Academic literature on the topic 'Home nursing – Kenya'

National Hospital insurance fund has faced so many challenges regarding customer satisfaction and service delivery. Majority of the National Hospital Insurance Fund accredited facilities in Wajir County have failed to satisfy the customers or members. The problem has escalated to Mashaalah nursing home and even to Jeddah nursing home which are situated in Wajir County. Therefore the aim of this study was to investigate the effect of employee empowerment on service delivery in national hospital insurance fund Wajir County, Kenya. The study was guided by quality improvement theory. Descriptive research design was used and data collected from five accredited nat ional ho spital insu rance fu nd facilities located in Wajir Cou nty. Th e respondents of the study will be 114 members. The study used the primary data which was collected through the use of questionnaire. Data was analysed with the help of SPSS and presented in tables and figures. The findings on employee empowerment found that the NHIF builds on the capacity of the employees for it enables employees to participate in decision-making. The respondents moderately agreed that the organisation encourages compliance and commitment both within and among the employers. The results on the relationship between employee empowerment and service delivery in NHIF was positive and significant. The County Governtment of Wajir should consider improving on the communication and information related to the benefits of being a member of NHIF.

Background and context: Most Africa countries now recognize the pain and suffering of many patients and families who have no access to cure (where cure is possible), cannot afford treatment of cancer or other progressive chronic illnesses, are stigmatized or discriminated against because of their illness among many other dehumanizing issues. This project aims to ensure that all those in need of palliative care and pain relief have access close to their homes. Aim: This project aims to ensure that all those in need of palliative care and pain relief have access close to their homes. Strategy/Tactics: In the recent past Kenya Hospices and Palliative Care Association has extensively advocated for the integration of palliative care into the Kenya health services; thus, resulting in many health care professionals being trained in palliative care; integration of palliative care in public, private and mission health institutions and integration of palliative care in undergraduate medical and nursing curricula, as well as policy documents. Program/Policy process: The process of integrating palliative care in public hospitals involved advocacy at the national level as well as at the institutional level, training of health care professionals and setting up services within the hospitals that we worked with. Technical support was provided to each individual institution as needed. Outcomes: Palliative care units have been set up in over 25 government hospitals across the country. National Palliative Care Guidelines have been developed. A Diploma in Palliative Care for nurses has been initiated at the Kenya Medical Training College since 2012. Palliative care has been included in all the relevant health policies/strategies. Kenya Essential Medicines List includes Opioids. The Ministry of Health is supplying morphine powder for the country. More patients are now able to access quality palliative care. What was learned: National associations are challenged by an enormous need for services, education and training of health care professionals as well as educating the public and policy makers. The government has no budget for palliative care and most of the work is donor funded. Cultural beliefs are a big barrier to accessing PC. Only a small fraction of patients in need of opioids for pain medication are receiving opioids due to lack of awareness; reluctance of HPCs to prescribe. For many years PC in Kenya has been provided by a few hospices, thus making access very limited to many who are in need. Regional and national associations in Africa should work together with African Ministries of Health and other relevant stakeholders to ensure that there is greater access to palliative care for cancer patients. This encompasses addressing issues of accessibility, affordability, quality palliative care (PC) and a human's right approach to PC.

Background: Quality pharmaceutical services are an integral part of primary healthcare and a key determinant of patient outcomes. The study focuses on pharmaceutical service delivery among private healthcare facilities serving informal settlements within Nairobi County, Kenya and aims at understanding the drug procurement practices, task-shifting and ethical issues associated with drug brand preference, competition and disposal of expired drugs. Methods: Forty-five private facilities comprising of hospitals, nursing homes, health centres, medical centres, clinics and pharmacies were recruited through purposive sampling. Structured electronic questionnaires were administered to 45 respondents working within the study facilities over an 8-week period. Results: About 50% of personnel carrying out drug procurement belonged to non-pharmaceutical cadres namely; doctors, clinical officers, nurses and pharmacy assistants. Drug brand preferences among healthcare facilities and patients were mainly pegged on perceived quality and price. Unethical business competition practices were recorded, including poor professional demeanour and waiver of consultation fees veiled to undercut colleagues. Government subsidized drugs were sold at 100% profit in fifty percent of the facilities stocking them. In 44% of the facilities, the disposal of expired drugs was not in conformity to existing government regulatory guidelines. Conclusions: There is extensive task-shifting and delegation of pharmaceutical services to non-pharmaceutical cadres and poor observance of ethical guidelines in private facilities. Strict enforcement of regulations is required for optimal practices.

Background and Hypothesis: In western Kenya, estimates for prevalence of hypertension are 6-24% and diabetes are 3-5%. Complications of hypertension and diabetes are some of the fastest growing causes of morbidity and mortality in Kenya. There is limited knowledge and poor training pertaining to noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) making treatment difficult. With shortages of physicians and mid-level providers, protocol driven nursing care of hypertension and diabetes has shown to be effective. Through partnerships with counties, the NCD care program has screened 134,923 and treated 12,566 individuals for diabetes and screened 238,078 and treated 29,377 individuals for hypertension. My summer project was to utilize Academic Model Providing Access to Healthcare’s (AMPATH) partnership with the Kenyan Ministry of Health (MOH) to improve access and quality of hypertension and diabetes care delivery at county MOH facilities. These improvements can be achieved through increasing our joint mentorship program led by AMPATH and county MOH staff; introducing the AMPATH Medical Record System (AMRS) into county clinics to improve care; and quality improvement with the Home Glucose Monitoring team. Personal Role: I created Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for Integrative Screening, Clinical Mentorship, and Home Glucose Monitoring (HGM); designed a user manual for AMRS; helped develop a M&E plan for the HGM program; and assisted in the authorship of a grant to scale mentorship for diabetes and hypertension to 60 more clinical sites. Conclusion and Potential Impact: This project is a product of the partnership of AMPATH and the MOH to make accessible, high-quality care for hypertension and diabetes available across levels of care. By partnering with the Kenyan government and implementing care in the public sector, improvements in care are sustainable. My involvement will facilitate scaling the project to treat more patients through improving organizational capacity and helping apply for funds to implement in new areas.

This study investigated access and use of information in the health-care of home-based elderly people (EPs) in Nakuru District, Kenya. The literature review revealed a gap with respect to information behaviour in health-care of EPs in a development context. The researcher used qualitative methods; with exploratory and descriptive research design because the focus of the study was on the littleknown and socially disadvantaged community of EPs in Nakuru District. Respondents were sampled by using the snowball technique. At the end of an interview session, each respondent was encouraged to nominate someone who either shared the same or had different experiences, views, socio-economic levels and gender. The researcher collected data through face-to-face interviews with EPs, informal care providers (ICPs) and formal health-care providers (FHCPs), in order to gain insight of information behaviour in health-care of EPs, by focusing on aspects of information needs; sources; use of information and factors that influence the respective groups of respondents to access and use health-care information health-care of EPs. The findings showed that the respective groups of respondents had similar as well as diversified needs for information for health-care. The groups used both formal and informal sources of information and channels of communication to access information for health-care, with FHCPs using authoritative sources more than the EPs and ICPs. Factors such as being a professional or a lay person, cost, ease of accessibility, availability of sources and channels of communication, time and trustworthiness of a source or channel of communication determined preference for use of information. The major contribution of the study is to the theory about information behaviour: some EPs and ICPs used CAM services without informing FHCPs, thereby revealing a form of concealed information use behaviour (CIUB).
Information Science
D. Litt. et Phil. (Information Science)