A health care professionals training needs assessment for oncology in Uganda

Continuing professional development training needs for primary care doctors in central Uganda

BACKGROUND

Continuing professional development (CPD) activities relevant to medical doctors and their patients should be informed by current assessed training needs. The CPD provision is expected to improve the quality of professional practice and ethics. However, the Uganda Medical and Dental Practitioners' Council still receives about 40 reports of malpractice every month.

AIM

The study aimed to describe the CPD training needs of doctors working in public primary care facilities in central Uganda.

SETTING

The district health system of central Uganda comprised 10 General Hospitals (GH) and 37 Health Center IVs (HC IVs) with a staffing norm of six and two doctors, respectively.

METHODS

This was a cross-sectional survey of 100 doctors working in public primary care facilities using the World Health Organization (WHO) Hennessy-Hicks questionnaire. Descriptive statistics of the importance, current performance, and training need of each skilled activity were calculated. Content analysis was applied to data from the open-ended questions.

RESULTS

The response rate was 91%, majority were males, 80 (87.9%) from 7 GHs and 24 HC IVs with an average age of 37.9 years. The domain with the highest CPD training need for the doctors was research and audit, with a mean score (standard deviation [s.d.]) of 1.94 (±1.69), followed by administration 1.58 (±1.61) and clinical tasks 1.28 (±1.29). The clinical tasks domain had the most suggested CPD topics.

CONCLUSION

Research and audit and clinical tasks were identified as important domains for CPD training for doctors in this setting.Contribution: The results give insight into CPD training needs of primary care doctors and guide various CPD providers.

Self-reported continuing professional development needs of medical laboratory professionals in Ghana

BACKGROUND

Because of the essential nature of the work of medical laboratory professionals, continuing development in knowledge and skills is indispensable. The study aimed at identifying and prioritizing the development and training needs of medical laboratory professionals in Ghana. This is expected to help in developing focused continuing professional development (CPD) that meets the needs of practitioners as well as the changing medical trends.

METHODS

An online cross-sectional survey in February 2022 using a structured questionnaire was conducted. Respondents were asked questions that collected demographic and work-related data about them, their participation, preference, and challenges in being part of CPDs. Finally, a list of topics based on (i) quality management systems, (ii) technical competence, (iii) laboratory management, leadership, and coaching, (iv) pathophysiology, and (iv) data interpretation and research were asked with the option to rate them on a 3-point scale (most, moderate, and least) in order of importance.

RESULTS

A total of 316 medical laboratory professionals participated in the study. Overall, the most frequently selected topics for training based on domains for CPD training and ranking as most important were (i) quality management systems, (mean = 80.59 ± 9.024; 95% CI = 73.04-88.13); (ii) pathophysiology, data interpretation, and research (mean = 78.0 ± 6.973; 95% CI = 73.97-82.03); (iii) technical competence (mean = 73.97 ± 10.65; 95% CI = 66.35-81.59); and (iv) laboratory management, leadership, and coaching (mean = 72.82 ± 9.719; 95% CI = 67.44-78.2). The factors affecting the choice of training needs included the medical laboratory professionals' current place of work, years in service, the reason for attending CPD activities, the period for attending the last CPD, being in a supervisory role, and the number of staff being supervised. Face-to-face presentations, training workshops, and hands-on workshops were the most preferred modes of CPD delivery with financial implications and workload/time constraints being the main challenges impeding CPD participation.

CONCLUSION

The identified needs will help in developing CPD programs that address what medical laboratory professionals prioritize as training needs. Stakeholders should incorporate these training needs into future programs and address the challenges highlighted in this study to have more relevant training for medical laboratory professionals.

Examining the Health-Related Needs of Females during Menopause: A Systematic Review Study

Menopause is one the most crucial stages in a female's life. Identifying the education gaps regarding menopause is important, thus this study aims to explain the health-related needs of females during menopause. Scopus, PubMed, Scientific Information Database, and Web of Science databases were searched for the available observational (cohort, case-control, and cross-sectional), systematic review, meta-analysis, and clinical trial studies (2007-2021) using keywords, such as 'Educational Needs Assessment,' 'Assessment of Healthcare Needs,' 'menopause,' 'climacteric,' 'premenopause,' and 'postmenopause.' A total of 180 out of 5,705 papers were evaluated after considering the inclusion and exclusion criteria. The educational needs of females during menopause in the reviewed studies include osteoporosis, oral and dental problems, metabolic disorders, cardiovascular diseases, hypertension, lung diseases, infectious diseases, musculoskeletal problems, urinary problems, breast cancer, defecation problems, genital disorders, special diseases such as eye diseases and hypothyroidism and hormone therapy, mental disorders, cognitive function, sleep disorders, sexual disorders, physical activity, supplement consumption, public health issues, health education, fall, and nutrition. The study results reveal that females during postmenopause require training, counseling, and support in all aspects to get through this challenging time, and providing these services, infrastructure, appropriate policy, and the use and support of the medical team's capacity are all required.