Date
12-16-2025
Department
School of Nursing
Degree
Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP)
Chair
Dana Woody
Keywords
Telemedicine, education, rural health services, Kenya, evidence-based practice, health service accessibility, integrated health care delivery
Disciplines
Nursing
Recommended Citation
Bennett, Elizabeth K., "Bridging the Gap: Optimizing Outpatient Care Delivery in Rural Kenya through a Telemedicine Workflow Training Initiative" (2025). Doctoral Dissertations and Projects. 7807.
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/doctoral/7807
Abstract
Access to timely, high-quality outpatient care in rural Kenya is constrained by workforce shortages, geographic barriers, and inefficiencies in care delivery. This Doctor of Nursing Practice project evaluated the impact of implementing a structured telemedicine workflow and training program for a regional mission hospital in the highlands of Western Kenya and its satellite outpatient clinic. Guided by the Iowa Model of Evidence-Based Practice, Kotter's Change Theory, and the reach, effectiveness, adoption, implementation, and maintenance (RE-AIM) framework, the project employed a quasi-experimental, pre-post design, with eight medical providers participating in structured workshops, interactive telemedicine simulations, and workflow integration exercises. Impacts were measured through provider confidence and satisfaction surveys. Findings demonstrated self-reported increases in provider confidence and satisfaction with telemedicine consultations, more efficient allocation of provider time, and improved integration of telemedicine into outpatient workflows. The initiative highlights telehealth as a feasible and sustainable strategy for optimizing health care delivery in resource-limited settings, with implications for scalability across similar rural and low-resource contexts.
