Training Ghanaian frontline healthcare workers in public health surveillance and disease outbreak investigation and response

Abstract

IntroductionBeyond initial formal academic education, the need for continuous professional development through in-service workforce capacity improvement programs that are aimed at enhancing knowledge and skills of public healthcare workers has assumed immense priority worldwide. This has been heightened by the on-going Ebola Virus Disease outbreak, which is exposing the weak public health systems in West Africa. In response to this need, the Ghana Field Epidemiology and Laboratory Program organized a short-course for frontline health workers in the Greater Accra region of Ghana in order to augment their surveillance and outbreak response capacity.MethodsHuman and veterinary health workers were trained using Field Epidemiology and Laboratory Training Program short course model. A two-week didactic course was conducted with a 10-week field placement. Evaluation of the course was done by assessment of participants’ outputs during the training as well as pretest and posttest methods.ResultsA total of 32 frontline health workers from both the human and veterinary health services benefited from the two-week initial training of the 12-week course. There was a significant gain in knowledge by the participants after the training course. Participants developed concept papers and implemented their fieldwork projects. Overall assessment of the workshop by the participants was very good.ConclusionCapacity of the health workers has been improved in the area of public health surveillance, outbreak investigation and response. We recommend a scale-up of this training course to other regions.

Community health workers for pandemic response: a rapid evidence synthesis

“…A majority of the studies included in the review were qualitative (n=11) 7-17 followed by descriptive crosssectional studies (n=9), [18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26] pretest and post-test studies (n=6), [27][28][29][30][31][32] literature reviews (n=3), [33][34][35] mixed-methods studies (n=2), 36 37 guidelines (n=2), 38 39 one systematic review, 40 one randomised controlled trial 41 and one case report. 42 Key characteristics of the included studies are presented in table 1.…”

Indirect Effects of Ebola Virus Disease Epidemics on Health Systems in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia: A Scoping Review Supplemented with Expert Interviews

“…On the other hand, the EVD epidemics provided opportunities for capacity building for health care providers (clinicians, nurses, midwives, etc.) [ 41 , 49 , 70 , 73 , 78 , 79 , 81 , 82 , 83 , 84 , 85 , 86 , 87 ] and training for community health workers and local leaders [ 40 , 82 ]. This capacity-building focused, for example, on surveillance (including community-based surveillance), field epidemiology, infection prevention and control practices, mental health (stigma and stress management), burial practices and the use of paper health records (PHRs) [ 48 , 77 , 78 , 81 , 82 , 84 , 85 , 87 ].…”

What do we mean by individual capacity strengthening for primary health care in low- and middle-income countries? A systematic scoping review to improve conceptual clarity

“…Two studies measured skills alone, one using a subjective measure [ 30 ] and the other using an objective measure [ 31 ]. For the most part, skills were measured directly through observation or practice assessment ( n = 11), but in some cases, the acquisition of skills through practice was inferred from the acquisition of knowledge [ 58 , 65 , 66 ]. Ameme et al [ 65 ] examined the impact of knowledge gained on practice and Minh et al [ 58 ] recognised that knowledge does not always translate into practice.…”

“…For the most part, skills were measured directly through observation or practice assessment (n = 11), but in some cases, the acquisition of skills through practice was inferred from the acquisition of knowledge [58,65,66]. Ameme et al [65] examined the impact of knowledge gained on practice and Minh et al [58] recognised that knowledge does not always translate into practice. Attitudes were largely measured through self-evaluation (n = 4) and vignettes (n = 3), but also through practice [62].…”