Mike English
Datos Biográficos
| ID | 3581653 |
|---|---|
| NOMBRE | Mike English |
| NOMBRES | Mike |
| APELLIDO | English |
| FIRMA | ENGLISH M |
| AFILIACIONES | Kenya Medical Research Institute |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-7427-0826 |
| VERIFICADO | Sí |
| TOTAL DE OBRAS | 67 |
| TOTAL DE CITAS | 29 |
| TOTAL COMO AUTOR | 67 |
| TOTAL COMO EDITOR | 0 |
| PRIMER AÑO DE PUBLICACIÓN | 1975 |
| AÑO MÁS RECIENTE DE PUBLICACIÓN | 2026 |
| ÍNDICE H | 3 |
The normalisation of under-resourcing limits the potential for improvement of critical care
The reduced availability of materials, staff, and health infrastructure commonly seen in Low- and Middle-Income Country (LMIC) settings is known to directly limit the ability of a hospital to provide effective care to critically ill patients. We use Health Facility Assessments (HFAs), 'hospital journeys', and in-depth interviews across five secondary and tertiary referral-level government hospitals in Kenya to explore their readiness to provide E…
Enhancing learning from evaluations in newborn and child health
BOX Operational learning from projects and programmes in newborn and child health in the international non-governmental organisations (INGOs) and the charity sector is vast
Low-research settings
In order to achieve global equity in healthcare research it is important to identify countries that are less visible in this regard, to inform interventions. We performed a bibliometric analysis of the Web of Science Core Collection to identify countries with less visible medical research output, particularly in the English language. This highlighted that an important distinction needs to be made between low-resource and low-research countries, a…
Beyond survival
Evidence is lacking on how birth complications affect postpartum wellbeing in low-resource settings, and how to support post-complication recovery in these settings. To address this gap, we conducted a mixed methods study at three county referral hospitals in Kenya to explore the impact of birth complications on mothers’ and families’ postpartum experiences and wellbeing. We used a convergent parallel study design, including a quantitative cross-…
Developing context-sensitive, comprehensive newborn care protocols
Background: An estimated 2.3 million neonates die worldwide each year (47% of under-five mortality), with 75% occurring during the first week of life. The burden is highest in sub-Saharan Africa (n/N = 27/1000 neonatal mortality rate) and largely results from preventable conditions, such as prematurity, birth asphyxia, and infections. The Newborn Essential Solutions and Technologies (NEST360) programme supports health systems in resource-constrai…
Applying a multi-layered, mixed methods approach to evaluate technology and workforce interventions in Kenyan neonatal units
Understanding how to best implement healthcare innovations in resource-poor settings requires complex interventions and evaluations, often straining existing healthcare systems. We aimed to address this challenge in our Kenyan neonatal intervention research by deeply integrating stakeholder engagement, applying layered methodologies, and leveraging our research team's diverse expertise. This paper reports on the design and implementation of a res…
First referral hospitals in low-resource settings
First referral hospitals (FRHs) have an important role to play in helping many countries achieve ‘Health for All’. However, their specific role and the clinical services they are expected to provide to achieve this are evolving. To explore this issue further, we undertook a narrative review to examine the clinical service expectations of FRHs outlined in academic and policy literature, which identified a total of 404 FRH service expectations. At …
After neonatal care, what next? A qualitative study of mothers’ post-discharge experiences after premature birth in Kenya
To support transitions home, strengthening the timing and adequacy of information provided to mothers at discharge from the neonatal unit in low-income settings in SSA and Asia - such as Kenya-is essential. Introducing strategies to build and assess mothers' competencies with skills such as breastfeeding and identifying signs of deterioration before discharge could support their smooth transition home. Targeted engagement interventions at the com…
Emotional dimensions of nurses’ daily work in newborn units in Kenya
We draw on our data, the wider literature, and nurses' recommendations to reflect on the interplay between emotional well-being and ethical nursing practice, and to make suggestions for ongoing health system strengthening efforts
Newborn technology use in low-resource settings
Neonatal deaths remain a critical public health challenge in many low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), including Kenya. Affordable technologies such as Comprehensive Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) and phototherapy machines can reduce neonatal mortality and are used in these settings. However, their introduction and implementation in resource-constrained health system contexts are poorly understood. This study investigates how communication …
Scoping review of interventions to improve continuity of postdischarge care for newborns in LMICs
INTRODUCTION: Neonatal mortality remains significant in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) with in-hospital mortality rates similar to those following discharge from healthcare facilities. Care continuity interventions have been suggested as a way of reducing postdischarge mortality by better linking care between facilities and communities. This scoping review aims to map and describe interventions used in LMICs to improve care contin…
How to evaluate a multi-country implementation-focused network
Learning about how to evaluate implementation-focused networks is important as they become more commonly used. This research evaluated the emergence, legitimacy and effectiveness of a multi-country Quality of Care Network (QCN) aiming to improve maternal, newborn and child health (MNCH) outcomes. We examined the QCN global level, national and local level interfaces in four case study countries. This paper presents the evaluation team’s reflection…
Effectiveness of a multi-country implementation-focused network on quality of care
The Network for Improving Quality of Care for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (QCN) aims to work through learning, action, leadership and accountability. We aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of QCN in these four areas at the global level and in four QCN countries: Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Malawi and Uganda. This mixed method evaluation comprised 2–4 iterative rounds of data collection between 2019–2022, involving stakeholder interviews, hospita…
Factors shaping network emergence
The Quality-of-Care Network (QCN) was conceptualized by the World Health Organization (WHO) and other global partners to facilitate learning on and improve quality of care for maternal and newborn health within and across low and middle-income countries. However, there was significant variance in the speed and extent to which QCN formed in the involved countries. This paper investigates the factors that shaped QCN’s differential emergence in Bang…
Evaluating theory of change to improve the functioning of the network for improving quality of care for maternal, newborn and child health
In 2017, WHO and global partners launched ‘The Network for Improving Quality of Care for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health’ (QCN) seeking to reduce in-facility maternal and newborn deaths and stillbirth by 50% in health facilities by 2022. We explored how the QCN theory of change guided what actually happened over 2018–2022 in order to understand what worked well, what did not, and to ultimately describe the consequences of QCN activities. We ap…
Conducting cross-cultural, multi-lingual or multi-country scale development and validation in health care research
Background: Valid, reliable and cross-cultural equivalent scales and measurement instruments that enable comparisons across diverse populations in different countries are important for global health research and practice. We developed a 10-step framework through a scoping review of the common strategies and techniques used for scale development and validation in a cross-cultural, multi-lingual, or multi-country setting, especially in health care …
First referral hospitals in low- and middle-income countries
First referral hospitals (FRHs) are the hospitals closest to the community, which offer expertise or technologies to complement more widely available ‘basic’ ambulatory care or inpatient care. Despite having been a subject of interest in global health policy in the latter half of the 20th century, in more recent decades, they appear to have been overshadowed. This paper reviews what is understood by FRH, drawing on both academic and policy litera…
Examining liminality in professional practice, relational identities, and career prospects in resource-constrained health systems
We examine new doctors' and nurses' experiences of transitioning from training to practising as health professionals, drawing on the concept of liminality. Liminality is a stage of 'in-betweenness', involving uncertainty and ambiguity as people leave one social context and reintegrate into a new one. Surprisingly little research has explored new health professionals' experiences of liminality during role and career transitions, particularly in pr…
Development and validation of a new measurement instrument to assess internship experience of medical doctors in low-income and middle-income countries
Routine surveys are used to understand the training quality and experiences of junior doctors but there are lack of tools designed to evaluate the training experiences of interns in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) where working conditions and resource constraints are challenging. We describe our process developing and validating a ‘medical internship experience scale’ to address this gap, work involving nine LMICs that varied in ge…
Hospital care for critical illness in low-resource settings
Care for the critically ill patients is often considered synonymous with a hospital having an intensive care unit. However, a focus on Essential Emergency and Critical Care (EECC) may obviate the need for much intensive care. Severe COVID-19 presented a specific critical care challenge while also being an exemplar of critical illness in general. Our multidisciplinary team conducted research in Kenya and Tanzania on hospitals’ ability to provide E…
‘We were treated like we are nobody’
OBJECTIVE: Medical interns are an important workforce providing first-line healthcare services in hospitals. The internship year is important for doctors as they transition from theoretical learning with minimal hands-on work under supervision to clinical practice roles with considerable responsibility. However, this transition is considered stressful and commonly leads to burn-out due to challenging working conditions and an ongoing need for lea…
How do foundation year and internship experience shape doctors’ career intentions and decisions? A meta-ethnography
PURPOSE: Foundation years or internships are an important period for junior doctors to apply their knowledge and gain clinical competency. Experiences gained during the foundation years or internships are likely to inform newly qualified doctors' opinions about how they want to continue their career. We aimed to understand how medical doctors' internship experiences influence their career intention/decision. METHODS: We conducted qualitative evid…
Influences on policy-formulation, decision-making, organisation and management for maternal, newborn and child health in Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Malawi and Uganda
The Network for Improving Quality of Care for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (QCN) is intended to facilitate learning, action, leadership and accountability for improving quality of care in member countries. This requires legitimacy—a network’s right to exert power within national contexts. This is reflected, for example, in a government’s buy-in and perceived ownership of the work of the network. During 2019–2022 we conducted iterative round…
Individual, organizational and system circumstances, and the functioning of a multi-country implementation-focused network for maternal, newborn and child health
Better policies, investments, and programs are needed to improve the integration and quality of maternal, newborn, and child health services. Previously, partnerships and collaborations that involved multiple countries with a unified aim have been observed to yield positive results. Since 2017, the WHO and partners have hosted the Quality of Care Network [QCN], a multi-country implementation network focused on improving maternal, neonatal, and ch…
Individual interactions in a multi-country implementation-focused quality of care network for maternal, newborn and child health
The Network for Improving Quality of Care for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (QCN) was established to build a cross-country platform for joint-learning around quality improvement implementation approaches to reduce mortality. This paper describes and explores the structure of the QCN in four countries and at global level. Using Social Network Analysis (SNA), this cross-sectional study maps the QCN networks at global level and in four countrie…
Promoting the social value of research in Kenya
Pastoral practices' for quality improvement in a Kenyan clinical network
We explain social and organisational processes influencing health professionals in a Kenyan clinical network to implement a form of quality improvement (QI) into clinical practice, using the concept of 'pastoral practices'. Our qualitative empirical case study, conducted in 2015-16, shows the way practices constructing and linking local evidence-based guidelines and data collection processes provided a foundation for QI. Participation in these co…
Hospitals as complex adaptive systems
There is a dearth of literature on priority setting and resource allocation (PSRA) practices in hospitals, particularly in low and middle income countries (LMICs). Using a case study approach, we examined PSRA practices in 2 public hospitals in coastal Kenya. We collected data through a combination of in-depth interviews of national level policy makers, hospital managers, and frontline practitioners in the case study hospitals (n = 72), review of…
Examining liminality in professional practice, relational identities, and career prospects in resource-constrained health systems
We examine new doctors' and nurses' experiences of transitioning from training to practising as health professionals, drawing on the concept of liminality. Liminality is a stage of 'in-betweenness', involving uncertainty and ambiguity as people leave one social context and reintegrate into a new one. Surprisingly little research has explored new health professionals' experiences of liminality during role and career transitions, particularly in pr…
Collective strategies to cope with work related stress among nurses in resource constrained settings
Kenyan neonatal nurses are asked to do the impossible: to bridge the gap between international standards of nursing and the circumstances they face each day. They work long hours with little supervision in ill-designed wards, staffed by far too few nurses given the pressing need. Despite these conditions, a single neonatal nurse can be tasked with looking after forty sick babies for whom very close care is a necessity. Our 18-month ethnography ex…
Examining clinical leadership in Kenyan public hospitals through the distributed leadership lens
Clinical leadership is recognized as a crucial element in health system strengthening and health policy globally yet it has received relatively little attention in low and middle income countries (LMICs). Moreover, analyses of clinical leadership tend to focus on senior-level individual leaders, overlooking a wider constellation of middle-level leaders delivering health care in practice in a way affected by their health care context. Using the th…
Macro-Economic Policy
Implementation of a structured paediatric admission record for district hospitals in Kenya – results of a pilot study
BACKGROUND: The structured admission form is an apparently simple measure to improve data quality. Poor motivation, lack of supervision, lack of resources and other factors are conceivably major barriers to their successful use in a Kenyan public hospital setting. Here we have examined the feasibility and acceptability of a structured paediatric admission record (PAR) for district hospitals as a means of improving documentation of illness. METHOD…
Promoting the social value of research in Kenya
An increase in the burden of neonatal admissions to a rural district hospital in Kenya over 19 years
There is clear evidence of increasing burden in neonatal admissions at a rural district hospital in contrast to reducing numbers of non-neonatal paediatrics' admissions aged ≤ 5 years. Though the inpatient case fatality for all admissions aged ≤ 5 years declined significantly, neonates now comprise close to 60% of all inpatient deaths. Simple indicators may identify neonates at risk of death
Thank You to Reviewers 2012
Assessing the ability of health information systems in hospitals to support evidence-informed decisions in Kenya
BACKGROUND: Hospital management information systems (HMIS) is a key component of national health information systems (HIS), and actions required of hospital management to support information generation in Kenya are articulated in specific policy documents. We conducted an evaluation of core functions of data generation and reporting within hospitals in Kenya to facilitate interpretation of national reports and to provide guidance on key areas req…
Access to and value of information to support good practice for staff in Kenyan hospitals
BACKGROUND: Studies have sought to define information needs of health workers within very specific settings or projects. Lacking in the literature is how hospitals in low-income settings are able to meet the information needs of their staff and the use of information communication technologies (ICT) in day-to-day information searching. OBJECTIVE: The study aimed to explore where professionals in Kenyan hospitals turn to for work-related informati…
Setting healthcare priorities in hospitals
Priority setting research has focused on the macro (national) and micro (bedside) level, leaving the meso (institutional, hospital) level relatively neglected. This is surprising given the key role that hospitals play in the delivery of healthcare services and the large proportion of health systems resources that they absorb. To explore the factors that impact upon priority setting at the hospital level, we conducted a thematic review of empirica…
Opportunities and challenges for implementing cost accounting systems in the Kenyan health system
BACKGROUND: Low- and middle-income countries need to sustain efficiency and equity in health financing on their way to universal health care coverage. However, systems meant to generate quality economic information are often deficient in such settings. We assessed the feasibility of streamlining cost accounting systems within the Kenyan health sector to illustrate the pragmatic challenges and opportunities. DESIGN: We reviewed policy documents, a…
Setting healthcare priorities
This paper describes and evaluates the budgeting and planning processes in public hospitals in Kenya. We used a qualitative case study approach to examine these processes in two hospitals in Kenya. We collected data by in-depth interviews of national level policy makers, hospital managers, and frontline practitioners in the case study hospitals (n = 72), a review of documents, and non-participant observations within the hospitals over a 7 month p…
Pastoral practices' for quality improvement in a Kenyan clinical network
We explain social and organisational processes influencing health professionals in a Kenyan clinical network to implement a form of quality improvement (QI) into clinical practice, using the concept of 'pastoral practices'. Our qualitative empirical case study, conducted in 2015-16, shows the way practices constructing and linking local evidence-based guidelines and data collection processes provided a foundation for QI. Participation in these co…
Hospitals as complex adaptive systems
There is a dearth of literature on priority setting and resource allocation (PSRA) practices in hospitals, particularly in low and middle income countries (LMICs). Using a case study approach, we examined PSRA practices in 2 public hospitals in coastal Kenya. We collected data through a combination of in-depth interviews of national level policy makers, hospital managers, and frontline practitioners in the case study hospitals (n = 72), review of…
Access to emergency hospital care provided by the public sector in sub-Saharan Africa in 2015
Background Timely access to emergency care can substantially reduce mortality. International benchmarks for access to emergency hospital care have been established to guide ambitions for universal health care by 2030. However, no Pan-African database of where hospitals are located exists; therefore, we aimed to complete a geocoded inventory of hospital services in Africa in relation to how populations might access these services in 2015, with foc…
High-quality health systems in the Sustainable Development Goals era
and respecting all workers to deliver the best care possible. Fourth, governments and civil society should ignite demand for quality in the population to empower people to hold systems accountable and actively seek high-quality care. Additional targeted actions in areas such as health financing, management, district-level learning, and others can complement these efforts. What works in one setting might not work elsewhere, and improvement efforts…
An observational study of monitoring of vital signs in children admitted to Kenyan hospitals
BACKGROUND: Measurement and correct interpretation of vital signs is part of routine clinical care. Repeated measurement enhances early recognition of deterioration, may help prevent morbidity and mortality and is a standard of care in most countries. OBJECTIVE: To examine documentation of vital signs by clinicians for admissions to paediatric wards in Kenyan hospitals, to describe monitoring frequency by nurses and explore factors influencing fr…
Examining clinical leadership in Kenyan public hospitals through the distributed leadership lens
Clinical leadership is recognized as a crucial element in health system strengthening and health policy globally yet it has received relatively little attention in low and middle income countries (LMICs). Moreover, analyses of clinical leadership tend to focus on senior-level individual leaders, overlooking a wider constellation of middle-level leaders delivering health care in practice in a way affected by their health care context. Using the th…
Examining the effectiveness of zinc treatment in children admitted with diarrhoea in Kenya’s public hospitals
BACKGROUND: Kenyan paediatric treatment protocols recommend the use of zinc supplement for all children with diarrhoea. However, there is limited evidence of benefit for young children aged 1-5 months and those who are well-nourished. We examine effectiveness of zinc supplementation for children admitted with diarrhoea to Kenya's public hospitals with different nutritional and age categories. This is to determine whether the current policy where …
Evaluating hospital performance in antibiotic stewardship to guide action at national and local levels in a lower-middle income setting
BACKGROUND: Inappropriate use of antibiotics can lead to the development of resistant pathogens. Ensuring proper use of these important drugs in all healthcare facilities is essential. Unfortunately, however, very little is known about how antibiotics are used in LMIC clinical settings, nor to what degree antibiotic stewardship programmes are in place and effective. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to record all Antibiotic Stewardship policies and structures …
What do we know about maternal and perinatal mortality and morbidity audits in sub-Saharan Africa? A scoping literature review
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide a situational overview of the facility-based maternal and perinatal morbidity and mortality audits (MPMMAs) in SSA, their current efficacy at reducing mortality and morbidity rates related to childbirth. Design/methodology/approach This is a scoping literature review based on the synthesis of secondary literature. Findings Not all countries in SSA conduct MPMMAs. Countries where MPMMAs are conducted…
Protecting children in low-income and middle-income countries from Covid-19
A saving grace of the COVID-19 pandemic in high-income and upper middle-income countries has been the relative sparing of children. As the disease spreads across low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs), long-standing system vulnerabilities may tragically manifest, and we worry that children will be increasingly impacted, both directly and indirectly. Drawing on our shared child pneumonia experience globally, we highlight these potential im…
Data for tracking SDGs
Background: Target 3.2 of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is to reduce neonatal mortality. In low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs), the District Health Information Software, V.2 (DHIS2) is widely used to help improve indicator data reporting. There are few reports on its use for collecting neonatal hospital data that are of increasing importance as births within facilities increase. To address this gap, we invest…
Lessons from a Health Policy and Systems Research programme exploring the quality and coverage of newborn care in Kenya
There are global calls for research to support health system strengthening in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs). To examine the nature and magnitude of gaps in access and quality of inpatient neonatal care provided to a largely poor urban population, we combined multiple epidemiological and health services methodologies. Conducting this work and generating findings was made possible through extensive formal and informal stakeholder e…
Collective strategies to cope with work related stress among nurses in resource constrained settings
Kenyan neonatal nurses are asked to do the impossible: to bridge the gap between international standards of nursing and the circumstances they face each day. They work long hours with little supervision in ill-designed wards, staffed by far too few nurses given the pressing need. Despite these conditions, a single neonatal nurse can be tasked with looking after forty sick babies for whom very close care is a necessity. Our 18-month ethnography ex…
Using treatment guidelines to improve antibiotic use
Clinical practice guidelines have the potential to improve quality of care through improving decision making and antibiotic prescription. These guidelines are particularly important in areas with limited laboratory and specialist capacity.\n\nFor some of the common conditions managed in the hospitals, guidelines are not available or are outdated.\n\nTo reduce irrational antibiotic use and contain the threat of antimicrobial resistance, the proces…
Employing learning health system principles to advance research on severe neonatal and paediatric illness in Kenya
We have worked to develop a Clinical Information Network (CIN) in Kenya as an early form of learning health systems (LHS) focused on paediatric and neonatal care that now spans 22 hospitals. CIN’s aim was to examine important outcomes of hospitalisation at scale, identify and ultimately solve practical problems of service delivery, drive improvements in quality and test interventions. By including multiple routine settings in research, we aimed t…
Medicine (50 obras) · Nursing (35 obras) · Global Maternal and Child Health (34 obras) · Health care (33 obras) · Political science (32 obras) · Business (28 obras) · Public health (18 obras) · Public relations (18 obras) · Kenya (16 obras) · Economic growth (15 obras)