Transforming critical care

Topics

At a glance

Partner

Nyeri County Referral Hospital, Nyeri, Kenya, Africa

Challenge

Improve critical care in Nyeri county hospitals

Solution

Philips Managed Equipment Services

Results

Local unit transformed intoworld-class facility
Increased capacity to treat patients – avoiding long-distance transfers to other hospitals
Reduced operating costs
Staff motivated by improved workflow and regular training

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Faced with an under-equipped intensive care unit (ICU) which forced critically ill patients from local communities to travel long distances to larger hospitals to seek medical attention, Nyeri County Referral Hospital in Kenya worked with Philips to improve care, save vital resources, and enhance the working experience of its staff.

In doing so, Philips adopted an approach called Managed Equipment Services (MES), in which Philips took full responsibility for the renovation of the ICU. The project is part of a seven-year contract between Philips and the Kenyan Ministry of Health to revitalize the country’s healthcare network.

Kenya has a population of 48.46 million¹ people. The Kenyan government’s Ministry of Health has a mission to transform the country’s healthcare into a progressive, responsive, and sustainable system for every citizen, regardless of their location.

The solution

A unique approach to collaborating

The Philips Managed Equipment Services (MES) approach benefits customers like Nyeri County Referral Hospital because it offers a comprehensive solution to most of their needs. Philips takes on the risk and accountability for the ownership, management, and maintenance of medical equipment and technology, and IT services to meet the requirements of medical delivery teams.

Using this unique approach in Kenya, Philips first conducted a customized assessment of the hospital’s patients and staff – including their experiences and flow through the department. This enabled the Philips team to determine and evaluate the hospital’s performance and target improvements.

Philips took on the responsibility for the renovation of ICUs across all 11 hospitals, from sourcing, installing, and integrating all the necessary components, right up to managing all required facilities. The Philips team sourced third party equipment such as ICU beds and infusion pumps to deliver comprehensive solutions for each hospital.

nyeri county referral hospital case study

Future-proof solutions

Philips offers continuous training so that the clinical staff feel comfortable using the advanced solutions, and the patients get the maximum benefit from the latest therapies available.

At a time when healthcare budgets worldwide are stretched, the longterm MES collaboration is designed to enable partners like the Kenyan government to move from reactive, short-term investment planning towards stable and predictable financial forecasts.

"This collaboration is bringing world-class and sustainable care to where it’s needed most: the heart of Kenyan communities."

Dr. Silas Njoroge

Medical Superintendent, Nyeri County Referral Hospital

Innovations at the Nyeri hospital included:

Clinical network of bedside monitors (Philips IntelliVue MX Series) to give nurses seamless access to realtime physiological information from various hospital applications and systems
Philips Respironics V680 ventilators to deliver advanced life support to critically ill patients
The installation of a piped medical gas plant to remove the need for an external supply of bottled oxygen
Staff given continuous medical education
Biomedical engineers trained in troubleshooting techniques to support equipment uptime and service availability

Results

Now meeting international standards, Nyeri County Referral Hospital’s new nine-bed ICU (up from two beds) is operating as a fully-functional critical care environment suitable for a wide range of patient needs. More patients have access to critical care locally, because they no longer need to travel long distances to the major hospitals. Philips has enabled the hospital to cut operational costs by improving equipment uptime.

The MRI with Ambient In-bore Experience helped Lahey Health create a more soothing MRI experience for patients, reducing the number of cancelled appointments while improving efficiency and patient satisfaction. Many technologists now prefer to work in this suite.

Nyeri County Referral Hospital infographic

Looking forward

Philips and the Ministry of Health, Kenya, aim to transform more ICUs in hospitals across Kenya. This could include scaling up the use of Tele ICUs, where more patients can be monitored from a distance by fewer staff, to maximize resources and improve care. Philips has a goal to bring similar ICU solutions to other countries in Africa.

Sources:

1. http://data.worldbank.org/country/kenya

Results are specific to the institution where they are obtained and may not reflect the results achievable at other institutions.