| dc.description.abstract | Tier 3 catholic hospitals' preparedness for health service delivery during inflow of patients
in Nairobi County, Kenya remains a challenge. During crises and disasters, many patients
seek healthcare services from them, increasing the clientele level from their normal daily
numbers, causing overstretching of the organizations’ health systems and staff. Broad
objective of the study was to determine the organizational factors influencing
preparedness of tier 3 catholic hospitals for health service delivery during inflow of
patients in Nairobi County, Kenya. Specific objectives were to determine if staff training,
infrastructure, procurement of hospital materials, finances, and policy guidelines have
influence on preparedness of these hospitals for health service delivery. The study targeted
647 members of staff from the selected hospitals. St Mulumba catholic hospital in Kiambu
county was used for questionnaires pretest. The hospitals were purposively selected while
the staffs were selected using Stratified random sampling. Slovan’s formula was used to
determine the sample size. A cross sectional descriptive study design was used with
quantitative approach for data collection. Data was analyzed using STATA software
version 16. Descriptive statistics in form of frequencies and percentages were used for
reporting. Inferential statistics in form of correlation and regression analysis were used to
find out the relationship between independent and dependent variables with a
corresponding confidence interval of 95%. P-value of 0.05 was considered to be
statistically significant. The study established that staff training, infrastructure,
procurement of hospital materials, finances and policy guidelines influenced preparedness
of catholic hospitals for health service delivery during influx of patients in Nairobi
County. From the correlation model a positive and significant relationship was found on
staff training at (r=0.211; p<0.01), infrastructure (beds) at (r=0.285; p<0.01) availability
of drugs at (r=0.146; p<0.05), availability of lab reagents at (r=0.218; p<0.01), saving
accounts at (r=0.269; p<0.01), policy manuals at (r=0.269; p<0.01), emergency guidelines
at (r=0.307; P<0.01). This means that the hospitals are perceived as prepared for health
service delivery during influx of patients. However, staff drills at (r = -0.147; p<0.05),
hospital space at (r = -0.243; p<0.01) and financial policies at (r = -0.259; p<0.01), were
found insignificantly influencing preparedness for services delivery, meaning the
hospitals would be unprepared even if these 3 parameters were in place. The study
recommends that the managers should have scheduled staff trainings, have saving
accounts, and care guidelines in place to support activities for emergency response to
avoid confusion. | en_US |
