Embargo Period
11-22-2023
Degree Name
MA in Global Health
First Advisor
Dr. Vincent Were
Abstract
Underinvestment in pathology and laboratory capacity caused by low visibility in research and in prioritization by public health leaders results in limited effective healthcare coverage and an estimated 1.1 million premature deaths annually in Low-and-Middle-Income Countries. Kenya’s public health laboratories provide a median 41% of the Essential Diagnostic List to their patients and in Kisumu County, as much as 44.2% of the population has little to no access to essential diagnostics. The government of Kisumu implemented the county Health Laboratory Strategic Plan 2018-2022 to address this public health challenge. Little information exists on the effectiveness of these initiatives and the realized impact on laboratory quality diagnostic services in the era of COVID-19. This study explored the implementation of one of the Strategic Plan’s initiatives, an electronic diagnostics data system at a county-level health facility, and the impact that has had on Malaria diagnostics from 2018 to 2022. This study found that the implementation of this electronic data system was not associated with increases in Malaria testing or informed treatment. It found that patients under 5 years old treated for Malaria were 1.07 times more likely to be treated presumptively in 2020 than in 2018. There have been significant decreases in all patients and total tests performed for Malaria since 2018 in spite of a significant Malaria positivity peak in 2020. More research needs to be done on the causes of these decreases and ways in which laboratory test results can better inform provider testing and treatment priorities.
Disciplines
Epidemiology | Health Information Technology | Health Services Administration | Hospitality Administration and Management | Laboratory and Basic Science Research | Management Information Systems | Organizational Behavior and Theory | Organization Development | Other Public Health | Parasitology | Pathology | Patient Safety | Quality Improvement | Tropical Medicine
Recommended Citation
Allen, Kelly, "Exploration of the Implementation of an Integrated Electronic Laboratory Information Management System on Quality Diagnostics Service Indicators at a County Level Public Hospital in western Kenya." (2023). Capstone Collection. 3299.
https://digitalcollections.sit.edu/capstones/3299
Included in
Epidemiology Commons, Health Information Technology Commons, Health Services Administration Commons, Hospitality Administration and Management Commons, Laboratory and Basic Science Research Commons, Management Information Systems Commons, Organizational Behavior and Theory Commons, Organization Development Commons, Other Public Health Commons, Parasitology Commons, Pathology Commons, Patient Safety Commons, Quality Improvement Commons, Tropical Medicine Commons