Effects of Manual and Digital Registration Systems on Data Quality, Waiting Time, and Healthcare Worker Satisfaction in Tertiary Hospitals in Kogi State, Nigeria

Patient registration systems play an important role in ensuring accurate health information management and efficient service delivery within healthcare facilities. In many Nigerian tertiary hospitals, manual and digital registration systems continue to operate simultaneously, yet evidence comparing their influence on data quality, patient waiting time, and healthcare worker satisfaction remains limited. This study assessed the effects of manual and digital registration systems on data quality, waiting time, and healthcare worker satisfaction in tertiary hospitals in Kogi State, Nigeria. The facility-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 452 healthcare workers selected through stratified random sampling from two tertiary hospitals in Kogi State. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire and analyzed using descriptive statistics, independent samples t-tests, and multiple linear regression. Statistical significance was set at p < 0.05. Most respondents were aged 25–29 years (30.31%), female (67.70%), Christian (57.08%), and married (76.99%). Respondents using digital registration systems reported higher data quality scores (2.96 ± 0.36) than those using manual registration systems (2.72 ± 0.37; p < 0.001). Similarly, digital registration systems recorded better waiting-time performance (2.17 ± 0.26) compared with manual registration systems (2.07 ± 0.23; p = 0.001). Healthcare worker satisfaction was significantly lower among users of manual-only registration systems (β = −0.527, 95% CI: −0.678 to −0.376; p < 0.001), whereas satisfaction among digital-only users did not differ significantly from that of hybrid-system users (β = 0.027, 95% CI: −0.142 to 0.197; p = 0.750). The study concludes that digital registration systems offer advantages in data quality, waiting time, and healthcare worker satisfaction compared with manual registration systems. Strengthening digital health infrastructure, providing continuous staff training, and ensuring adequate technical support may enhance the effectiveness of registration systems and improve health information management in tertiary healthcare facilities.