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Evaluation of factors contributing to medication errors among Nurses working at Mbagathi district hospital.
Get PDFKenya healthcare policies provide that patient's dignity be observed by ensuring medical safety practices are observed. In this case, medication errors are a concern for both healthcare professionals as well as patients. The main aim of this study was to evaluate factors contributing to medication safety practices among nurses working at Mbagathi District Hospital. To achieve this objective, the study investigated types of medication errors committed by nurses, established actual factors contributing to occurrence of medication errors, among nurses and finally established the barriers to reporting of medication errors among nurses working at Mbagathi District Hospital. The study adopted descriptive design study where data was collected from 121 nurses working in medical, surgical, paediatric, maternity and outpatients using structured self-administered questionnaires after a pilot study showed validity and reliability of the research instrument. Basically, to ensure that the sample was representative, respondents were stratified in to 6 strata to ensure all departments are represented and simple random was used to select the wards and participants. The data collected was cleaned and analysis was done using scientific package for social scientist (SPSS) version 20. Descriptive statistics such as means, standard deviations and frequency distribution were used to analyse the data while inferential statistics such as Chi-Square, Person Correlation, ANOVA and Regression analysis were used to tests relationships between independent variables and dependent variables. The results indicated that there exist a statistically significant positive relationship between errors made during drug administration and such errors occurred as a result of environmental factors human factors, system factors and failure to reporting previous errors. Result indicated an error rate per as 6.2. Meaning for every six patients seeking health care one patient suffers a medication error. Nurses perceive that most important barriers of reporting medication errors were fear of punishment, fear of being reprimand and fear of lawsuit. There was complacency in ensuring medication safety practices are adhered, this was further contributed by human, environmental and system factors. There was gap between medication made by nurses and reporting of those medication errors, hence the need by hospital management to put in place measures to promote medication safety practices among nurses. The study concludes that medical safety practices are not well adhered at Mbagathi District hospital and thus hospital management need to deal with all barriers that limit error reporting through creating proper communication channel for relaying information
Analysis of factors influencing employees: work engagement in private universities: a survey of kenya methodist university administrative and academic staff
No full textABSTRACT
Employee engagement is the binding of an individual to his or her roles at work whereby employees express themselves cognitively, materially, and expressively while performing their work roles in work engagement. It is a very essential driver for an organization to attain a competitive advantage. Employees who are engaged in their work and committed to their organizations give companies crucial competitive advantages including higher productivity and •1ower employee turnover. This study examined factors influencing employees' work engagement in private .universities; case study of Kenya Methodist University (KeMU). Work engagement entails the active use of emotions in addition to the simple use of cognition while completing work tasks. The study was guided by five specific objectives including testing the level of work vigour, work absorption, work dedication, social demographic factors and organizational support. Five null hypotheses were tested on the acceptability or rejection of five independent variables on the dependent variable. The research methodology used descriptive approach to achieve the research objectives. The research utilized primary data collected through administration of questionnaires. The target population was 561 which were made up of 332 academic staff and 229 administrative staff with a 30% sample size determined. Each stratum was established to select the sample size of 100 academic staff and 69 administrative staff totaling to 169 questionnaires. A total of 112 questionnaires were returned but 92 questionnaires were duly filled and used for data analysis. Multiple liner regression analysis was used to link the relationship between independent variables and dependent variables and to test hypothesis. Descriptive statistics and Chi-square with aid of SPSS was used to analyze the data. From the hypothesis tests, it can be observed that three independent variables had significant association with Employees' Work Engagement: that is, Work Dedication, Work absorption and Organisation Support. Work dedication has a significant influence on employees' work engagement because majority of respondent (89.2%) were inspired by their job. The results also indicated that there was a significant relationship between work absorption and employees work engagement by 89.2% of respondents claiming that they rarely detach themselves from their work. 100% of employees were comfortable with the working environment but majority ( 41 % ) of the employees felt that management sometimes empowers them to do the work. These results revealed that there was no strong evidence to show that social demographic attributes of the employees in KEMU had significant association with Employees' Work Engagement. The research makes various recommendations including organization creating structures to facilitate access to resources, have a working environment with higher levels of job autonomy, low task complexity, supervisory support, and the internal locus of control, and ensure employees maintain high energy levels and mental resilience are willing to exert effort and to persist in difficult times
An assessment of factors influencing students entrepreneurial orientation in universities
No full textEntrepreneurial Orientation (EO) differs from entrepreneurship which refers to the content of new venture - what is undertaken. Entrepreneurial Orientation is defined as the individuals' propensity to engage in innovative, proactive and risk taking behavior to start new venture. The following dimensions of EO were identified: autonomy, Innovativeness, proactiveness, risk-taking, and competitive aggressiveness. The set of explanatory variables for EO needs to be extended with country specific effects and cultural related variable. The study used the theory of planned behavior and Shapero's model to explain entrepreneurial orientation of the student as used in other studies. The question of concern in this study was; does the Kenyan education system promote entrepreneurial orientations specifically among the University students? The aim of this study therefore was to assess factors affecting students' entrepreneurial orientation in institutions of higher learning. A survey was conducted in selected institutions of higher learning in Meru County, namely Kenya Methodist University, Meru University of Science and Technology, and Nazarene University. The population of the study was composed of third and fourth year students both in the undergraduate programs. The study selected 300 samples using purposive sampling technique. Using descriptive research design, the researcher administered a questionnaire to each of the 300 selected respondents. The questions addressed the research objectives. Responses were coded and categorized in order to facilitate statistical analysis. Logistic regression was used to examine factors influencing entrepreneurial orientation of the students. More so, in order to determine how students differ in their entrepreneurial orientations, the chi square model was employed. The findings of the study are expected to contribute to the understanding of whether, and if so, how education can affect students' attitudes toward entrepreneurship and their entrepreneurial self-efficacy. Findings highlight the impact of education and practical exposure to entrepreneurship on entrepreneurial orientation
Effects of free secondary education on performance in the sub county secondary schools in Kieni West sub county of Nyeri county, Kenya.
No full textABSTRACT
The government's commitment towards the provision of affordable and quality education led to the launch of Free Primary Education (FPE) in 2003 and later Free Secondary Education (FSE) in 2008. These policies have led to high enrolment and retention rates of students in secondary schools leading to establishment of new sub county secondary schools. The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of FSE on performance in these newly established schools in Kieni West Sub County of . -Nyeri County, Kenya. The study employed a descriptive survey research design. The target population was all the twenty newly established sub county secondary schools in Kieni West Sub County since 2008 comprising of 20 principals, one hundred and eighty teachers, one Sub County Education Officer (SCEO) and one Sub County Staffing Officer (SCSO).The sample size comprised of 15 principals from these sub county schools, 90 teachers, the SCEO and the SCSO giving a total of 107 respondents. Proportionate sampling was used to select the principals and teachers. Questionnaires were used as instruments for collecting data from the principals and teachers while interview schedules were administered to the SCEO and the SCSO .Validation of the instrument was done by experts in research and piloting. Reliability as tested by subjecting the instruments to a pilot study. Data analysis was done using descriptive statistics after cleaning and coding. Quantitative data was analyzed using frequent counts, means and percentages while qualitative data was analyzed using content analysis based on meanings and implications arising from respondents' information and documented data. The study found out that majority of principals 85.7% indicated that FSE has affected KCPE entry level. The study also shows that
-FSE has affected enrollment and admission into secondary schools. Majority 64.29% of schools were single streamed with between 20-39 students per stream. study recommended that the admission into the secondary school should be reviewed to avoid learners with very low marks into the secondary schools. These learners should be guided into technical and vocational institutions where they can rediscover other talents
The relationship between school leadership and performance in KCPE examination; the case of primary schools in Ganze sub county Kilifi county.
Get PDFABSTRACT
Whenever the cabinet secretary for education announces the KCPE results one is almost sure that schools from Ganze Sub-county are among the least performing nationally. There are natural difficulties experienced in the region but these difficulties are not uncommon in other regions like Samburu and Pokot yet the schools in the latter regions are among the top performing schools in the country. This begs the question of whether the leadership of these schools is really up to the task. Literature is divided on extent to which leadership accounts for students achievement with some saying there is an indirect influence. Leadership is responsible for the level of motivation, school culture and staff development, community participation and resource allocation, all which have a bearing in students' achievement. This was the premise of this study. The purpose was to establish any relationship between school leadership and students' achievement. The objectives of the study are to establish if leadership style, leadership skills and leadership focus has any relationship with pupils' performance in KCPE. In order to achieve this, the researcher had set out on a comparative study of the schools considered top performing and low performing. Two questionnaires were piloted in 3 schools, one from each zone where 4 teachers and the head teachers were involved in each school. A Cronbach coefficient 0£732 was obtained on the data that was collected hence making the instruments reliable. in the actual study, responses were compared using t-test for independent samples and relationship ascertained using Pearson's correlation on the backdrop of the schools' performance in KCPE. The study established that the head teachers of primary schools in Ganze combined different leadership styles but the head teachers of High Performing schools were on High Range' while those from Low Performing schools were on
Moderate Range'. Among all the styles, democratic style had a strongest positive relationship: r=.675; p=.016; a. = 0.05 (2-tailed) with the KCPE Mean score of school (M=261.58; SD=57.937); Head teacher's score on Democratic style (M=23.667; SD=2.461). On leadership skills, head teacher who employed more technical skills posted better results in pupils' performance in KCPE. The technical skills had strongest positive relationship; r=.732; p=.007; a. = 0.01 (2-tailed) with the KCPE Mean score of school (M=261.58; SD=57.937); Head teacher's score on Technical skills (M=20.66; SD=3.498). On leadership focus for improved performance, the focus on redesigning the school organization had the strongest positive relationship; r=.654; p=.000; 0.01 level (2-tailed) with the Mean score of the school in KCPE (M=261.58; SD=56.258); Mean score in Redesigning the school organization (M=20.69; SD=4.464). the researcher concluded that the head teachers of primary schools in Ganze combined different leadership styles but the head teachers of High Performing were on High Range' while those from Low Performing schools were on 'Moderate Range'. Head teachers of primary school in Ganze combined the three skills in different magnitudes but those who employed more technical and conceptual skills posted better results in pupils' performance in KCPE. The researcher recommends that the head teachers should allocate the scarce resources prudently. They should not give priority to attending heads conferences which are mere talk shows; instead allocate resources to areas which have a direct bearing on learning by filling Teacher shortages gaps with BOM Teachers. It is hoped that the findings of this study will be useful to the department of Education, the head teachers, and aspiring head teachers
Causes of under representation of women in the headship of mixed public secondary schools in Nyeri county, Kenya.
No full textABSTRACT
Under the new constitutional dispensation in Kenya, the gender distribution in school headship has not been achieved as required. The third gender rule has not been met in the school headship among the mixed secondary schools. One of the most common reasons presented in the literature for the under representation of women in school administration was the negative perception of women's leadership. The study aimed at determining the causes of under representation of women in leadership positions in mixed public secondary schools in Nyeri County in Kenya. The study also investigated the factors influencing female's participation in the management of mixed public secondary schools, teachers' attitude towards female principals and to find out the extent to which schools are gender responsive to leadership especially to female principals. The study was conducted in Nyeri County in Kenya. Nyeri County constituted 8 sub-counties. The target population was 162 mixed public secondary schools in the county. Out of the 162 mixed public secondary schools, 126 (78%) were headed by male principals while 36 (22%) were headed by female principals. 40 mixed public secondary schools selected from 4 districts headed by 20 female and 20 male principals made up the sample population which constituted 25% of the target population. The participants were the Principals/Deputy Principals (DP), Heads of Departments (HOD), District Education Officers (DEOs) and the County Director of Education (CDE). Sampling technique applied for selecting 4 sub-counties was convenient sampling, 20 female principals were purposively sampled, male principals were conveniently sampled. Simple random sampling was applied to select 2 HODs from the sampled schools. Purposive sampling was used on selecting 4 DEOs and saturated sampling applied on 1 CDE. The sample size was 125 participants. Data was collected using questionnaires and interview schedules. A pilot study was conducted to ensure reliability and validity of the instruments. Content validity was improved through experts' judgment. Data collected was analyzed using Statistical Package for
Social Science (SPSS). The study determined that with a mean of 4 for principals and HODs teachers were indifferent between women and men leadership in the region under study. The study also established that leadership does not depend on ones gender with a mean of 5 for principals and HODs. The study recommends that strategies to reduce female chauvinism in education as well as minimizing cultural stigmatization men leadership. The study recommends a deeper analysis on the role played by TSC in ensuring gender equity in education management
Factors influencing the implementation of agency banking strategies: a case study of KCB agents in tharaka nithi county
No full textHG 2040.5.G46 2015In Kenya, a high proportion of the population is excluded from access to financial sector with the situation being grave in rural areas. For majority of Kenya's population, especially those living in rural areas, access to banking services has been almost non-existent. With the introduction of Mobile banking and Agency banking services in Kenya's financial systems, affordable and convenient banking services continue to be availed to the large unbanked masses. This study was aimed at investigating into factors influencing the implementation of agency banking strategies in Tharaka Nithi County under a case study of Kenya Commercial Bank. The research objectives wereto assess to what extent managerial support, transactional security, customer service and Technological Innovation influence implementations of agency banking strategies in Tharaka Nithi County. The research design that was adopted in this research study was ex-post factor survey designwith the target populations being all ~t banking agents in Tharaka Nithi county of Kenya.A simple random sampling method was used to ensure that all categories were equitably represented in the sample. Both primary and secondary data was collected. Primary data was obtained using questionnaires while secondary data was from the internet, newspapers, magazines, journals, government publications, published government records and reports and KCB. Collected data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Descriptive statistics included measures of central tendencies i.e. the mode, mean and median to describe the general characteristics of the population while the degree of significance in the relationship between the dependents and independents variables was done by use of probit model through which the hypothesis was tested.It was found that most of the agents were relatively new into the business and therefore required managerial support to grow. Furthermore transactional risks arising from interactions with customers as well as system related insecurity was a major factor in implementation of agency banking strategies. The findings also indicated that ease of system configuration and reliability of the system were critical in ensuring the strategies were implemented successfully. The research concluded that technological innovation, customer service, transactional security and managerial support were key in implementation of agency banking strategies.It was recommended that banks shouldadopt a risk -based approach to the supervision and regulation of agency banking while also improving on the existing technology to eliminate delays in service time. It was further recommended that banks integrate more its agency banking system on its core banking platform to ensure reliability of the system and increase ease of configuration
Factors influencing the independence of the internal auditors in Universities in Kenya
No full textHF 5668.2 .O63 2015The independence of the auditor is considered the hallmark of the auditing profession. Independence is fundamental to the reliability of the auditor's report(s). Growth in the education sector and in particular the rampant growth and expansion of Universities in Kenya during the last couple of decades has not experienced similar expansion in the provision of internal audit function. This is happening at the time when the internal auditor's role has evolved from the traditional role of checking and reporting on internal controls to the ever expanding and broader role of appraisal, review, management advisory and risk management. While it is evident that there is dramatic growth and expansion of universities in Kenya, the same cannot be said about the quality of their operations, activities and services as measured in internal audit assurance reports. The quality of audit assurance is impaired and this can be attributed to a number of factors significant among them being the unsettled issue of auditors' independence. By being part of the university and having personal and official relations with other university personnel, it is not easy for an internal auditor to perform his/ her work objectively. This research sought to examine the factors influencing independence of the internal auditors in Universities in Meru Region, Kenya. The factors that were looked at were: management support, internal auditors' competencies, provision of non - audit services and reporting structure. The survey was carried out in three Universities, which are: Meru University of Science and Technology, Chuka University and Kenya Methodist University. Descriptive research design was adopted in conducting this study. Primary data was collected using open and closed - ended questionnaires while secondary data was collected from the relevant books and journals. The total population in the survey was 120 respondents which comprised of top managers, senior management employees, heads and employees of selected departments and internal auditors. Purposive sampling was used to select respondents from each stratum to form a sample size of 66 respondents. Multiple Logistic Regression model was used to link the relationship between independent variables and dependent variable and to test the hypothesis at 95% confidence level using Wald test aided by SPSS (version 20). Data was summarised and presented in form of frequency tables and percentages. The findings revealed that the model as a block was found to be a significant predictor based on the omnibus test. Management support was the only factor that had significant influence on the independence of internal auditors. It was recommended that adequate support should be given to the internal audit from management in. order to achieve their much needed independence in terms of: staffing, budget allocation, training and responding to the internal audit recommendations. It was also recommended that internal auditors should engage in non - audit services being cautious of the negative influence it had their independence even though it was insignificant based on the results findings
Drawbacks to performance appraisal assessment and evaluation in public sector: a survey of ministry of agriculture, Meru County
No full texttoday's world, with the changing environment, every individual and organization wants to improve as much as possible in employee performance in order to achieve organization growth and wealth. The study used Ministry of Agriculture in Meru County region to look on drawbacks like career development, government policies, job security, leadership and management that affect performance appraisal assessment and evaluation. The specific objectives were to determine whether; career In development, government policies, job security and leadership and management influence performance appraisal assessment and evaluation. A pilot study was done prior two months to evaluate the validity• and reliability of instrument. Theories explored included transformational dimensions, intellectual achievements, life span and others. The researches philosophical applied are both qualitative and quantitative through categorical structural approach. Target population was all the 255 employees in the Ministry of Agriculture, Meru County who included managers, technical staff, support staff, drivers and secretaries. The research design was descriptive cum correlational which tested the variables relationship to produce statistical results. Research study used census method and self administered questionnaire which were reliability through test retest method. The data analysis was presented through frequencies, percentages and tables and hypothesis tested by Charles Spearman's correlation technique at 99% level of confidence and percent level of significance. The findings showed that there were correlational relationships between performance appraisal assessment and evaluation and all the independent variables, career development, government policies, security and management. Recommendation: further studies research on other factors like organizational culture to be done
A case of Uasin Gishu County Hospital Health Systems, Kenya
Get PDFEffective and efficient management of today's health system depends on well-functioning Health Management Information System (HMIS) in design and implementation. Good quality data are the foundation of health systems in generating information for policy-making, planning, monitoring of health outcomes and evidence based decision making. Taking the cognizance of deficiencies in data quality, where vital health decision often depend on political speculation, donor demand and studies which are insensitive to changes over time. The aim of the study was to contribute to improvement of data quality of Routine Health Management Information System to facilitate efficient and effective decision making in Uasin Gishu County Hospital and possibly in similar settings. The objectives were; to assess the current state of data quality of routine health management information system; to determine socio-demographic characteristics that affect data quality of routine health management information system; to identify process factors influencing data quality of routine health management information; to find out technological factors affecting data quality of routine health management information system and to establish organizational factors influencing data quality of routine health management information system in Uasin Gishu County Hospital. This was a cross-sectional study which adopted quantitative and qualitative approaches. The study used purposive sampling to select study site with a target population of 82 respondents. Data extraction form, structured questionnaire and key informant interview guide were used for data collection. Questionnaire results were edited, coded, tabulated and analyzed using SPSS Version 23, StataSE version 13 and Microsoft excel. The results showed availability of data were at 88 (56%). 32623(44%) of the data elemets in all the reports dully filled. The reliability of data using Cronbach's Alpha were at .729. which fall within acceptable value and 48(16%) marginal error. 65(80%) of respondent are permanent and pensionable, 55(68%) staff who collect data are nurses. 81(100%) had gone for leave while 61(75%) found pending work. 38(47%) knew RHMIS through workshops while 78(96%) participate in data collection and 51(63%) had not been trained on HMIS while 37% (30) had been trained in the last 12 months of the year 2014. 69 (85%) had responsibilities while 53 (65%) were able to accomplish the task (x 2 = 26.665, df=1, p=0.000), 32 (40%) affirmed availability of standard operating procedures with 0% availability of quality protocol with an index of 18% institutional documentation. In conclusion the study found that current data quality from routine health management information system had major gaps if used to generate information and recommended the need for advocacy for continuous information use as a culture; data review and verification. The Ministry of Health require to advocate for increased human resource in terms of numbers and skills which has implications on the process factors. There is also need to ensure continuous supply of data collection tools with minimum datasets. . Stakeholders should strengthen capacity building through mainstreaming HMIS into various professional curriculums and strengthening of institutional documentation especially policy, standard operating procedures, guidelines and data quality protocols to enhance data quality