Education and Training

This study was carried out to document the current situation regarding continued or in-service training opportunities amongst healthcare workers serving in government (public) health centres within Blantyre District Health office. Knowledge of such a situation would better inform health personnel trainers, professional regulatory bodies, the Ministry of Health and international agencies to design appropriate intervention programs towards professional development of healthcare personnel. [from introduction]

This presentation was part of the International Conference on Global Health session, "Answering the Call: Innovations in Human Resources by African Faith-Based Organizations." From the perspective of the Uganda Catholic Medical Bureau experience, the presentation discusses why the private not-for-profit sector is important in service provision and training; why nurses are in the midst of the human resource crisis; obastacles to increasing the training capacity; and what the PNFP health training institutions are doing to address their weaknesses. [adapted from author]

This training manual is designed to prepare trainers who already have skills as reproductive health trainers to proceed to a higher level of training implementation. This module prepares them to conduct a training needs assessment, develop detailed plans for training, develop and pilot test a training curriculum, conduct training using more advanced training techniques, conduct training follow up and evaluate training. [publisher's description]

Paper presented at the AAU Conference of Rectors, Vice Chancellors and Presidents of African Universities, 2003. The paper examines the situation of HIV/AIDS globally, and in Africa. The central message of the paper is that higher education institutions must develop a comprehensive HIV prevention programme which runs through and drives each of the following: HIV/AIDS policy and strategy development; developing culturally appropriate prevention messages; tackling socio-economic factors; establishing partnerships; sustaining awareness and education; challenging denial and stigma; situating prevention in a community context; linking care to prevention; rigorous scientific reflection.

This research sheds light on the nature, design and provision of institutional services for providing training to the premier community health service providers in the public sector in Bangladesh. Virtually no major study exists on the training of the FWVs in the country. The methodology of the research mainly consists of a personal interview and questionnaire survey, covering the concerned trainers and officials of the major public health administration and training institutions of the country, including the National Institute of Population Research and Training, the Family Planning Directorate and the Family Welfare Visitors' Training Institute.

The Quality Assurance Project investigated how job aids could increase compliance with guidelines for the Integrated Management of Childhood Illness (IMCI) in cooperation with the Zambia Central Board of Health beginning in 1999. One of the first countries to introduce IMCI, Zambia had a large number of IMCI-trained providers, and several IMCI job aids were already in use: a chartbook, recording form, poster, and mother card. The study proceeded in three stages: an initial assessment of job aid usage in 1999, the design and introduction of a new IMCI job aid (called "new outpatient department book" or "NOPD book") that also served as the patient record, and a second assessment of job aid usage in 2000 after introduction of the NOPD book.

The study was carried out to evaluate short term effects of one to one educational intervention approach, conducted with 40 drug sellers in order to improve the private sector's practices, compliance and performance in using the national treatment guidelines for malaria and other common childhood (diarrhoea, acute respiratory tract infection-ARI) illnesses in Kibaha district-Tanzania. [from abstract]

This issue introduces Training Impact Evaluation (TIE), a process designed to help managers identify and strengthen the links between training and staff performance. The issue describes the benefits of conducting a Training Impact Evaluation using a team approach and takes you step-by-step through the TIE process. The issue also offers practical suggestions for collecting, analyzing, and interpreting data on trainee performance in the workplace. It concludes with suggestions for ways that managers can use the information to make recommendations to decision makers, to improve training courses, or to seek management solutions to performance problems.

This retrospective study assessed the effects of pre- and post-training programme for healthcare professionals about breastfeeding. [from abstract]

This study examines the attitudes of nursing students toward caring for HIV/AIDS patients and their knowledge and perceptions about the disease. Findings revealed a very positive outlook of the nursing students in regards to caring for HIV/AIDS patients. Although most of them expressed their willingness to take any job offer concerning caring for HIV/AIDS patients, 34.3% apprehended resistance from their family members in this regard. However, they also considered that it would be possible for them to overcome the resistance. Although 100% of the students had heard of HIV/AIDS, a number of them had misconceptions about various aspects of the disease.

This paper focuses on the scheme by the Malawi Ministry of Health (MOH) to retain nurse tutors in collaboration with the Christian Health Association of Malawi (CHAM). It chronicles the scheme's successful elements for purposes of eventual replication, suggests how to address some of the challenges and identifies effective incentives, including salary supplements. [from executive summary]

This report summarizes key results of the evaluation of a distance learning course in the Standard Days Method. This course responds to a growing demand for low-cost options to training for family planning service providers. This option was considered as a potentially useful alternative to traditional class-room training, which can be both costly and time-consuming. [adapted from abstract]

The peculiarities of the scattered small states of the Caribbean region call for a model of training practitioners that is effective, relevant and sustainable. Distance education (DE) as an approach offers advantages that meet some of the challenges inherent in training family physicians for the region. This paper examines some of these challenges and shows where DE is being used to structure delivery of the programme. In particular, the need for context-specific training, managing time strictures and the cost issues of training are discussed. [from abstract]

A central part of the World Federation for Medical Education strategy is to give priority to specification of international standards and guidelines for medical education, comprising both institutions and their educational programmes. Adoption of international standards will constitute a new framework for medical schools to measure themselves. Furthermore, internationally accepted standards could be used as a basis for national and regional recognition and accreditation of medical schools’ educational programs. [from introduction]

The numbers of health professionals joining the brain drain has reached a peak in recent years in apparent response to huge demands emanating from the developed countries. The brain drain of professionals, combined with the health crisis, threatens the entire development process in Africa. The crisis in health intensifies with the advent of the HIV/AIDS crisis. The loss of health workers simply serves to worsen a dire situation. The health and education sectors need to cooperate intensively to devise means of gaining some utility from the health professionals they produce before they leave for greener pastures.

This manual provides step-by-step guidelines as a “how-to” for implementing the CAPA approach, and was developed for use by State Ministries of Health, program managers, technical staff, and donor agencies involved in community-oriented approaches for child survival activities. Basic Support for Institutionalizing Child Survival/Nigeria (BASICS II/N), in collaboration with Nigeria’s federal and state governments, conceptualized and designed a community-based approach (CBA) called Catchment Area Planning and Action (CAPA) to empower community members to take an active role in improving the health of their children in areas of immunization, nutrition, and malaria.

This Praxis Note provides an overview of the impact of HIV/AIDS on the Malawi health care system and on the organisational capacity of Mulanje Mission Hospital. It describes the experiences and lessons learnt from a capacity building program designed to address capacity deficits and erosion caused by HIV/AIDS attrition. Less emphasis was placed on external training courses and increasing attention given to short-course inputs and distance learning. [from introduction]

This presentation was given as part of the Christian Health Association's Conference: CHAs at a Crossroad Towards Achieving Health Millennium Development Goals. It provides an excellent overview of the challenges of Malaria and HIV/AIDS ; discusses the human resource needs in light of these challenges; and how to build and maintain capacity. [from author's description]

This video clip is 6 minutes and 58 seconds and provides information on the training and retention of health workers in Cape Verde. The majority of the training is done abroad due to poor medical educational facilities in country, and the video communicates the policies and programs Cape Verde has used to ensure trained doctors return to the country as well as how they ensure deployment of doctors to rural areas.

This issue of the HST Update contains articles on: overview of nursing in South Africa, transforming nursing education towards primary health care, problems in nursing today, nursing summit charters a way forward, placement of nurses, nurse training in Mount Frere health district, and the quest for rational drug use.

This checklist is designed to be completed by clinical trainers preparing for clinical training courses. It covers the areas of Participant Selection and Management, Classroom Logistics, Clinic Logistics, and Classroom Preparation/ Management.

The checklist described in this document has been developed as a tool to assist those involved in a systematic review of the human resource development component of the NTP. This component is often referred to as "training." In this document, the term training is used in a broader context than the more traditional interpretation of the term, where training refers to organization and implementation of training courses. Training in this document is often replaced by the term "HR development" to stress the need for a broader and more long-term approach within NTPs. [from introduction]

The guides in this toolkit are intented to be used to facilitate a broad discussion of the elements and conditions that underpin the concept of informed and voluntary decision making, help users assess the status of sexual reproductive health decision making in a given program by identifying the challenges and supporting factors at the individual/community, service-deliver, and policy levels, and to help users plan strategies to strengthen supports for clients’ reproductive health decision making.

This manual provides useful information to help the trainer conduct a training program in the client-centered approach to reproductive health. In addition to the modules covering the step-by-step activities that will help participants master different concepts, the information presented ranges from a practical listing of the tools required to short presentations on topics that the trainer will want to be familiar with during the training. [from introduction]

This paper discusses a collaborative effort between two universities in Sri Lanka and Canada to create a distance education program to train nurses in Sri Lanka.

Malawi has a critical human resources problem particularly in the health sector. The College of Medicine (COM)is the only medical school. For senior staff it heavily depends on expatriates. We explore to what extent a brain drain took place among the COM graduates by investigating their professional development and geographical distribution.

A comparison showed that two models for teaching maternal care skills to providers resulted in similarly modest improvements in knowledge and performance. However, maternal care skills remained weak overall. Training should incorporate the best elements of the two approaches while seeking improvements in basic knowledge of maternal care. [author's description]

The overall objective of community-based medical education (CBME) is to produce highly qualified doctors in sufficient numbers to meet the health needs of the nation at community and hospital levels. In the current program, medical students undertake an eight-week residential posting in their final year. The objective of this study was to assess the communities' awareness, perception and participation in the CBME program. [adapted from introduction]

This pre-tested and peer-reviewed curriculum focuses on the knowledge and skills necessary for providing holistic CHBC for people living with HIV/AIDS, transferring knowledge and skills to caregivers and CHBC clients, and mobilizing communities around HIV/AIDS prevention, care, treatment, and support. The trainer's guide includes comprehensive units that cover topics from HIV basics, communication skills, nursing care, nutrition, positive living, family planning, HIV prevention, ART, to community mobilization.
The illustrated handbook provides community health workers with a practical user-friendly tool that can be used as reference material and for skills transfer to clients and caregivers. [publisher's description]

An immunization consultation is useful when health workers are providing immunizations in their service area, but do not work in partnership with the community to attain full coverage. A consultation is not training but rather an opportunity to step back, look at problems that lead to low coverage and design strategies that involve the community in increasing that coverage. The consultation outlined in this Facilitator’s Guide is designed to help trainers enable health workers consider ways to increase and sustain a high immunization coverage in their respective service areas. [adapted fr