Loading...
Please wait, while we are loading the content...
Similar Documents
Level of Information and Communication Technology Adoption in Health Facilities in Nairobi City County, Kenya
| Content Provider | Semantic Scholar |
|---|---|
| Author | Collins, Sudi Adego George, Ochieng O. Rucha, Kibaara K. Rithaa, Koome Gilbert |
| Copyright Year | 2019 |
| Abstract | Background: Information and Communication Technology [ICT] has enormous potential of improving and transforming efficiency and effectiveness of health care systems. However there are limited studies on ICT adoption, use and integration in health care in Kenya. Objective: To establish the level of ICT adoption, use and integration in health service delivery among Health facilities in Nairobi County. Methods: A cross sectional descriptive study design incorporating quantitative data collection methods was used. Stratified sampling was used to randomly sample a total of 270 health facilities for the study based on levels of care using Kenya Master Facility list as the sampling frame. Managers working in IT and health records departments in the selected facilities were interviewed using selfadministered questionnaires. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze data sing SPSS version 22. Results: Out of the 17 ICT application aspects of health service delivery studied, none of the facilities studied had achieved 100% computerization. Only 27 of the facilities had computerized at least one of the assessed service delivery aspects. Most hospitals did not have technological sophistication attributes in place. Satellite clinic connection/linkage was the main IT sophistication attributes found in 14% of the facilities. With regards to integration, 26% had integrated at least one of the four IT functionality assessed. Conclusion: Kenya remains at infancy stage of ICT adoption, use and integration. No single health facility [public and private] has achieved optimal ICT functional use and sophistication. Technology and related leadership advocacy in health sector is essential for optimal technology application in the health sector. INTRODUCTION Information and communication technologies (ICTs) refer to a wide range of digital technologies used to facilitate the information capture, synthesis, storage, retrieval and exchange of information. Over the years, ICTs have reduced health care costs, as well as significantly improved safety, quality and efficiency of health care (Bates et al., 2001).The reduction of medical errors and improvement of compliance certain formulas for managing care also can be realized using electronic prescribing. Until the recent past, ICTs used by healthcare providers were only available for established care givers and large health institutions. However, more recent advances in technology enable primary healthcare givers in smaller practices to make use of ICTs that were initially quite costly (McInnes, Saltman, & Kidd, 2006). Clinical Information Systems (CIS) among other Health Information Systems (HIS) types continue to grow in terms of strategic investment in many European Nations. In such countries, implementation projects, research International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, Volume 9, Issue 9, September 2019 201 ISSN 2250-3153 http://dx.doi.org/10.29322/IJSRP.9.09.2019.p9326 www.ijsrp.org initiatives and e-Health strategies have been initiated. Other non-European states have ICT-enabled solutions at various levels of healthcare delivery (Kitsiou, Manthou, Vlachopoulou, & Markos, 2010). In Africa, despite the increasing growth in availability and quality of ICTs, there is still no systematic way of tapping onto the potential of the technologies at hand. A number of ICT projects in Africa are ongoing and are aimed at effectively improving the quality of care using the technologies. However, most of those projects are pilots and therefore, there are no complete and comprehensive outlines of the usage of ICTs in Sub-Saharan Africa's health sectors for service delivery. Odiwuor et al. (2012) suggest that many of Africa's health systems are not e-ready and as such, decisions on the investment on implementation of ICT systems are a dilemma. Given that most decisions relating to healthcare management are often related to primary health care priorities, safe water supply and vaccination, eHealth is often overlooked. According to Gagnon et al. (2012), more and more primary healthcare professionals have access to ICT without much cost incurred on hardware (HW) or software (SW) purchase and maintenance. The increasing creation and availability of the technologies for use in healthcare have led to formulation of policies in a number of countries all over the world, in a bid to ensure adoption of those technologies. Gagnon et al. (2012) identified a number of functionalities that ICTs have brought into the fold in recent years such as e-mail alerts, scheduled appointments, physician decision support, as well as monitoring of patient adherence to treatment. Telemedicine has ensured that geographical boundaries are no longer a hindrance when it comes to access to healthcare. Whilst this development has been realized and explored in some parts of the world, De Rosis & Seghieri (2015) suggest that a larger number of countries remain in the first stages of technological innovation in patient care. The authors describe first stage as relating to the development and computerization of the information systems and the transition from paper-based to electronic information processing (De Rosis & Seghieri 2015). In Kenya, most hospitals have yet to fully computerize their operations within those facilities (Odiwour et al., 2012). The Health System in Kenya currently struggles to cope with the ever-increasing demands for quality healthcare coupled with a rising cost of service delivery and the insufficient number of skilled healthcare personnel. Based on the premise that the health sector envisions provision of secure, efficient and equitable healthcare services by ICT, there is still a long way to go for the local health system. As such, it is necessary to establish mechanisms for bridging the gap between the vision and the reality with regards to fully integrating ICT in healthcare service delivery (GOK, MOH, 2011). Juma et al. (2012), reported that despite the availability of several policies, guidelines and standards for ICT utilization in the healthcare sector, Kenya still lags behind many nations, especially when compared with countries which have established health sectors. According to Karuri, Waiganjo, Orwa & Manya (2014), a number of policies had been released to guide ICT adoption in Kenya's health sector such as Kenya ICT policy (2006), Kenya Communications Act (2009), Strategic Plan for Health Information Systems (HIS) (2009 – 2014), and Standards and Guidelines for Electronic Medical Records (EMR) in Kenya (2010). Despite these developments, there seems to be low adoption of ICTs in the local health sector – majority of which are at their infancy (Juma et al., 2012). For much of the history of Kenya's health facilities, ICTs were neither available nor affordable. More and more, both of these issues are resolved, although not all departments have been computerized in those facilities so far. According to Gagnon et al. (2012), despite developments in the ICTs in Africa, there is not yet a realization of systematic benefits from the same. World Bank (2013) appreciated the on-going developments in ICTs as far as implementation into the health care systems is concerned. However, the authors also noted that most of those ongoing projects are only but pilots. The World Health International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, Volume 9, Issue 9, September 2019 202 ISSN 2250-3153 http://dx.doi.org/10.29322/IJSRP.9.09.2019.p9326 www.ijsrp.org Organization describes the health sector in most nations in Africa as lacking e-readiness, which is a quality that determines the amount of investment by the global health governing bodies. Odiwuor et al. (2012) also cited that when it comes to resource allocation, as a result of the perceived lack of e-readiness, e-Health loses out to other primary healthcare concerns such as safe water, vaccination as well as environmental hazards prevention (Shiferaw & Zolfo, 2012). It is on this premise that, this study was designed to determine the level of information and communication technology adoption and integration in health facilities in Nairobi County, Kenya. Therefore, the findings can be used as a basis for seeking skills geared towards the adoption and utilization of information systems in different facilities. To the policy makers within the ministry of health, the successful completion of this study will set a ground for coming up with appropriate policies for the development of information system projects that support information sharing, effective diagnosis and thus improving service delivery in the health sector. METHODS A descriptive cross sectional study design was used. The study was carried out in Nairobi City County which is one of the forty seven Counties in Kenya. It is the Capital city of Kenya located at 10 170 S 360 490 E. The County had a population of 3,138,295 according to the 2009 census. A sample size of 270 Information Technology managers was used to represent the 913 Health Facilities in the study area. The research adopted interview schedules for personal contact to permit clarification of questions. Structured questionnaire was developed in respect to the objectives of the study. Open-ended and closed ended questions were used to provide quantitative data. The quantitative data provided data for provision of inferences and test hypotheses. The data collected was entered, cleaned and analyzed using SPSS version 22. Descriptive statistics involving measures of central tendencies and measures of dispersion was used to summarize the data. The summaries led to the establishment of the overall and specific level of adoption of ICTs. Inferential statistics chi-square was used to establish the factors that influence the adoption of ICTs. FINDINGS Socio-Demographic characteristics A total of 270 respondents (n=270) participated in the study. Female respondents comprised 58% of the respondents. More than half, (58%) of the respond |
| Starting Page | 9326 |
| Ending Page | 9326 |
| Page Count | 1 |
| File Format | PDF HTM / HTML |
| DOI | 10.29322/ijsrp.9.09.2019.p9326 |
| Volume Number | 9 |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | http://www.ijsrp.org/research-paper-0919/ijsrp-p9326.pdf |
| Language | English |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Article |
