Organizational Factors Influencing Preparedness of Tier 3 Catholic Hospitals for Health Service Delivery during Influx of Patients in Nairobi County, Kenya

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.