in Health Technology & Informatics
      issn: 09269630
      maglogo: N
    pubinfo:
      dt: 2026
      vid: 336
      pid: 344
      pub: Sage Publications Inc.
      place: Thousand Oaks, California
    artinfo:
      ui:
        194019222
        194019222
        194019222
        10.3233/SHTI260588
        194019222
      ppf: 1953
      ppct: 2
      formats:
      tig:
        atl: Process Mining for Quality Improvement in Malawi...36th Medical Informatics Europe (MIE) Conference, May 25-28, 2026, Genoa, Italy.
      aug:
        au:
          NKHOMA, Dumisani
          JOHN, Matthias
          IQBAL, Usman
        affil: Institute of Evidence Based Healthcare, Faculty of Health Sciences and Medicine, Bond University, 14 University Drive, Robina, 4226, QLD, Australia.
      sug:
        subj:
          Data Mining Utilization
          Quality Improvement Methods
          Noncommunicable Diseases
          Health Care Delivery Malawi
          Congresses and Conferences Italy
          Italy
          Malawi
          Multimethod Studies
          Focus Groups
          Quantitative Studies
          Comparative Studies
          Interviews
          Qualitative Studies
          Thematic Analysis
          Workflow
          Algorithms
          Pilot Studies
          Program Evaluation
          Electronic Health Records
          Quality of Health Care
          Data Analysis Software
          Time
      ab: For non-communicable disease (NCD) program management in Malawi, long waiting times are frequently cited as a reason for poor clinic attendance and treatment default. Current quality-improvement (QI) practices, such as root-cause analysis, are often subjective. This study introduces process mining (PM) as an objective, data-driven approach to complement existing QI methods through analysis of patient records and facility registers. We describe the first protocol to implement PM in the Malawian healthcare system. The study employs a sequential mixed-methods design combining two focus group discussions (FGDs) conducted before and after quantitative PM, key-informant interviews, and document review. Qualitative data will be analysed thematically to identify perceived workflow bottlenecks, while quantitative PM will involve data extraction, pre-processing, clustering, mining, and visualisation using discovery algorithms such as the Heuristic or Fuzzy miner. Results will be displayed as Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) nets to reveal process variations and inefficiencies. This work aims to demonstrate the feasibility and utility of PM for clinical efficiency and quality-improvement initiatives within Malawi’s NCD program. With increasing adoption of electronic health-record systems and the national Quality of Care program, PM can provide a scalable tool for evidence-based monitoring of healthcare processes.
      pubtype: Academic Journal
      doctype:
        proceedings
        research
        Journal Article
      ougenre: Article
    language: English
    refInfo:
    holdings:
      @attributes:
        islocal: N