| Literature DB >> 26268602 |
Hazel M Mumbo1, Joyce W Kinaro2.
Abstract
The World Health Organization lists Kenya among African countries experiencing health workforce crisis catalysed through immigration, underproduction, inconsistent quality of production and unequal distribution. Strengthening health training institutions to increase production of high-quality health workers is acknowledged as a measure to mitigate the crisis.IntraHealth International's USAID-funded FUNZOKenya Project (2012-2017) undertook an assessment to identify the bottlenecks to increasing the number and quality of pre-service graduates in Kenya. The assessment, a cross-sectional descriptive study, collected data through structured respondent interviews among faculty, students in health training institutions, key informants and desk review. The assessment purposively selected 14 institutions from 18 institutions identified for initial collaboration with the project towards strengthening health workforce training. The statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) application helped analyse quantitative data and quotes used to illustrate perceptions on the quality of curricula.The findings revealed major gaps in quality and adequacy of curricula in the training institutions. A national standard framework to guide curricula review process is lacking. Further, curricula did not adequately prepare students for clinical placement, as most failed to directly respond to national health needs. The study recommended reviews of curricula to ensure their responsiveness to emerging issues in the health sector, the formation of curriculum committees to review curricula, development of official curricula review standards and an integrated mechanism to disseminate policies and guidelines.Entities:
Mesh:
Year: 2015 PMID: 26268602 PMCID: PMC4535832 DOI: 10.1186/s12960-015-0048-9
Source DB: PubMed Journal: Hum Resour Health ISSN: 1478-4491
Figure 1Characteristics of the respondents.
Figure 2Perception of written curricula revision guidelines in place.
Figure 3When curricula was last reviewed.
Figure 4Perception of high stakeholder involvement in curricula development.
Perception of adequacy of quality of training in preparing students in the listed settings
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| Classroom | 60 | 65 | 41 | NA |
| Skills lab | 57 | 33 | 27 | NA |
| Clinical practice sites | 40 | 43 | 45 | 31 |
| Provincial hospital | 25 | 41 | 39 | 30 |
| District hospital | 43 | 37 | 34 | 27 |
| Outpatient clinic | 29 | 36 | 39 | 46 |
| Health centre | 47 | 36 | 37 | 44 |
| Maternity ward | 42 | 34 | 44 | 39 |
| Emergency ward | 21 | 27 | 38 | 40 |
| Community service | 43 | 42 | 41 | 40 |
Note: all percentages less than 75% have been rated as inadequate.
Best practices and suggestions offered by respondents to improve curricula content, revision and delivery
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| Timely review and update of curricula to include current issues in health is needed | 33 | 33 | 11 | 20 | 27 |
| Aligning theory and practice by increasing more practical learning | 22 | 2 | 0 | 22 | 46 |
| Enhance participation of all stakeholders including students | 22 | 40 | 78 | 20 | 18 |
| Community needs addressed in curricula | 22 | 9 | 0 | 3 | 9 |
| Available learning resources both human and infrastructure | 11 | 9 | 0 | 32 | 27 |
| Level of lecturers training and student entry level | 11 | 7 | 11 | 5 | |
| Technology to be integrated | 0 | 9 | 0 | 4 | 18 |