The gap between blood supply and blood demand is a widening everyday as the population increases and it needs to be bridged. Since the amount blood donated in Kenya is below the world Health Organization’s recommendation (WHO 2015), inter-facility sharing of information relating to blood availability should be enhanced to improve sharing of available donated blood between health facilities.
The objective of the research study was to determine the current processes used when sharing blood between health facilities and there challenges and to propose coordination between blood supply and demand among health facilities and blood banks through the use of ICT .The study used descriptive research design and 22 participants (lab technicians and doctors) in different health facilities in Nairobi County participated in the study.
Results from the study indicate that in most health facilities (72%) blood demand exceeds blood supply. During emergencies when blood stocks are inadequate, most health facilities (63.6%) source the blood by requesting it from other health facilities and blood banks and mostly making these blood requests through telephone calls. The main challenge faced when using the current mechanisms is the delay in blood supply (40.9%) followed by a challenge of getting the response/feedback on time
Based on the findings it was evident that the proposed intervention will be of a great use to bridge the gap of between blood supply and demand and solving the challenges faced when sharing blood during emergencies. Rapid Application Development (RAD) system design AND Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) were applied in developing the ICT intervention. To evaluate the success of the ICT intervention, a survey was conducted in five health facilities (two level 4 and three level 3 health facilities) to evaluate the satisfaction of the health facilities when using the system.
@artical{m1212023ijcatr12011008,
Title = "Enhancing Blood Products Sharing Among Established Blood Banks and Health Facilities through the use of ICT",
Journal ="International Journal of Computer Applications Technology and Research (IJCATR)",
Volume = "12",
Issue ="1",
Pages ="41 - 52",
Year = "2023",
Authors ="Moses M. Wainaina, Peter W. Wagacha, George N. Wainaina"}