In-Service Training

Integration of Gender-Transformative Interventions into Health Professional Education Reform for the 21st century: Implications of an Expert Review

The paper’s broad aim is to encourage HPE [Health Professional education] leaders to make gender-transformative reforms in the current way of doing business and commit to themselves to countering gender discrimination and inequality. Interventions to counter gender discrimination should be seen as integral parts of institutional and instructional reforms and essential investments to scale up quality HPE and recruit and retain health workers in the systems that educate and employ them. Implementation challenges spanning financial, informational, and cultural barriers need consideration.

Successful mLearning Pilot in Senegal: Delivering Family Planning Refresher Training Using Interactive Voice Response and SMS

Health workers’ knowledge of contraceptive side effects increased substantially after the refresher training. The mobile phone approach was convenient and flexible and did not disrupt routine service delivery. Clear limitations of the medium are participants can’t practice clinical skills or have interactive discussions. Also, some participants had trouble with network reception. [from abstract]

Community Health Nurses’ Learning Needs in Relation to the Canadian Community Health Nursing Standards of Practice: Results From a Canadian Survey

This paper examines Canadian CHNs learning needs in relation to the 2008 Canadian Community Health Nursing Standards of Practice (CCHN Standards). It answers: What are the learning needs of CHNs in Canada in relation to the CCHN Standards? What are differences in CHNs’ learning needs by: province and territory in Canada, work setting (home health, public health and other community health settings) and years of nursing practice? [from abstract]

Training for PEPFAR OVC Survey Data Collectors

Data collectors implementing the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) survey tools must be trained to a high standard. To enable this, MEASURE Evaluation has developed a training manual and materials for data collectors. Groups wanting to implement the OVC survey tools will need to adapt this training manual and materials to reflect the aims and design of the specific study. [from introduction]

Plausible Role for CHW Peer Support Groups in Increasing Care-Seeking in an Integrated Community Case Management Project in Rwanda: A Mixed Methods Evaluation

During national scale up of Integrated Community Case Management (iCCM) in Rwanda, greater improvements in care-seeking were found in the districts where Kabeho Mwana implemented its model than in the rest of the country. Success was attributed to an emphasis on routine data review, intensive monitoring, collaborative supervision, community mobilization, and, in particular, CHW peer support groups. [from introduction]

Where There is No Psychiatrist: A Mental Health Programme in Sierra Leone

The identification and treatment of mental disorders must be considered an urgent public health priority in low- and middle-income countries. Trained primary health workers can deliver safe and effective treatment for mental disorders as a feasible alternative to ease the scarcity of mental health specialists in developing countries. [from abstract]

In-Service Training Improvement Framework Launched at the Third Global Forum on Human Resources for Health

Training is clearly an important contribution towards the development and maintenance of health worker competencies for delivering quality services – but how can we make training more effective, efficient and sustainable? We gathered participants from around the world at a side session to harvest and share experiences, strategies and lessons learnt.
So what did we learn? We’ve conveniently packaged together the questions we discussed along with some of the main lessons learnt here. [adapted from authors]

Study on Developmental- Behavioural Pediatrics Training Experiences of Pediatricians and Pediatric Trainees Working in Nepal

This study aims to evaluate the Developmental –Behavioural pediatrics (DBP) training experiences of pediatricians and pediatric trainees during their post graduate training in pediatrics. [from abstract]

Successfully Providing Essential Newborn Care for Term and Premature Babies: A Midwife’s Perspective

During the three-and-a-half years of implementation, Ethiopia’s [Federal Ministry of Health] developed a new community health strategy for the Health Extension Program consisting of Primary Health Care Units (health centers and health posts) and the Health Development army. [adapted from abstract]

Improving the Process of Antenatal Care to Increase Detection of Women with High-Risk Conditions in Zonal Hospital of Mandi, Himachal Pradesh, India

Zonal Hospital, Mandi identified that they were not identifying women with high risk conditions during their antenatal care (ANC) clinic. By re-organizing the clinic, the hospital was able to increase the proportion of pregnant women identified as being at high-risk from 1.6% to 12.3% in a matter of weeks. [from abstract]

Use of Text Messages to Communicate Clinical Recommendations to Health Workers in Rural China: A Cluster-Randomized Trial

To compare the effectiveness of mobile phone text messaging and that of traditional health worker training in communicating clinical recommendations to health workers in China. [from abstract]

The Effectiveness of a ‘Train the Trainer’ Model of Resuscitation Education for Rural Peripheral Hospital Doctors in Sri Lanka

Sri Lankan rural doctors based in isolated peripheral hospitals routinely resuscitate critically ill patients but have difficulty accessing training. We tested a train-the-trainer model that could be utilised in isolated rural hospitals. [from abstract]

Assessing the Relevance, Efficiency, and Sustainability of HIV/AIDS In-Service Training in Nigeria

Using the IST Improvement Framework, developed by the USAID Applying Sciences to Strengthen and Improve Systems Project (ASSIST), as a guide, the authors developed a survey tool to assess the efficiency, effectiveness and sustainability of IST provided between January 2007 and July 2012 by PEPFAR-funded implementing partners in Nigeria. [from abstract]

Evaluation of Spaced Education as a Learning Methodology for In-Service Training of Health Workers in Ethiopia

This pilot study, which followed a convenience sample of 37 Ethiopian nationals enrolled in a spaced education course over a six-month period, attempted to determine the acceptability and effectiveness of the methodology in a low-resource context. [from abstract]

Short Structured General Mental Health In Service Training Programme in Kenya Improves Patient Health and Social Outcomes but Not Detection of Mental Health Problems: A Pragmatic Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial

This paper reports an exploratory trial designed to test the effect of a low-cost training in-service training intervention for primary health care providers on: the rate of accurate routine clinic detection of mental disorder and recovery (improved health and social outcomes and quality of life) of clients. [adapted from author]

Evaluation of Spaced Education as a Learning Methodology for In-Service Training of Health Workers in Ethiopia

This pilot study followed 37 Ethiopian nationals enrolled in a spaced education course over a six-month period, attempted to determine the acceptability and effectiveness of the electronic delivery methodology in a low-resource context. [adapted from abstract]

Effective in-Service Training Design and Delivery: Evidence from an Integrative Literature Review

This integrative review of the education and training literature was conducted to identify effective training approaches for health worker continuing professional education and what evidence exists of outcomes derived from this training. [from abstract]

Framework for Outcome-Level Evaluation of in-Service Training of Health Care Workers

This paper presents the methods and results of a project to develop an outcome-focused training evaluation framework that links health care worker training to improved health outcomes. [adapted from abstract]

Guidelines for In-Service Training in Basic and Comprehensive Emergency Obstetric and Newborn Care

These guidelines provide the information and guidance needed to implement effective basic and comprehensive emergency obstetric and newborn care training. Recommendations are made for selecting participants and clinical sites, training schedules, and where to find the materials and resources needed for effective clinical skills practice. Use of these guidelines will enable facilitators to train providers who are competent in evidence-based practices and who will ensure that their facilities offer quality services. [from author]

Can a Theory-Based Educational Intervention Change Nurses' Knowledge and Attitudes Concerning Cancer Pain Management? A Quasi-Experimental Design

A lack of knowledge regarding pain management and registered nurse’s perception of cancer pain could act as barriers to effective pain management. This study aimed to investigate if a theory-based educational intervention could change nurses’ knowledge and attitudes to cancer pain and pain management, both four and 12 weeks after the start of the intervention. [adapted from abstract]

Global Improvement Framework for Health Worker In-service Training: Guidance for Improved Effectiveness, Efficiency and Sustainability

This short report describes the improvement framework for in-service training programs. It describes the final set of 40 in-service training improvement recommendations developed through a consensus process with representatives of key stakeholders. [adapted from publisher]

Factors Affecting Learning and Teaching for Medicines Supply Management Training in Pacific Island Countries: A Realist View

The focus of this review was to determine what cultural and learning factors need to be considered when developing a curriculum for South Pacific pharmaceutical health personnel who work across a range of practice environments. [from abstract]

Spread of PMTCT and ART Better Care Practices through Collaborative Learning in Tanzania

This evaluation aims to describe and analyze peer-to-peer learning among health workers and the spread of better care practices within regions and across regions improve care provided to those needing HIV and AIDS services. [adapted from summary]

Peer Group Intervention for HIV Prevention among Health Workers in Chile

The authors tested the impacts of a professionally assisted peer-group intervention on Chilean health workers’ HIV-related knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors using a quasi-experimental design with a pretest and 3 month post-test. [from author]

Innovative Blended Learning Approach Using Virtual Patients as Preparation for Skills Laboratory Training: Perceptions of Students and Teachers

This study investigated how students and tutors perceive a blended learning approach using virtual patients as preparation for medical students for skills laboratory training. [adapted from author]

Strengthening Health Workforce Capacity through Work-Based Training

This article outlines the development and use of an eight-month modular, in-service work-based training program in Uganda aimed at strengthening the capacity for monitoring and evaluation and continuous quality improvement in health service delivery. [adapted from abstract]

Community Discussion Guide for Maternal and Newborn Health Care: A Training Manual for Safe Motherhood Action Groups

This guide contains detailed guidance on how to train safe motherhood action group volunteers in two key areas of their portfolio – maternal and newborn health care.

Recall of Lost to Follow-Up Pre-Antiretroviral Therapy Patients in the Eastern Cape: Effect of Mentoring on Patient Care

This study sought to prove that mentoring plays an important role in professional nurse training and support and that recall of lost-to-follow-up patients is feasible and effective in improving ART services in rural settings. [adapted from author]

Capacity Building in Egypt: Management and Leadership Training at the Leadership Academy

This case study explores the development and impact of a training program to improve health sector management and leadership so that the ministry of health could become more efficient and provide the quality of services that the Egyptian population needed and demanded. [adapted from author]

Healthcare is Not Something You Can Isolate from Life in General: Factors Influencing Successful Clinical Capacity Building in the Pacific

This article presents factors that influenced the implementation of a capacity building assistance program in the U.S. Affiliated Pacific Island jurisdictions that worked with health professionals to develop local organizational and clinical HIV capacity. It also evaluates the program to understand the contextual factors affecting the delivery of services. [adapted from introduction]