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Category: Human Resources for Health

I-TECH Initiates IDASH in South America with Representatives from 5 Countries

Post categories: Health Information Systems Human Resources for Health IDASH Peter Rabinowitz Surveillance
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A group discusses the adaptation of the IDASH training model and structure, including the mentoring model. Photo courtesy of Maíra Pessoa/FVS-RCP.

Para mais informações sobre o encontro, em português, acesse Fundação de Vigilância em Saúde do Amazonas – Dra. Rosemary Costa Pinto.

At a February 5-8 meeting in Bogotá, the International Training and Education Center for Health (I-TECH) convened with global health leaders from 5 countries to inform the adaptation of the Informatics and Data Science for Health (IDASH) training program to South American contexts.

IDASH–part of I-TECH’s Integrated Next-generation Surveillance in Global Health: Translation to Action (INSIGHT) project–is a training program for current and future leaders in public health that aims to strengthen regional capacity to use public health information and data systems to improve health outcomes at the population level, detect and respond effectively to threats to public health, and promote health equity.

The objectives of the intensive, weeklong Executive Committee meeting included identifying priorities and key capabilities; adapting the structure of the IDASH course to local needs as well as government priorities and initiatives; and identifying government and academic resources to support teaching.

IDASH South America Director Fernanda Freistadt addresses the participants on Day 1 of the meeting. Photo courtesy of Maíra Pessoa/FVS-RCP.

In a a website post of IDASH partner Fundação de Vigilância em Saúde do Amazonas – Dra. Rosemary Costa Pinto, INSIGHT Regional Director for South America Fernanda Freistadt said: “This initiative has the potential to create health professionals who have advanced knowledge in both epidemiology and information technology, an area in which there is a great lack today. Furthermore, IDASH can strengthen technical relations and collaborations in the area of ​​surveillance between countries.”

The Executive Committee Meeting included representatives from Colombia, Brazil, Paraguay, Peru, and Ecuador, as well as international partners including Georgia’s National Center for Disease Control and Public Health (which has been an important partner in the IDASH training program for Eastern Europe/Central Asia). It is anticipated that the South America expansion implementation to happen later this year.

IDASH Fellowship Meets in Kazakhstan for In-Person, and Virtual, Workshop

Post categories: Global Health Security Health Systems Strengthening Human Resources for Health IDASH Peter Rabinowitz Surveillance Ukraine
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IDASH fellows engage in group work during an October workshop in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Photo credit: Jamey Gentry/CDC.

Last month, the International Training and Education Center for Health (I-TECH), in collaboration with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and with support from the World Health Organization (WHO), facilitated the second of three in-person workshops for the Informatics and Data Science for Health (IDASH) fellowship.

Held in Almaty, Kazakhstan, the workshop marked the mid-point of the 12-month fellowship—and a chance for participants to come together to advance their ability to apply public health informatics and data science concepts and approaches.

“This workshop included a lot of hands-on practical exercises, and it was fun to observe how engaged the participants were with these activities and with the learning in general,” said Stacey Lissit, MPH, MS, Senior Technical Advisor for the IDASH program.

Content included all things data (quality, cleaning, analysis, visualization, governance, security, privacy, and confidentiality); interoperability; project management; business process analysis; and systems architecture. Sessions were a mix of didactic lecture, small group activities to practice application of skills and concepts, peer feedback, and guided hands-on learning in R and PowerBI. Over the course of the two weeks, participants collaborated  to develop a data dashboard, a database schema, and a data quality workplan.

The first cohort of the IDASH fellowship, with I-TECH instructors. Photo credit: Jamey Gentry/CDC.

The current fellowship, launched in April 2023, comprises a cohort of four participants each from Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan—a total of 20 fellows. Each four-person team includes a mix of mid-senior level epidemiologists, informaticians, data scientists, IT, and public health policy personnel.

Fellow Zhanibek Yerubayev, Director of Public Health Emergency Operations at the Kazakhstan Ministry of Health’s National Center of Public Health, says the team mix is an integral part of IDASH’s impact. “[IDASH] connects people from the public health side with people from the IT side,” he says. “These people have a lot of projects to do [together], but they are not always well connected, and they do not always understand each other well.”

“It was exciting to see the relationships and community that are being built through the IDASH Fellowship – both within the country teams where fellows can collaborate closely with colleagues outside of their typical ‘work silos,’ and across countries within the region,” said Lissit. “That peer learning element is such an important part of the fellowship.”

And all efforts were made to ensure multi-directional collaboration. The Ukrainian team did not receive permission to travel to the workshop, so I-TECH made arrangements for them to participate via Zoom. A location was identified in southwest Ukraine where the team could  attend the workshop together remotely, experience fewer daily safety issues related to the war, and avoid the distractions of being in their own workplace. A simultaneous translator for the Ukrainian language was provided on the Zoom call.

While remote participation is not ideal, the Ukraine team was able to attend and hear most of the workshop sessions and engage in the group work in meaningful ways. “A lot of effort went into setting up the technology that enabled this participation,” said Lissit. “At one point the Ukraine team was participating in a peer feedback activity with two country teams in Almaty—there were live cameramen, screen sharing, Zoom translators…and it worked mostly seamlessly!”

Fellow Durbek Aliyev, Deputy CEO at IT-Med LLC, which works under the Uzbekistan Ministry of Health, was especially appreciative of the chance to learn from a wide range experts across the region. “The digitalization of health care cannot be done by only one country itself,” said Aliyev. “The advantage of IDASH over other programs is that it brings [together] specialists from neighbor countries. We are talking to each other….We are learning from each other directly.”

And these relationships will be a lasting benefit of the program, he continued. “IDASH is a place where we can establish very good networking with other countries,” said Aliyev. “Any time I can contact them and learn from their expertise.”

IDASH is a project within the Integrated Next-Generation Surveillance in Global Health: Translation to Action (INSIGHT) program. In addition to acquiring new skills and knowledge in public health informatics and data science, IDASH country teams are developing and will implement a collaborative team project that demonstrates key competencies and is aligned with their country’s needs and priorities.

 

 

 

eLearning Programs for Health Care Workers in Trinidad and Tobago

Post categories: Clinical Mentoring eLearning/Distance Learning HIV Care and Treatment Human Resources for Health Key Populations Lydia Chwastiak Trinidad and Tobago
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I-TECH partners with the HIV/AIDS Coordinating Unit (HACU) of the Ministry of Health (MOH), the National AIDS Coordinating Committee (NACC) of the Office of the Prime Minister, and other local organizations to make accessible learning and capacity-building opportunities for all cadres of health care workers.

  • Learning Management System (LMS): I-TECH and the University of Washington Department of Global Health’s eLearning Program (eDGH) collaborated to adapt an LMS for Trinidad and Tobago from the Jamaica LMS. The LMS for Trinidad and Tobago will support ongoing, standardized capacity-building of an increased number of health care providers in a cost-effective way. The LMS will also function as a monitoring and evaluation tool for training and skill building. I-TECH will support, develop, and adapt HIV course material and provide local administration and coordination support.
  • Key Populations Preceptorship Web Modules: I-TECH is currently developing self-paced, eLearning training modules to improve providers’ knowledge, skill, and comfort in providing respectful and gender-affirming care for gay and bisexual men, other men who have sex with men, people of transgender experience, and people engaging in sex work. This module will be an adaptation of the innovative in-person Key Population Preceptorship (KPP) Program for Clinicians and will be made accessible on the I-TECH/eDGH LMS that is being developed. The modules will incorporate video recordings featuring local community members, modeling of best practices, and show interactive exercises.
  • UW eDGH Online Courses: I-TECH, through eDGH and in collaboration with HACU and the NACC Office of the Prime Minister, provides online certification courses to health care providers in Trinidad and Tobago. Courses include: Clinical Management of HIV; Leadership and Management in Health; Fundamentals in Global Health Research; Policy Development and Advocacy for Global Health; Project Management in Global Health; Monitoring and Evaluation in Global Health; Fundamentals of Implementation Science; Wellbeing for Healthcare Professionals; and Global Mental Health.
  • Medical Research Foundation of Trinidad and Tobago (MRFTT) HIV/STI Project ECHO® Series: In April 2019, I-TECH supported MRFTT, the HIV treatment site with the largest adult population in Trinidad and Tobago, to become an ECHO® hub site. The hub provides virtual clinical consultation support as well as brief didactic sessions for healthcare workers in Trinidad and Tobago on a range of medical/clinical and psychosocial topics, as well as those relevant to HIV care, treatment and support. Healthcare workers (HCWs) who have benefitted from the series not only include those from Trinidad and Tobago, but also HCWs from Haiti, Barbados, Bahamas, St. Vincent, Grenada, and Florida, USA.
  • Management of HIV Infections Diploma Course: In 2014, I-TECH partnered with the University of the West Indies (UWI) – St. Augustine campus in Trinidad and Tobago to develop a blended eLearning course that enables HCWs to provide high-quality clinical management of patients living with HIV. This ten-month post-graduate diploma program is delivered through a series of online, self-paced courses taught by UWI faculty, and is augmented by synchronous virtual classroom discussions and hands-on, clinical practicum experiences. In recent years, I-TECH worked with the UWI to integrate extensive care and treatment content specifically focused on comprehensive care for key populations affected by HIV. The course is offered annually to healthcare workers from PEPFAR priority sites in the region. Course graduates include health care workers from Trinidad, Jamaica, Suriname, and Barbados.

Key Populations Preceptorship Program in Trinidad and Tobago

Post categories: Differentiated Care HIV Care and Treatment Human Resources for Health Key Populations Lydia Chwastiak Trinidad and Tobago
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Reducing stigma and discrimination toward vulnerable groups in health care settings can have a positive impact on enrollment in care, retention in care and treatment, and viral suppression of HIV. The Key Populations Preceptorship (KPP) program is a simulated one-on-one patient-provider training program that brings together a health care provider and a preceptorship trainer (PT), who is a member of a key population group, with the observation of a training facilitator. The PT takes on the role of a mock patient and uses a pre-scripted scenario as a guide to interact with the provider-in-training, giving feedback after each scenario. The KPP builds the provider’s capacity to provide comprehensive and nonjudgmental care to key population groups including gay and bisexual men, other men who have sex with men, persons of trans experience, and sex workers.

The KPP was adapted  based on Jamaica’s KPP for clinicians in 2016 for physicians in Trinidad. In 2017, it was adapted for nurses and was delivered in-person over the course of a two-day period. In response to COVID-19 protocols, the KPP for social workers, which was adapted in 2020, was delivered virtually.

To be both cost efficient and effective, the KPP for Clinicians will be made into web modules and be accessible on a Learning Management System (LMS) that is being developed as a collaborative between I-TECH and the University of Washington Department of Global Health’s eLearning Program (eDGH).

In late October 2021, the KPP lost one of its most vibrant PTs when Trinidad and Tobago activist and community leader, Brandy Rodriquez, passed away.

CSiM, a Center for Rural Health Stewardship, Joins I-TECH as Key Network Partner

Post categories: Best Practices CSiM Health Systems Strengthening Human Resources for Health John Lynch Quality Improvement United States
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The Center for Stewardship in Medicine (CSiM) has joined the International Training and Education Center for Health (I-TECH) Network as a partner, operating within the University of Washington’s Department of Global Health. CSiM is a collaborative of over 80 rural hospitals across nine states in the U.S. working together on stewardship challenges through education, quality and process improvement, and mentoring.

I-TECH and CSiM will mutually benefit from collective decades of experience tackling rural health challenges – including workforce shortages, staff who wear “many hats,” and disparities in services – in the U.S. and around the world.

“CSiM is a collaborative of physicians, nurses, laboratory professionals, and pharmacists working to bridge bi-directional knowledge gaps between academic medical centers and rural health care facilities,” said John Lynch, MD, MPH, co-director of CSiM. “Like I-TECH, we value collaborative, anti-hierarchical work that honors expertise and experience at all levels of the health care system, and from all sectors.” Dr. Lynch leads the center with Chloe Bryson-Cahn, MD, and Zahra Kassamali-Escobar, PharmD.

The CSiM team with guest speakers at the center’s conference in Spokane, WA, May 2023. Photo courtesy of CSiM.

CSiM works in antimicrobial stewardship and infection prevention, building sustainable quality improvement programs, and providing customized, long-term technical assistance to rural health facilities. The center’s main activities include leading the UW Tele-Antimicrobial Stewardship (TASP ECHO®) project, a telementoring program; coordinating Intensive Quality Improvement Cohorts; and providing resources and tools to support facilities in reaching their goals and improving the quality of healthcare.

“I-TECH and CSiM share a dedication to finding innovative and local solutions to provide ongoing education and mentoring to health care workers in resource-limited settings,” said Pamela Kohler, BSN, PhD, I-TECH co-director. “We are incredibly excited about the opportunity to learn from each other.”

Currently, CSiM has projects in Arizona, Idaho, Illinois, Louisiana, Maine, Montana, Oregon, Utah, and Washington and is exploring opportunities to extend its model globally.

“CSiM’s inclusive, team-based approach results in work that really matters to communities in need – particularly those in underserved, hard-to-reach, rural areas,” said Ivonne Ximena “Chichi” Butler, MPH, I-TECH co-director. “This approach makes it a perfect fit within the I-TECH Network.”

Lydia Chwastiak

Lydia Chwastiak, MD, MPH

Lydia Chwastiak MD, MPH is a psychiatrist and internal medicine physician and Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and Adjunct Professor in Global Health in the University of Washington. Her research for the past 21 years has focused on improving the care and outcomes of people with chronic medical conditions and serious mental disorders. She has been a principal investigator (PI) or co-investigator on eight NIH-funded clinical trials of integrated care in both medical and community mental health settings, including MPI on the multi-center INDEPENDENT Study (R01 MH100390) which demonstrated the effectiveness of collaborative care for the treatment of depression among patients with poorly controlled type 2 diabetes in 4 diabetes centers in India.

At I-TECH, Dr. Chwastiak is also the PI on a large global HRSA-funded grant to support capacity building for sustainable HIV services in Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, India, Mozambique, and Ukraine (U91HA06801). The goal of Capacity Building Program is to improve health outcomes for people living with HIV (PLHIV) along the HIV care continuum by building sustainable health systems. The program seeks to improve the efficiency and client-centeredness of HIV care systems by strengthening the operational and adaptive capacities of health institutions and the health workforce; expand the use of evidence-based methodologies and best practice approaches to improve health outcomes for PLHIV; increase the functionality and coverage of innovative technology platforms to improve HIV service delivery, public health communication, and data use for decision making; and strengthen equitable collaborations between country governments, implementing partners and communities to achieve and sustain epidemic control.

In addition to her work with I-TECH, Dr. Chwastiak is Associate Director of the UW Behavioral Research Center in HIV (BIRCH), an NIMH-funded developmental AIDS Research Center and directs the Center’s Integrated Care Research Core. She also is the PI and co-director of the SAMHSA-funded Northwest Mental Health Technology Transfer Center (Northwest-MHTTC), which provides training and technical assistance to support the behavioral health workforce of HHS Region 10 (AK, ID, OR and WA) to disseminate and implement evidence-based practices for mental disorders.

Nurses Complete Infectious Disease Specialization with CHARESS Support

Post categories: Haiti HIV Care and Treatment HIV Co-Infection Human Resources for Health Nancy Puttkammer Nursing/HCW Cadres
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This story was first reported in Vant Bèf Info.

With the support of the Haitian Center for Health System Strengthening (CHARESS), I-TECH’s primary partner in Haiti, 17 clinical nurses recently completed specialty training in infectious diseases.

The initiative, conducted in partnership with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy (FMP) of the Université d’État d’Haïti, aims to contribute to the strengthening of human resources in health, increasing the number of qualified clinicians in Haiti. The year-long training comprises theoretical and practical components; this cohort’s practica took place at seven different university hospitals and other health institutions around the country.

“Haiti faces a serious problem of shortage of human resources in health, due in part to the ‘brain drain’ abroad,” says Dr. Jean Guy Honoré, Executive Director of CHARESS. “In some health facilities located in remote parts of the country, there are no physicians, and patients are seen by nurses who sometimes have limited knowledge of the management of infectious pathologies. This training aims to improve the skills of these nurses.”

This aptly fits the vision of CHARESS, which is “to be the reference center, in terms of training, research and technical assistance, allowing populations to receive quality care, with humanity,” says Dr. Honoré. Two other cohorts of nurses have already started this specialized training.

Dr. Bernard Pierre, Dean of the FMP, expressed a wish to strengthen the collaboration between the FMP and CHARESS to extend similar specialized training to doctors — in particular, general practitioners.

I-TECH and its partners have been working in Haiti since 2006, delivering training, clinical mentoring, health information systems, and other health systems strengthening interventions.

I-TECH Helps to Improve Health Regulatory Systems and Training Programs in Cambodia

Post categories: Ann Downer Cambodia Health Policy Health Systems Strengthening HIV Care and Treatment Human Resources for Health Jeff Lane Leadership & Management Uncategorized
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Pictured are mannequins used at two regional training centers for nurses, midwives, and dental nurses in Kampong Cham and Battambang, Cambodia. I-TECH has supported the procurement of new mannequins to replace those that are old or broken, as well as new teaching tools that will expand the centers’ ability to conduct simulation training. Photo credit: Ann Downer/I-TECH.

The International Training and Education Center for Health (I-TECH) is working on a project led by FHI360, and funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), to empower health care managers and national and provincial stakeholders to improve service quality, safety, and utilization, as well as strengthen overall health systems in Cambodia.

The project’s four objectives include:

  1. Improving policies, guidelines and standards for streamlined quality assurance.
  2. Increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of service delivery.
  3. Strengthening regulatory framework, implementation, and enforcement.
  4. Supporting pre-service public health training.

Given I-TECH’s deep experience in health workforce development, supporting the environments that enable strong health systems, and working with stakeholders at all levels, the team was a natural fit for Objectives 3 and 4.

In service of this critical work, I-TECH is supporting implementation of regulations among private and public health workers, as well as helping to lay the foundation for a sustainable accreditation program for public and private health facilities. I-TECH’s team also works with national stakeholders to develop the capacity of pre-service training institutions to deliver high-quality programs aligned with current evidence and national health priorities.

“We are excited to work with our partners to strengthen these critical components of quality health services in Cambodia,” said Jeff Lane, Principal Investigator and Assistant Professor in the Department of Global Health.

“By leveraging I-TECH’s broad experience in health policy, regulation, and workforce development,” he continued, “we can help Cambodia build an accreditation program to recognize high-performing hospitals, strengthen health professional councils to regulate health practitioners, and build sustainable pre-service training institutions that deliver competency-based education to train Cambodia’s health care workers of tomorrow.”

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.