Level of Automation and Performance of Hospitals in Nairobi County

Abstract

The main objective of the study was to analyze the effect of level of automation on the performance of hospitals in Nairobi City County. The specific objectives of the study were to find out the level of automation of hospitals in Nairobi City County; to assess the effect of automation on performance of hospitals in Nairobi City County; and to evaluate the challenges experienced in the automation of hospitals in Nairobi City County. The study adopted a descriptive research design with the target population being the level 4 and 5 hospitals in Nairobi City County. Primary data was collected using semi-structured questionnaires from 72 respondents from the 18 listed hospitals. The response rate was 90.3%. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used for data analysis. The independent variable, level of automation had 3 sub constructs namely: human resource management information system, patients’ integrated system and integrated security system. The dependent variable, organizational performance was measured by patient satisfaction, quality of care, operational efficiency/effectiveness and financial performance as the measures. The regression results had the value of R-square at 0.482. This means that variations in the performance of the hospitals is can be explained by the 3 independent variables. From the findings, the study concludes that HRMIS, patients’ integrated system and integrated security system had a favorable and substantial correlation with the performance of hospitals in Nairobi City County. The study recommends that the level 4 and level 5 hospitals in Nairobi County ought to fully adopt the HRMIS, to aid in addressing some of the human resource management challenges including but not limited to identifying ghost workers. The study also recommends that the hospitals ought to fully adopt the patients’ integrated system, to monitor the progress of the patients keenly as well as efficiently keeping the patients’ records. Finally, the study recommended that the City hospitals ought to fully adopt the integrated security system since the security of the patients and the hospital is paramount in the wake emerging dynamic security threats. The challenges experienced in the automation of hospitals were also outlined. The study highlighted areas of further study among them being a similar study in other industries and a longitudinal study noting the impact automation and innovations can have over a long period of time.