Electronic Consultation and Service Delivery in Selected Public Hospitals in Kenya

Abstract

Quality healthcare service delivery has a significant influence on customer satisfaction, the burden of meeting health service costs, and the recovery of patients. Therefore, health facilities should make use of electronic health management systems to improve the quality of their service delivery in administration and patient care. The purpose of carrying out this study was to establish how service delivery can be improved through electronic consultation (e-consultation) in public hospitals in Kenya. The target population was the 1,207 individuals serving as the professional staff working in Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital (MTRH) in Eldoret and Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) in Nairobi, as well as 1,841 outpatients treated in both hospitals between January and May 2020. To select the 341 respondents of the research, a stratified random sampling technique was used. From the study findings, the study recommends that public hospitals in Kenya should fully adopt e-consultation, including video conferencing, so as to reduce time and resources used in face-to-face meetings.