Integrating Tele-treatment of Diabetic Patients for Improved Health Outcomes in Nairobi City County, Kenya

Wilkister Anyango Were, Peter Gutwa Oino & Daniel Kendagor
School of Arts and Social Sciences
Department of Sociology Gender and Development Studies
Kisii University, Kenya
Email: werewilkister1@gmail.com

Abstract: Although access to telehealth technology has rapidly expanded in developing countries, its potential benefits in improving healthcare are still underutilized. This study sought to investigate the effect of tele treatment on health outcomes of diabetic patients in Nairobi County, Kenya. The study employed a descriptive design. It used a systematic sampling method to collect the required data. Self-administered questionnaires, which contained items that are, both open and closed-ended were used. The data collected was used to illustrate the effect of telemedicine utilization on the health outcomes of diabetic patients. The study mainly targeted diabetic patients in Nairobi City County. The study accomplished its statistical analysis by using the standard statistical program SPSS, and by running simple descriptive analyses to obtain reports on data status and final results. From the study findings, it is concluded that the impact of tele-monitoring on the health outcomes of the diabetic patient can be rated as good as most thought tele-monitoring had positively impacted their lives. The study recommends the need to enhance home monitoring to make patients feel more secure in detecting health problems, the need for training of more endocrinologists and diabetologists to meet the needs of the increasing number of diabetic patients and the need for the government and other stakeholders to have virtual diabetic clinics that defy the boundaries of locations and time.