Inventory Management Practices and Performance of Public Hospitals in Kenya
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Date
2015Author
Njoroge, Margaret W
Type
ThesisLanguage
enMetadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Public hospitals have a procurement department that is responsible for the provision
of goods services to the hospitals with the aim of providing quality health care
services in order to achieve customer satisfaction. The study sought to determine the
inventory management practices used by Public hospitals in Kenya, establish the
relationship between inventory management practices and performance of public
hospitals in Kenya and to determine the challenges of implementing inventory
management practices in public hospitals in Kenya. The study used a descriptive
survey establishing the relationship between the variables. The study population
comprised of the main public hospitals in Nairobi County and former Central
Province Counties. The study considered 40 hospitals where inventory management
was mostly carried out. The study used both primary data that was collected through a
semi-structured questionnaire to collect information for quantitative and qualitative
analysis. Out of the 40 questionnaires that were distributed 35 questionnaires were
filled and returned successfully. This represents a response rate of 88 percent which
was considered sufficient for making generalization of all the public hospitals in
Kenya. Data was analyzed using descriptive statics and regression analysis. The study
found that the most popular inventory management practices used by public hospitals
in Nairobi and former central province counties are follows: ERP systems, ABC
systems, e-procurement, simulation and EOQ. These practices were mainly used in
level 5, level 6 and stand-alone which offers specialized services and operates under
defined semi-autonomy which allows them to manage their own inventory. The study
further concludes that the main challenges that hindered implementation of inventory
management practices in public hospitals were: failure to invest in modern
technologies, insufficient, insufficient funding, poor infrastructure, lack of top
management commitment training and unreliable suppliers. The regression results
concluded that inventory management practices were positively related to
performance of public hospitals in Nairobi and former Central province. The major
limitation of this study is that it was limited to district hospitals in Nairobi and former
Central province Counties due to costs and time constraints. It would have been
important for future researchers to consider investigating inventory management
practices in public hospitals outside Nairobi County and former Central Province
Counties to find out whether these findings will hold. The study recommends that
government allocates more funds to public hospitals to be invested in modern
information technologies because this will lead to increased information sharing,
reduction of costs and improved quality of health services.
Publisher
University of Nairobi
Description
Thesis