The Knowledge library

Education and Training

Building the “Educational Home”: Staying Connected to Alumni with MEPI Graduate Tracking in Ethiopia

This case study is part of the interactive ePlatform for the World Health Organization’s guidelines on transforming and scaling up health professionals’ education and training. CapacityPlus is collaborating with the Medical Education Partnership Initiative (MEPI) Coordinating Center, MEPI Physician Tracking Technical Working Group, and MEPI-supported medical schools in 11 African countries to develop resources and good practices for graduate tracking and to foster exchange through a regional graduate tracking network. The MEPI Connect graduate tracking software is helping African medical schools to remain connected with their graduates. Tracking allows institutions to assess the effectiveness of strategies to retain graduates at posts in underserved areas.

Investing in Health Workforce Education and Training for Expanded Access to Essential Health Services for Underserved Populations

CapacityPlus developed and applied methodologies and instruments to estimate the cost to an educational institution and its affiliated clinical practice facilities of educating a single health worker; identify targeted investments likely to increase production while maintaining the quality of graduates; and strengthen the capacity of school leaders to better manage human, financial, material, and intellectual resources. Presented at the Prince Mahidol Award Conference in Bangkok (January 26–31, 2015), this poster highlights methods and findings from costing studies performed at one medical school in South Africa and two nursing and midwifery schools in Ethiopia, as well as broader capacity assessments of 19 Nigerian health professional schools.

Building the “Educational Home”: Staying Connected to Alumni with MEPI Graduate Tracking in Tanzania

This case study is part of the interactive ePlatform for the World Health Organization’s guidelines on transforming and scaling up health professionals’ education and training. CapacityPlus is collaborating with the Medical Education Partnership Initiative (MEPI) Coordinating Center, MEPI Physician Tracking Technical Working Group, and MEPI-supported medical schools in 11 African countries to develop resources and good practices for graduate tracking and to foster exchange through a regional graduate tracking network. The MEPI Connect graduate tracking software is helping African medical schools to remain connected with their graduates. Tracking allows institutions to assess the effectiveness of strategies to retain graduates at posts in underserved areas.

MEPI Connect—An Open Source Graduate Tracking Software System: Resource Requirements to Customize and Implement the System

MEPI Connect is a software system that supports medical schools to track and engage with their graduates. The system allows users to view and analyze graduates’ demographic and professional information. The information is obtained initially from the school registrar’s office, then from the graduates themselves, and, when possible, from human resources information systems at ministries of health and/or professional councils. The software was developed by the PEPFAR-funded Medical Education Partnership Initiative (MEPI) Physician Tracking Technical Working Group in collaboration with CapacityPlus and the MEPI Coordinating Center. This document describes resource requirements to customize and implement the system.

Scaling Up Health Workforce Education and Training: Guide for Applying the Bottlenecks and Best Buys Approach

Bottlenecks and Best BuysCapacityPlus’s Bottlenecks and Best Buys Approach is designed to help educational institutions identify obstacles to increasing the production of competent and qualified health workers that can be overcome through limited yet strategic investments. This guide identifies the stakeholders who should be involved, the steps in conducting a bottlenecks assessment, and a method for using the results to identify and build consensus on the most effective and affordable actions (best buys) for overcoming bottlenecks. It also provides tools and examples for strategic steps in the approach, such as engaging stakeholders, conducting a situation analysis, defining the school’s scale-up goal, leading group interviews, analyzing the results, and presenting the final bottlenecks and best buys report to external stakeholders and potential investors. Access the guide and annexes, along with related resources.

Building the “Educational Home”: Staying Connected to Alumni with MEPI Graduate Tracking in Ghana

This case study is part of the interactive ePlatform for the World Health Organization’s guidelines on transforming and scaling up health professionals’ education and training. CapacityPlus is collaborating with the Medical Education Partnership Initiative (MEPI) Coordinating Center, MEPI Physician Tracking Technical Working Group, and MEPI-supported medical schools in 11 African countries to develop resources and good practices for graduate tracking and to foster exchange through a regional graduate tracking network. The MEPI Connect graduate tracking software is helping African medical schools to remain connected with their graduates. Tracking allows institutions to assess the effectiveness of strategies to retain graduates at posts in underserved areas.

The Dean’s Dashboard: Strengthening School Management through Information and Informed Decision-Making

Health workforce educational institutions are struggling to meet the increasing demand for health workers capable of providing quality health services to expanding populations. More effective and efficient management of education and training institutions can play a major role in a country’s ability to scale up its production of competent and qualified health workers. Presented at the GETHealth Summit in Dublin, Ireland (November 13–14, 2014), this poster describes findings from a pilot of the Dean’s Dashboard at three schools in Africa. When aligned with a school’s strategic planning efforts, the Dean’s Dashboard offers the potential for regular reports on progress toward strategic goals as well as management information in a form that is easily accessible to institutional leaders. As an open source application, it is an affordable tool for information management and presentation.

mHealth Compendium Volume Four

The fourth edition of the mHealth compendium is a collection of 31 case studies, including one focused on application of CapacityPlus’s interactive voice response (IVR) mLearning platform to deliver refresher training to family planning providers in Senegal (page 68). The compendium also highlights the nine Principles for Digital Development, provides evidence for mHealth interventions, and identifies valuable databases, training materials, guidelines, and toolkits for mHealth project implementers.