Integration of ICT based System in the Delivery Process of Newborn babies to identity and secure the from Swapping at the Kenyan Public Maternity Hospitals

Abstract

Newborn baby swapping is getting very common these days in many hospitals and hospital managements are finding it difficult to stop it since the methods of tagging the baby are adopted and easily circumvented. The purpose of the study was to establish how to integrate ICT based system in the processes involving newborn babies’ delivery in order to identify and secure them from unintentional or intentional swapping at the public maternity hospitals. Five research objectives guided the study. The objectives were seeking to determine the effectiveness of the existing traditional methods in the maternity, determine the effectiveness of the existing traditional methods in the maternity, to find out which security measures are in place in the facility, to assess the current awareness of the staff members on the available new ICT based solutions and then introduce an ICT based anti-swapping system for the newborn babies. The study was carried out on the Pumwani Maternity Hospital only on effectiveness and efficiency of the existing traditional methods of identifying and securing the newborn babies, the current security measures and the current awareness of the records and information officers regarding the available new ICT based solutions. The related literature to this study presented only the global perspective of infant swapping and kidnapping and the solutions provided by various researchers. The design for this study was descriptive survey design which sought to find answers to the questions generated from the statement of the problem. The questionnaire was used as a tool for data collection from the respondents. Analysis of the results, interpretation and discussion, summary of findings, conclusions and recommendations were also presented by the researcher.