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Author: baldwl

Laboratory Quality Stepwise Program in Cambodia

Post categories: Cambodia Clinical Mentoring Health Systems Strengthening Human Resources for Health Implementation Science Laboratory Systems Leadership & Management Lucy Perrone Quality Improvement
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From September 2013 to September 2016, I-TECH conducted an implementation science research project to improve laboratory quality in Cambodia. The primary objective of the project was to implement a mentored laboratory quality stepwise implementation (LQSI) program to strengthen the quality and capacity of Cambodian hospital laboratories. As a result, target laboratories improved their operations in the areas of: biosafety, organization, personnel, equipment maintenance, purchasing and inventory, testing accuracy, process management, documentation and communication.

The project recruited and trained four laboratory technician to be mentors, training staff from 12 referral hospital laboratories in quality management systems (QMS), and reinforcing skills acquisition through in-person mentoring. Participating laboratories reported a 36% increase in quality management, 29% improvement in data management, and 25% improvement in specimen collection and handling. The laboratories established the foundational practices of a QMS, and the LQSI program has improved the recognition of the laboratory within the hospitals.

Improving Laboratory Quality in Cambodia

Post categories: Cambodia Clinical Mentoring Health Systems Strengthening Human Resources for Health Laboratory Systems Leadership & Management Lucy Perrone Quality Improvement
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The I-TECH Cambodia Lab team. L to R: Sophanna Song, Cat Koehn , Siew Kim Ong, and Sophat Sek

I-TECH’s laboratory program began in Cambodia in 2013 with the goal to improve operations and regional biosurveillance and biosecurity through improved laboratory quality assurance and management practices. In collaboration with the Cambodian Ministry of Health, the World Health Organization (WHO), and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and with funding provided by the Department of Defense and DTRA, I-TECH strengthens the Cambodian laboratory system through:

  • Implementation of an intensive mentoring program at 12 national and provincial public health laboratories;
  • Leadership and management capacity building of MoH laboratory leaders;
  • Mentoring and capacity building the National Animal Health and Production Research Institute (in collaboration with Washington State University);
  • Job specific training delivered in service and through educational programs such as the Quality Assurance Certificate Course (in collaboration with the University of British Columbia);
  • Support for laboratory workforce development through on-site technical assistance and training;
  • Support for national laboratory system policy development.

Enhancing Quality of Healthcare Activity in Cambodia

Post categories: Cambodia Health Policy Leadership & Management Nancy Puttkammer
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The overall goal of the Enhancing Quality of Healthcare Activity (EQHA) program in Cambodia is to improve the quality of public and private health services in national and sub-national health systems by August 2023. The project, funded by the US Agency for International Development (USAID), is being implemented by Family Health International (FHI360) in collaboration with I-TECH and other partner organizations. I-TECH’s scope of work focuses on improvements to 1) the national health policy regulatory framework and 2) national pre-service health education and training institutions.

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Advanced Disease and Patient Care/Cryptococcal Antigen Screening and Treatment in Tanzania

Post categories: Clinical Mentoring Differentiated Care Health Systems Strengthening HIV Care and Treatment HIV Co-Infection Human Resources for Health Tanzania
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High-quality, effective, and evidence-based service delivery for HIV care and prevention requires a broad continuum of integrated and linked services to ensure consistent and high-quality client management over time. With the World Health Organization’s (WHO) recommendation to “Treat All,” eligibility for antiretroviral therapy (ART) among People Living with HIV (PLHIV) is eliminated, and all populations and age groups are linked in one universal policy. This recommendation change erases the distinction between all groups. However, a substantial number of PLHIV still present late to care and have advanced disease, and require interventions that prioritize clinical packages to reduce mortality and morbidity and eventually enable them to become clinically stable [1].

Continue reading “Advanced Disease and Patient Care/Cryptococcal Antigen Screening and Treatment in Tanzania”

Nursing Efficiency and Task-Sharing in Tanzania

Post categories: Differentiated Care Health Policy Health Systems Strengthening Human Resources for Health Nursing/HCW Cadres Pamela Kohler Quality Improvement Tanzania
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I-TECH Tanzania led the development of the task-sharing policy guidelines for Health Sector Services approved in 2016 as well as the policy’s operational plan. While task-sharing is a widely known HIV service delivery efficiency strategy, still there is continues gaps between national strategies and actual implementation at the site-level [1,2].

Continue reading “Nursing Efficiency and Task-Sharing in Tanzania”

I-TECH Presents Laboratory Systems Strengthening Data at ASLM 2018

Post categories: Cambodia Cote d'Ivoire eLearning/Distance Learning Laboratory Systems Leadership & Management Lucy Perrone Quality Improvement Zambia
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Representatives from the International Training and Education Center for Health (I-TECH) attended the fourth international African Society for Laboratory Medicine (ASLM) conference in Abuja, Nigeria, on 10-13 December 2018.

The theme this year focused on the role of laboratories in preventing and controlling the next pandemic. I-TECH had seven abstracts accepted at the conference that highlighted the laboratory systems strengthening work done by I-TECH in Cambodia, Côte d’Ivoire, and Zambia. The full abstracts presented by I-TECH can be found in the ASLM 2018 Conference Abstracts Conference Book.

Below is a summary of I-TECH presentations:

I-TECH Laboratory Systems Strengthening Team at ASLM 2018.
I-TECH Laboratory Systems Strengthening Team at ASLM 2018. Pictured (L to R): Sitting – Lucy Perrone, Felicity Golopang, Larissa Koffi; Standing – Sylvestre Kone, Nayah Ndefru, Siew Kim Ong.

Oral Abstracts

  • Siew Kim Ong, I-TECH Cambodia Project Coordinator, was lead author and presenter for the “Improved Laboratory Compliance to Quality Standards in Cambodian Laboratories through On-site Trainings.” This abstract reviewed the effect of training in 12 I-TECH-mentored laboratories in Cambodia on laboratory processes (Page 27).

Poster Sessions

  • Nayah Ndefru, I-TECH Seattle Laboratory Strengthening Specialist, presented an abstract titled, “Effectiveness of Using a Mixed Approach of On-site Mentoring and Tele-mentoring for Improving Laboratory Quality Management Systems: Lessons From Cambodia.” The presentation looked at the lessons learned in the implementation of a Quality Management System (QMS) in 12 national hospital laboratories throughout Cambodia and the 2018 pilot approach to addressing the QMS gaps identified in an earlier baseline survey (Page 55).
  • Larissa Koffi, I-TECH Côte d’Ivoire RTCQI Specialist, presented two posters: One titled, “Analysis of EQA HIV Serology Data in Côte d’Ivoire Reveals Gaps in Quality Testing.” The second poster was “Analysis of HIV Point of Care Testing Sites in Côte d’Ivoire Reveals Gaps in Tester Competence.” The posters displayed the results of a retrospective study that can inform strategies and interventions for improved quality at HIV testing sites (Page 200).
  • Sylvestre Kone, I-TECH Côte d’Ivoire Laboratory Quality Specialist, presented a poster titled “Improving Quality and Capacity of the Laboratory System in Côte d’Ivoire.” The poster detailed the work the team is doing to train and mentor laboratory staff in hospital laboratories towards achieving international quality standards (Page 242).
  • Felicity Gopolang, I-TECH Laboratory Mentor Consultant, presented a poster titled, “Implementation of a Professional Development Program in Laboratory Leadership and Quality Management in Zambia from 2016-2018.” The poster outlined the impact of the Program on quality improvement (Page 206).
  • Pat Sadate-Ngatchou, I-TECH Seattle Senior Laboratory Advisor, was lead author on the poster titled “Improvement of Quality Practices within HIV Point-of-Care testing (POCT) Sites in Côte d’Ivoire Through Implementation of the Rapid Test Continuous Quality Improvement (RTCQI),” which explored the impact of the implementation of RTCQI in POCT site audits (Page 246).

About ASLM
The mission of ASLM is to improve clinical and public health outcomes in Africa by enhancing professional laboratory practice, science and networks. Based on five strategic pillars, ASLM serves the community of laboratory professionals and promotes the value of strong medical laboratories to key stakeholders such as the Ministries of Health, research laboratories, and universities. ASLM is an independent, non-profit organization endorsed by the African Union and headquartered in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

http://www.aslm.org/

Certificate Program in Laboratory Leadership and Management

Post categories: Cote d'Ivoire Past Program Zambia
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The I-TECH Certificate Program in Laboratory Leadership and Management (CPLLM) was a nine-month course that trained laboratory staff in supervisory positions leadership and management skills to make substantive and impactful improvements in laboratory testing quality and operations. The program was developed in 2013 and first piloted in 2014.

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I-TECH Ukraine Trains Faculty in Innovative Teaching Methods and Principles

Post categories: Clinical Mentoring Leadership & Management Ukraine
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Training participants and facilitators. Photo source: I-TECH Ukraine.

The International Training and Education Center for Health (I-TECH) Ukraine, in partnership with the Ukrainian Family Medicine Training Center of Bogomolets National Medical University, conducted a three-day training course for clinical educators on principles and innovative methods for effective teaching. The course was held outside Kyiv from 18-20 September 2018.

Facilitating the training were Ann Downer, EdD, I-TECH Executive Director and Professor in the University of Washington Department of Global Health, and Michael Reyes, MD, MPH, I-TECH co-founder and Professor in the University of California, San Francisco Department of Family and Community Medicine.

The course focused primarily on new teaching methods and stronger instructional design for clinical courses taught by faculty, especially those with content on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and malaria. The objectives included helping clinical educators to:

  • strengthen learning objectives and measurement of student learning;
  • vary their use of teaching methods; and
  • revise lectures to make them more interactive.
Ann Downer, I-TECH Executive Director, conducts a session, “Competencies, Learning Objectives, and Domains of Learning,” on the first day of the training. Photo source: I-TECH Ukraine.

The course modeled these objectives by using small group work and other teaching methods to increase engagement.

“Over the course of three days, I was able to learn techniques and best practices to actively engage my course participants into the learning process,” says Galyna Vynogradova, Associate Professor of the Ukrainian Family Medicine Training Center and participant of the training.

This training course is a part of a larger I-TECH effort to build the clinical and managerial capacity of HIV/AIDS service providers throughout Ukraine.

Health Policy System Strengthening in South Africa

Post categories: Health Policy Past Program South Africa
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I-TECH supported the National Department of Health (NDoH) in the process of strengthening the policy management and implementation systems with a focus on reaching the 95-95-95 targets and provided ongoing technical assistance as the NDoH beta tested the policy information management system (PIMS) developed in COP 2017.

I-TECH supported the revision and finalization of a Policy Manual and coordinated with the NDoH Policy Project Steering Committee to promote engagement from NDoH staff.