A framework for adoption and integration of e-health in maternal healthcare: a case of sub-county hospitals in uasin gishu county

Abstract

Electronic health has fundamentality transformed the way patient data is shared and accessed across health systems. In Kenya maternal health care still faces challenges including, inaccessibility of quality maternal health services, delivery, ante-natal, and post-natal services. Adoption and integration of e-health into maternal health are expected to contribute to the delivery of maternal health and consequently increasing life expectancy at birth. Relatively few healthcare providers of maternal health have fully adopted E-Health, in Uasin Gishu County low diffusion is due partially to the quality of data Technology investment, which works on the far side getting technology to ever-changing work processes and cultures, and guaranteeing that physicians, nurses, and different employees use it. Manual record-keeping related to medical facilities is a theme of medical debates thanks to the confusion it’s caused by medical practitioners. The study was guided by the following objectives; to review the existing e-health framework in Uasin Gishu County; to identify challenges in adoption and integration of e-health on maternal health delivery in Uasin Gishu County; to develop a framework for e-health adoption on maternal healthcare in Uasin Gishu County. This study employed a descriptive survey research design. The study was carried out in sub-county hospitals, in Uasin Gishu County. The study subject was drawn from the target population of 408 respondents from the six sub-county hospitals including Ainabkoi, Kapsaret, Kesses, Moiben, Soy, and Turbo. The sample size was 124 calculated using the 30% formula of Mugenda and Mugenda (2003). The probability sampling technique was used in this study. The study used both questionnaire and interview schedule in data collection. The analysis was done through inferential statistics. Descriptive statistics such as mean, standard deviation, with the aid of Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 22.0 will be used to analyze collected data. Based on the study findings the study indicated that consumer health informatics as a form of e-health is

commonly used and that M-health was the least used form of e-health among sub- county hospitals in Uasin Gishu County towards maternal healthcare. On forms of e- health that should be implemented in the facilities, the study concludes that Health

information Systems is well entrenched in maternal healthcare provision among sub- county hospitals in the county. The study concluded that the average ICT

technologies across the facilities in Uasin Gishu County are almost evenly distributed owing to a small standard deviation from the mean. Facilities were also found to be well connected to the Internet as the majority had an internet connection. On the application of e-Health achieved in the health sector, the study concludes that improved teaching methods are the most common application of e-Health achieved. There is a need to bring on board all the stakeholders in the health sector towards the implementation of e-health in maternal health. Stakeholders like the government were not found to be well involved in the process. The study also recommended that measures to improve the application of e-health need to be put in place. The study will be of importance to the management of sub-county hospitals and future scholars.