Institutional Related Factors Influencing Emergency Preparedness among Nurses at Machakos Level 5 Hospital Machakos County, Kenya

Abstract

Background: An emergency plan is a dynamic document that frequently set and adapt to the changing trends of emergencies. Prioritizing and anticipating for situations that are not easily predicted requiring immediate action can be challenging. Health care institutions should  continually remain prepared in order to handle emergencies and disasters effectively. Machakos Level 5 Hospital serves as a link to health facilities in the Eastern part of Kenya and the main referral centre for it's neighbouring counties. With the overwhelming influx of patients, quality nursing care delivery is a hospital responsibility to support its professionals.
Objectives: To recognize an emergency management plan as an essential framework for providing quality nursing care to the affected victims in case of an emergency This study chose to determine the institutional related factors at Machakos Level 5 Hospital (ML5H).
Methodology: Utilizing a descriptive cross-sectional design between October and December 2018, 132 nurses’ working at ML5H were enrolled using stratified and systemic random sampling after consenting to participate in the study. Data was collected using a self-administered questionnaire and an observation checklist. Cochrane’s formula was used to calculating the sample size, after which duty rosters were used to pick every third nurse on the roster. The questionnaire was divided into 2 parts; the first part consisted Institutional related factors influencing emergency preparedness and the second contained an observation checklist used to measure the level of
emergency preparedness in the health facility. A pre-test was carried out at the Accident and Emergency Unit of Makueni Level 5 Hospital to measure the validity and reliability of the research instruments using the Cronbach alpha coefficient. The Data was coded and entered into Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 25.
Results: The study highlight how the hospital management supported over 70% of emergency preparedness unlike 76.5% of the  respondents reporting that the hospital did not provide regular emergency drills while 23.5% reported there were regular drills.
Conclusion: The results showed that, 83.3% of emergency preparedness measures were available while 16.7% of emergency preparedness measures were not available. The study recommends that the hospital liaise with the County Government of Machakos to provide regular drills to all health workers working in the hospital.
Recommendation: The hospital management need to monitor and regularly review the contents of the emergency management plan; and regularly perform emergency drills and exercises to its healthcare professionals;

Key word: Institutional related factors, Hospital Emergency preparedness, nurses