Kenya
October 2009 to October 2011
From October 2009 we are involved in a project to rehabilitate and/or provide new equipment to 23 hospitals countrywide in Kenya. The Institutional Development Program of this project will be executed by MeduProf-S. It initially covers curriculum development in the fields of Medical Imaging, Operating Theatre/Emergency Procedures and Medical Engineering and will be closely followed by capacity building in the fields of Casualty Care Nursing, Hospital Management and Hospital Waste and Hygiene Management .
Capacity building as part of the overall Institutional Development program in Kenya can be defined as a development program that is focussing on strengthening the needs of beneficiaries in Kenya with respect to staff, facilities, skills and tools. Building capacity means helping woman, men, children, communities and other institutions in developing countries to acquire the skills and resources needed to sustain their own social and economic progress. Each element of the program in Kenya has a short-term component linked to the equipment delivery and a long-term component designed to establish a structural education infrastructure in the country.
In Kenya, training and capacity building has already been developed to a certain level in some areas. This project therefore focuses on curriculum development and educational management support.
The program includes the following activities at various levels:
- In-depth training on interpretation of imaging (Ultrasound, X-ray and CT scanning) and Operating Theatre/Emergency Procedures through skills labs. For the most part attention will be given to curriculum development and educational management
- Hospital Management Program
- Hospital Waste & Hygiene Management Program
- Strengthening maintenance organisation by introducing maintenance management systems and setting up equipped medical workshops with trained engineers
All capacity development activities, training activities, refresher courses and workshops will be organised in cooperation with the local staff and local Universities and Colleges.
1. Curriculum development program
Medical Imaging
The main outcomes of the curriculum development with respect to Medical Imaging will be:
- Improved use of medical imaging equipment, according to international standards, by implementing general X-ray, Fluoroscopy, CT Scanning and Mammography in the existing curricula (physics, patient positioning, quality assurance, radiation protection, dark room techniques and methodical protocols.)
- Improved use of Ultrasound equipment according to international standards by implementing the MeduProf-S methodical scanning method.
- Efficient use of the delivered CT equipment.
The Medical Imaging educational program will be carried out together with the Department of Radiology of the Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) and Kenya Medical Training College (KMTC).
Sterilization and Operating Theatres (OT)
This modality covers in-depth courses on the sterilisation process and handling of sterile goods (cleaning and disinfecting, preparation of sterile packages, storage and transport) The main topics in the curriculum development are:
- Operating Theatre care and techniques
- Instrumentation
- Surgical and anaesthesia techniques
Medical Engineering
This part of the program will include strengthening of the curriculum of the Medical Engineering Department of KMTC by introducing a new curriculum and new didactical methods.
Medical engineers or technicians must be able to perform basic repairs on: diagnostic instruments, blood pressure meters, monitoring and ECG machines, surgical equipment, operating equipment and lights, electro-surgical units, anaesthesia machines, ventilators, incubators (first line only), radiology equipment (first line only) and ultrasound equipment (first line only).
For this reason the program focuses on teaching practical skills in combination with a curriculum upgrade.
2. Casualty Care Nursing
Casualty care is one of the main focus areas of this project. The goal of these courses is to familiarize the participants with traditional and new procedures associated with casualty care. Casualty care training began with a Train the Trainers Course in May 2010 which is being followed by a countrywide educational program using the locally trained teachers from KNH and KMTC in conjunction with teachers from The Netherlands. The main topics in these courses include:
- Casualty care and techniques
- Procedures for triage of casualty care patients
- Introduction of the ‘Hourglass’ Model (useful when observing patients)
- Ventilation techniques
3. Hospital Management
The ultimate goal of this course is to improve management skills of current hospital managers, using a modular system, to enable them to manage a hospital at provincial level.
The seven modules in the Hospital Management course are:
- Medical Anthropology
- Epidemiology
- Project Management
- Healthcare Law and Systems in Kenya
- Primary Healthcare: Planning and Monitoring
- Administrative Systems
- Management of (human) Resources in Healthcare
4. Hospital Waste and Hygiene Management
The goal of this part of the program is to familiarise the participants with waste and hygiene procedures that are required to apply a correct hygiene attitude towards all hospital equipment and waste issues.
The training covers the following topics:
- Hygiene and disposal procedures
- How to deal with infectious waste
- How to deal with pharmaceutical and chemical waste
- How to deal with sharps
- Incineration procedures
- Incident management
The Hospital Waste and Hygiene Management component will be conducted as a ‘Train the Trainer’ concept.
After completion of the courses the participants will have gained the competences to train local staff in Hospital Waste and Hygiene Management and Infection Control in practise. They will be able to improve the knowledge of the local staff in relation to the local criteria and guidelines used by the WHO.
The participants will be able to make a work plan to implement Hospital Waste and Hygiene Management and Infection Control in their Health institution.