In-Service Training

Compendium of Approaches and Tools for Expanding High-Quality Health Workforce Education and Training

david — Thu, 03 Sep 2015 19:16:14 +0000

Author's name:

Rebecca Bailey, Heather Ross, and Kate Tulenko

August 2015 (All day)

Compendium of Approaches and Tools for Expanding High-Quality Health Workforce Education and Training

This compendium categorizes and describes approaches and tools that national stakeholders can use to address common challenges in expanding high-quality education and training. It lists sources of globally-recognized, evidence-based guidelines and recommendations for scaling up and transforming health professional education. It then suggests resources to support the implementation of those recommendations, categorized in relation to the health workforce production pipeline framework.

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

cmahoney — Thu, 25 Jun 2015 16:35:10 +0000

Author's name:

Abdoulaye Diedhiou, Kate E Gilroy, Carie Muntifering Cox, Luke Duncan, Djimadoum Koumtingue, Sara Pacqué-Margolis, Alfredo Fort, Dykki Settle, Rebecca Bailey

June 2015 (All day)

Global Health: Science and Practice

This article in the June 2015 issue of Global Health: Science and Practice highlights the results of an assessment CapacityPlus conducted in Senegal of a prototype mLearning system that uses interactive voice response (IVR) and text messaging on basic mobile phones. IVR allows trainees to respond to audio recordings using their telephone keypads. The pilot included offering a refresher training course on the management of contraceptive side effects and misconceptions to 20 public-sector nurses and midwives in working in Mékhé and Tivaouane districts in the Thiès region. The authors concluded that the mLearning system proved appropriate, feasible, and acceptable to trainees, and it was associated with sustained knowledge gains.

Use of an Interactive Voice Response System to Deliver Refresher Training in Senegal: Findings from Pilot Implementation and Assessment

Sarah Dwyer — Mon, 30 Mar 2015 13:22:08 +0000

Author's name:

Kate E. Gilroy, Abdoulaye Diedhiou, Carie Muntifering Cox, Luke Duncan, Djim Koumtingue, Sara Pacqué-Margolis, Alfredo Fort, Dykki Settle, and Rebecca Bailey

March 2015 (All day)

Use of an Interactive Voice Response System to Deliver Refresher Training in Senegal

In-service training reinforces and updates health workers’ knowledge, but it is often expensive and requires providers to leave their posts. Interactive voice response (IVR) is a technology—possible with any type of phone—that delivers information via audio recordings and allows users to provide feedback by pressing a number key. CapacityPlus developed, deployed, and assessed an innovative mLearning system that used a combination of IVR and SMS text messaging to deliver refresher training to family planning providers in Senegal, focusing on management of contraceptive side effects and counseling to dispel misconceptions. The pilot application among 20 midwives, nurses, nursing assistants, and health agents took place in two districts in Thiès Region of Senegal. Evaluation findings showed that an mLearning system that delivers refresher training to family planning providers via simple mobile phones using IVR and SMS text is appropriate, feasible, acceptable, and associated with sustained gains in knowledge.

Report of Training Needs Assessment for Community Health Workers in South-South Geopolitical Region of Nigeria

Sarah Dwyer — Fri, 05 Dec 2014 18:15:41 +0000

Author's name:

Shiono Bennibor, Samuel Ngobua, Rebecca Bailey, Ananaba Alozie, Joseph Eton, and Amanda Puckett

September 2014 (All day)

Report of Training Needs Assessment for Community Health Workers

One of the recommendations from a 2013 CapacityPlus assessment of PEPFAR-funded in-service training in Nigeria was to ensure broader access to new developments in knowledge and technology, as well as sustainability of training, by integrating the in-service training contents into preservice education curricula and continuing professional development programs. This assessment explored community health extension worker and community health officer perceptions of globally-accepted competency domains for public health practitioners across the areas of importance, and confidence in their ability to demonstrate those competencies. To corroborate findings at the domain level, the assessment also assessed these health workers at the individual skill/ability levels, which are mapped to the competency domain areas. Need scores were calculated for each competency domain and individual skill/ability levels. A need score ranking placed the need for computer and information technology access and skills as the top priority among health workers who participated in the study. Financial planning and management and public health science skills ranked a close second and third.

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

david — Tue, 22 Apr 2014 18:49:17 +0000

Author's name:

Randi Burlew, Amanda Puckett, Rebecca Bailey, Margaret Caffrey, and Stephanie Brantley

April 2014 (All day)

Human Resources for Health

This article presents the results of an assessment of HIV/AIDS in-service training provided to Nigerian health workers through funding from the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). CapacityPlus conducted the assessment with an online survey tool developed using the In-Service Training Improvement Framework. A total of 39 partners providing PEPFAR-funded in-service training in Nigeria completed the survey. The survey captured the landscape of the types of training provided; the cadres of health workers receiving training; and the processes, procedures, and resources used by partners over the period January 2007–July 2012. Based on the findings, the authors make a number of recommendations for increasing the effectiveness of HIV/AIDS in-service training in Nigeria.

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

david — Wed, 23 Oct 2013 15:45:34 +0000

Author's name:

Kate Tulenko and Rebecca Bailey

October 2013 (All day)

Knowledge Management & E-Learning: An International Journal

Participation in in-service training can be a challenge for health workers, especially those stationed in remote areas. Spaced education is an innovative learning methodology that can be delivered electronically by Internet or mobile smartphone. CapacityPlus conducted a pilot study that followed a convenience sample of 37 Ethiopian nationals enrolled in a spaced education course over a six-month period to determine the acceptability and effectiveness of the methodology in a low-resource context. The course content was codeveloped by Ethiopian and international nutrition experts and focused on the recently revised Ethiopian Federal Ministry of Health guidelines on the feeding of infants of HIV-positive mothers. The study suggests that the Internet-based spaced education methodology is acceptable and effective for the acquisition of knowledge in a low-resource context for course participants with a clinical or public health background and moderately reliable Internet access. More research is needed to test the feasibility, acceptability, and effectiveness of the methodology among a wider population of health workers in developing countries, and particularly among government and volunteer health workers in rural and remote settings.

Keeping Up to Date: Continuing Professional Development for Health Workers in Developing Countries

Sarah Dwyer — Wed, 19 Sep 2012 13:11:17 +0000

Author's name:

Kamlesh Giri, Nina Frankel, Kate Tulenko, Amanda Puckett, Rebecca Bailey, and Heather Ross

September 2012 (All day)

CapacityPlus Technical Brief #6 (PDF)

CapacityPlus Technical Brief #6 (Interactive Version)

In order for health workers to provide quality care and meet their communities’ changing health care needs, they must become lifelong learners dedicated to updating their professional knowledge, skills, values, and practice. This technical brief summarizes the literature concerning current best practices and innovative ideas in continuing professional development (CPD). It is targeted toward people who run or advise CPD programs.

Access the interactive version or the PDF. Also read the related news. If you have any questions or feedback, please contact us.

Learning for Performance: Toolkit for Health Worker Education and Training

Sarah Dwyer — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 20:50:19 +0000

Author's name:

CapacityPlus

January 2011 (All day)

Learning for Performance Overview

An overview of Learning for Performance, a toolkit targeted to fix a performance problem or gap when health workers lack the essential skills and knowledge for a specific job responsibility, competency, or task.

Updating and Disseminating Guidelines for Family Planning and Reproductive Health: The Role of Health Systems Strengthening

CapacityPlus — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 17:11:34 +0000

Author's name:

Joanne Spicehandler

December 2009 (All day)

Project Tech Brief 18

Describes several approaches used to achieve needed changes in service delivery practice, and provides recommendations for actions at the local level.

Training Health Workers in Africa: Documenting Faith-Based Organizations’ Contributions

CapacityPlus — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 17:11:34 +0000

Author's name:

Erika Pearl, Sarla Chand, Craig Hafner

November 2009 (All day)

Project Tech Brief 17

Provides information on preservice and in-service trainings offered by faith-based organizations, with a focus on nursing and midwifery pre-service training in Malawi, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.

Applying the Learning for Performance Approach

CapacityPlus — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 17:06:34 +0000

Author's name:

Catherine Murphy and Claire Viadro

September 2009 (All day)

Legacy Series 5

Discusses the Capacity Project’s participation in the development of LFP-informed learning interventions.

Learning for Performance: A Guide and Toolkit for Health Worker Training and Education Programs

CapacityPlus — Thu, 04 Jan 2007 17:11:34 +0000

Author's name:

Capacity Project, IntraHealth International

April 2007 (All day)

Learning for Performance

This manual presents a systematic instructional design process and accompanying tools that help connect learning to specific job responsibilities and competencies.