CMHS Continuous Professional development center (CPD)

As clearly stated in the national Continuing Professionals Development (CPD) directives and guidelines, there is a high need for continuous professional development to maintain professional competence in an environment of numerous challenges, rapid organizational changes, information technology, increasing public expectations and demands for quality and greater accountability in the delivery of health services.

To this end, the Federal Ministry of Health (FMOH) has adopted and customized the national CPD guideline and directives with the essential aim of improving the health status of Ethiopians through the delivery of quality health services by competent health professionals and helps to establish a CPD system in the country through outlining the process of accreditation of CPD accreditors, CPD providers, and CPD courses and then to link CPD with re-licensure.

Continuous Professional Development (CPD)” shall mean a range of learning activities through which health professionals maintain and develop throughout their career to ensure that they retain their capacity to practice safely, effectively, and legally within their scope of practice.

It refers to all activities health professionals undertake formally to maintain, update and develop their knowledge, skills and attitudes in response to the health service needs of the public. CPD also denotes to the period of education and training of health professionals commencing after completion of basic or postgraduate health professional training.

As the initial step in CPD implementation is the identification of health professionals’ gaps in service delivery through need assessment tool, our center will conduct assessments to identify the areas which can be improved through training. Following identification of CPD needs, if the identified areas of courses are not yet approved, the center develop CPD courses to be approved; if already approved materials, the center will provide training using already approved training materials by obtaining from the ministry of health of Ethiopia.

It aims to maintain and develop competencies of individual health professionals essential for meeting the changing needs of patients and the health service system to respond to new challenges of emerging/re-emerging health problems and scientific development. The ultimate purpose of CPD is to improve the health status of citizens through the delivery of quality health services by competent health professionals and helps to establish a CPD system in the country by outlining the process of accreditation of CPD accreditors, CPD providers, and link CPD with re-licensure of health professionals.

Continuing professional development (CPD) encompasses all of the activities that health workers undertake—both formal and informal—to maintain, update, develop, and enhance their professional skills, knowledge, and attitudes. CPD is a systematic and ongoing process of education, in-service training, learning, and support activities that build on initial education and training to ensure continuing competence, extend knowledge and skills to new responsibilities or changing roles, and increase personal and professional effectiveness. This technical brief summarizes the literature concerning current best practices and innovative ideas in CPD. It is targeted toward people who run or advise CPD programs.

The Federal Ministry of Health (FMOH) of Ethiopia has launched a Continuing Professional Development (CPD) to continually develop the competency of health professionals through standardized in-service training. The main goal of the CPD program is warranting quality health service by competent health professionals and linking the continuing education unit (CEU) with license renewal requirements.

CPD program Responsibilities

• Conduct needs assessment at different levels (management level, departmental level, case-team level) for the hospital, and identify skills and knowledge gaps
• Compile annual training need, delivery plan and budget for clinical and administrative staff of the hospital
• Design and develop new training programs and packages (manuals, tools, resources) working in collaboration with internal and external stakeholders based on needs assessment
• Support directorates/departments/committees/offices at any point in the full training cycle (assess needs, plan, develop, coordinate, monitor and evaluate) on identified training and capacity building needs
• Conduct monitoring and impact evaluation of delivered trainings/workshops to generate data for continuous quality improvement
• Research on new training tools, methodologies, skills and emerging fields in healthcare training and capacity building, and design systems to incorporate innovative ways of training into training courses
• Warrant the constant availability of trainings to meet the national minimum continuous professional development requirement for re-licensure and assure trainings are in compliance with national CPD directives and any other standards
• Pledge, lead and follow relevant partnerships with centers and institutions on CPD and capacity building
• Contribute in necessary collaborative efforts with other CPD providers and/or accreditors national training networks
• Conduct post training evaluations, competency assessment and follow ups to establish effectiveness of the training programs.
• Give accreditation service for various CPD courses and in-service training centers.
• Engage in the development of different CPD courses.
• Provide leadership training to coordination to clinical practice sites and clinical trainers across the channels
• Lead the preparation of Clinical Training plans for all departments and directorates of the college.

Mission

• To enhance the provision of excellence in health care services to the community through accrediting CPD center and providing CPD, and to advance the competency of the health workforce through need-based, standardized, and institutionalized in-service training program focused on maternal health, NCD, Data quality, TB, Malaria, HIV/AIDS and others prevention, care, and treatment-related trainings in Ethiopia.

Vision

• By the end of 2025 the CPD Centre of the college of medicine and health science wishes to be one of the top five CPD Center in Ethiopia providing short-term training, accrediting various training center, and organizing workshops.

Core values

• Prioritizing customers
• Quality training
• Team work
• Partnership
• Capacity building
• Equity and fairness
• Good governance
• Creativity and Innovation
• Responsibility and accountability
• Organizational benefit

Services

CPD is active in numerous of the college’s activity both at the academics and clinical service areas providing different trainings both for the college’s community (academic, clinical and administrative) and other professionals from diverse parts of the country (health center to tertiary hospital staff) on face to face and digital modes.

• The center prepares and organizes different seminars for both consultative and academic purposes.
• Developing a guideline to make seminars structured and credited with CPD CEUs.
• CPD in collaboration with the university’s ICT directorate will work on digitization of CPD activities such as trainings, pre and post-test of trainings.
• The center will organize different public health problem-solving workshops in collaboration with the RHB and other stakeholders and partners.
• The center will develops different documents for college usage and it will also be work on developing different in-service training manuals using our academic staffs of experts.
• The center will writes project proposals and implement based on the proposal.
• Post training follow up/ training impact analysis
• There will be Mentoring and coaching

 Digital learning program Responsibilities

• Prepare College and Hospital wide eLearning strategic plan
• Develops instructional material (coordinates the editorial process of educational content incorporating current technology) independently or with stakeholders
• Endorses innovation in the use of e-learning
• Support directorates/departments/committees/offices at any point in the full eLearning training cycle (assess needs, plan, develop, coordinate, monitor and evaluate)
• Facilitate and supports hospital staff in acquiring the necessary technology skills to adopt and utilize e-Learning
• Conduct monitoring and impact evaluation of delivered trainings/workshops to generate data for continuous quality improvement

Partnership

CPD will work with various governmental and non-governmental organizations as well as professional associations in the areas of training, public health, healthcare quality, and collaborations and partnerships. To name a few, FMoH, RHB, Zonal Health Department, CDC, USAID and  other NGOs etc. CPD is open to working with both local and international partners so as to implement a CPD program and enhance public health and standard of healthcare.

Collaboration

We work together in sprit of mutual support and understanding to achieve our collective goals with other stakeholders.

Commitments

No matter what challenges we face and discomforts we feel, we stand firm, be patient and exert our utmost and sustained effort to achieve our goals.

Continuing Professional Development Need Assessment

• Two approaches will be used for CPD need assessment: top-down and bottom-up approaches.
• In top-down approach, FMOH, RHB, and professional associations will recommend relevant CPD activities for health professionals based on new scientific development, revised national guidelines and changes in health services delivery.
• In the bottom-up approach, health professionals and their employing organization will identify their learning needs
  based on their performance appraisal and ability to accomplish annual plans.

Rationale

Adigrat University, College of Medicine and Health Sciences as higher education institution is mandated to undertake teaching, research and community services. It is also actively working in producing qualified health cadres through prioritizing and innovative scientific and research based activities. Some of the activities include providing competent and confortable trainings to different professionals from all over the region and improving their attitude, skill and knowledge on newly introduced information, skill and filling gaps the health professionals have, guiding on health care management by preparing professional workshops, trainings and digitalizing the training and health care services.

Goal

• Making the training environment suitable for the staffs, trainee and stakeholders in a way that brings quality
• Doing activities that improve mind set of the staffs and health care provider
• Providing suitable environment of teaching learning process to bring well qualified professionals
• Building partnership with different sectors, and promoting opportunities for collaboration with other University, as well as the governmental and non-governmental organizations for more qualified education, research and community service.
• Expanding regional, national, and international partnerships.
• Building well equipped setups for training

Objective

General Objective

The overall objective of college CPD is to provide Quality and need based trainings to health care provider.

Specific objectives

• To establish well-furnished training hall and office.
• To Establish Computer lab
• To establish well equipped demonstration and laboratory
• To start online learning
• To do need assessment of stakeholders and professionals
• Prepare course and guidelines to provide training
• To create conducive environment for training
• To ensure that resources are allocated and utilized for training
• In collaboration with stakeholders
• To prepare project proposals

Stakeholder analysis

• Ministry of Education (MOE)
• Higher Educational Institutions of Ethiopia
• Federal Ministry of Health and Regional health office (FMOH, RHBs,)
• Professional Association
• Health care providers
• Health facilities
• Funders
• Tigray Regional state health facilities
• Tigray Region Research institute
• Wereda health offices
• Tigray Region Administrations