Training Needs Assessment of Academic Teaching Staff in Faculty of Dentistry, University of Gezira, Sudan 2018

Abstract

Training Needs Assessment (TNA) is a triangular term; training (any activities to gain knowledge, skills or change attitude), needs (the gap between current and desired or required) and assessment (process for identifying needs and placing them in priority order). Investment in training of Academic Teaching Staff (ATS) can achieve better performance. TNA is the right step to design an appropriate, cost-effective training programme with clear priorities setting to achieve specific knowledge, skills and practice. This study aimed to assess the training needs of ATS in Faculty of Dentistry, University of Gezira, Sudan by selecting competencies and suggested priorities. This study designed as a population survey to determine training needs of ATS using self-administered, validated and adapted questionnaire (self-assessment) compared to the job description. The questionnaire was distributed to all available 35 staffs. The response rate was 82.9% (29 respondents). Results showed an urgent need for all competencies except only three, they were considered as well. These were teaching, computer, and communication skills. The priority of TNA to improve ATS could be from highest to the lowest as follows: research, leadership, health professional education, managerial, community development, and finally teaching and learning skills.

Training needs assessment: tool utilization and global impact

“… Team/IP Singh, 2015 [ 52 ] India Article (original research) Questionnaire survey / Level VI Nurses, physicians/ Acute care / 274 faculty, senior residents, and nurses Used adapted English TNA tool -Studied at the micro level (tasks/job analysis) nurses’ training needs in a tertiary care specialty hospital in Northern India -TNA identified training needs in patient care, research domain, managerial/administrative domain, and communication domain -Nurses identified their needs relevant to their positions and perceived their performance as higher than physicians Team/IP Tyler & Hicks, 2001 [ 53 ] UK Article (original research) Questionnaire survey / Level VI Nurses / primary healthcare/ 388 family planning nurses Used adapted English TNA tool -The nurse prescribing role was defined primarily in terms of prescribing functions, although advanced professional issues, communication, teamwork and business/administration were also mentioned -Research was not identified as being important -The top 15 training needs included 7 research tasks, advanced clinical activities, applied pharmacology, administration and technical activities Implications: study offers a role definition of the nurse prescriber in family planning, which can help with curriculum planning and CPD programs. Individual Yousif et al, 2018 [ 54 ] Sudan Article (original research) Questionnaire survey / Level VI Other healthcare professionals / school / 29 faculty of Dentistry at University of Gezira in Sudan Used adapted English TNA tool -TNA showed an urgent need for all competencies except three -Priorities for improvement were ranked as follows: research, leadership, health professional education, managerial, community development, teaching and learning skills. -University-level education and development center should focus on emerged training needs of staff Team/IP a Level of evidence appraisal based on the adapted Rating System for the Hierarchy of Evidence [ 21 , 22 ] b Themes: Individual, Team/Interprofessional (IP), Organizational …”

“…A total of 13 articles exhibited the team/IP training needs theme, encompassing more than one professional group or focusing on a team or unit as a whole [ 26 , 28 , 29 , 31 , 34 , 35 , 40 , 45 , 46 , 48 , 51 , 52 , 54 ]. Target populations included nurses, physicians, and other healthcare professionals across acute and primary care, as well as healthcare institutions.…”

“…Similarly, Mwansisya et al [ 48 ] surveyed reproductive, maternal and neonatal healthcare workers within eight districts in Tanzania and provided a baseline of training needs in a low middle-income country. Another study, carried out at a School of Dentistry in a Sudanese university, showed that faculty and staff prioritized academic student supervision, data analysis, and effective presentation skills [ 54 ]. The survey also revealed knowledge deficits related to legislation and community engagement.…”

“…The survey also revealed knowledge deficits related to legislation and community engagement. The investigators concluded that effective targeting of these group training needs would require development of university-wide policies for training [ 54 ].…”

A Health Care Professionals Training Needs Assessment for Oncology in Uganda

“…In this study the validated World Health Organisation (WHO) Hennessey-Hicks TNA survey questionnaire was used to identify the training needs data for health professionals involved in providing oncology services [19]. The questionnaire, is licenced to the World Health Organisation for on-line use, as a toolkit for researchers [20] and has been used in to determine training needs of health professionals in both high and low resource settings [21][22][23][24][25][26]. In this study we set out to determine the training needs of health workers providing comprehensive oncology services in Uganda in a bid to improve cancer care provided to the population they serve.…”