Poor knowledge and adherence to point-of-care (POC) HIV testing standards have been reported in rural KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), a high HIV prevalent setting. Improving compliance to HIV testing standards is critical, particularly during the gradual phasing out of lay counsellor providers and the shifting of HIV testing and counselling duties to professional nurses. The main objective of this study was to identify priority areas for development of POC diagnostics curriculum to improve competence and adherence to POC diagnostics quality standards for primary healthcare (PHC) nurses in rural South Africa. Method: PHC clinic stakeholders were invited to participate in a co-creation workshop. Participants were purposely sampled from each of the 11 KwaZulu-Natal Districts. Through the Nominal Group Technique (NGT), participants identified training related challenges concerning delivery of quality point of care diagnostics and ranked them from highest to lowest priority. An importance ranking score (scale 1–5) was calculated for each of the identified challenges. Results: Study participants included three PHC professional nurses, one TB professional nurse, one HIV lay councilor, one TB assistant and three POC diagnostics researchers, aged 23–50. Participants identified ten POC diagnostics related challenges. Amongst the highest ranked challenges were the following:absence of POC testing Curriculum for nurses, absence of training of staff on HIV testing and counselling as lay counsellor providers are gradually being phased out,. absence of Continuous Professional Development opportunities and lack of Staff involvement in POC Management programs. Conclusion: Key stakeholders perceived training of PHC nurses as the highest priority for the delivery of quality POC diagnostic testing at PHC level. We recommend continual collaboration among all POC diagnostics stakeholders in the development of an accessible curriculum to improve providers’ competence and ensure sustainable quality delivery of POC diagnostic services in rural PHC clinics.

This study examined professional nurses’ knowledge and understanding of AIDS/HIV infection. The sample was formed by 53 professional nurses; 27 being those that have done the AIDS counselling course (trained counsellors) and 26 who have not done the course. This sample was randomly chosen from a population of 192 professional nurses representing all departments.

Background: Despite impressive progress that has been made in the provision of health care services to all, the issue of quality service delivery still remains a challenge particularly for point-of-care (POC) diagnostics in resource-limited-settings. Poor competency of primary health care workers in these settings has been shown to be amongst the main contributors to poor quality service delivery.Findings: Participatory-based continuous professional development (CPD) strategies to support technology advancements in health care are recommended. Experiential learning approaches have been shown to be efficient in supplementing traditional teaching methods for both health care students and professionals. These approaches have been shown to further contribute towards continuous skills development and lifelong learning. Conclusion:This review therefore provided an overview of literature on experiential learning as one of CPD approaches in relation to health care service improvement in resource-limited setting. In addition, this review has recommended a mobile-based experiential learning approach to help deliver a quality POC technology curriculum to Primary health care-based workers in resource-limited settings.Keywords: primary health care, quality improvement, experiential learning, onsite training, participatory-based learning and mobile learningThe purpose of this review is to provide an overview of literature on experiential learning as one of CPD

Background Improving the quality of primary healthcare services is one of the global health priorities. Literature shows that the incompetency of healthcare providers has the potential to negatively affect the quality of the services provided. Experiential learning is one of the educational models that can be used to help improve healthcare service delivery. The main objective of this study is to systematically map literature on the evidence of experiential learning for primary healthcare workers in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Methods This systematic scoping review’s search strategy will involve the following electronic databases: PubMed, Google Scholar, EBSOhost (Academic search complete, Health Source: Nursing/Academic Addition, MEDLINE) and open access for unpublished theses and dissertations. Websites such as the World Health Organization (WHO) and the departments of health website will be searched for policies and guidelines on experiential learning training programs. Following title searching, two-independent reviewers will conduct screening of abstracts and full articles. The screenings will be guided by the eligibility criteria. Data will be extracted from the included studies and the emerging themes will be analysed. The review team will analyse the implications of the findings in relation to the research question and aim of the study. The Mixed Method Appraisal Tool (MMAT) will be employed for quality appraisal of included studies. Discussion We anticipate finding a significant number of studies on the applications of experiential learning in resource-limited settings. Findings will be disseminated through publication in a peer-reviewed journal, peer presentations as well as presentations at relevant conferences.

Background: Improving equity of healthcare is one of the main global health priorities, particularly in low and medium-income-countries (LMICs). However, most LMICs still struggle to achieve equity in healthcare provision. One of the major contributing factors to achieving health equity in these settings include low levels of healthcare competency among primary healthcare workers. Experiential learning has been shown to contribute effectively to healthcare curriculum delivery. The purpose of this study was to systematically map evidence of experiential learning training programs for PHC workers with a focus on quality improvement in LMICs. Findings: Of the 240 022 articles retrieved from database search, 129 studies were found to be eligible for inclusion in abstract screening following title screening. Subsequent to abstract screening, 29 articles were eligible for inclusion in full article screening. Full article screening resulted in four articles found eligible for inclusion for data extraction and quality appraisal. Included studies were conducted in the following Countries: South Africa, China and Brazil. The following themes emerged: The utility, efficiency and acceptability of experiential learning approaches to PHC workers and Reflection. Experiential learning through various approaches was shown to have the potential to provide an important practical aspect on curriculum delivery not easily taught in lecture-based learning. Skills developed by PHC students in LMICs included communication, empathy, creativity and critical-reflexive skills. The reflection step of experiential learning was shown to be a useful tool to identify root causes of health systems inefficiencies and to inform policy making. The quality of included studies was found to range from above average to high quality. Conclusion: Limited research on the utility, efficiency and acceptability of experiential learning approaches to PHC-based professionals as well as on the impact of these approaches to the provision of quality services was found. Research focused on the development and piloting of experiential learning approaches to determine feasibility and to ensure effectiveness of interventions towards continuous professional development and life-long learning of PHC nurses in rural clinics is recommended.