Increasing health worker capacity through distance learning: a comprehensive review of programmes in Tanzania

Human Resources for Health

Research

Martin Kalowela¹  Anya J Nartker²  Liz Stevens²  Alyson Shumays²  Katy Potter²  Daniel Kisimbo³ 

[1]International Training and Education Center for Health, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

[2]International Training and Education Center for Health, Department of Global Health, University of Washington, Seattle, USA

[3]Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, Centre for Distance Education, Morogoro, Tanzania

关键词: Health Care Worker;    Distance Learning;    Health Decision Maker;    Distance Learning Programme;    Desk Review;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1478-4491-8-30

 received in 2009-12-24, accepted in 2010-12-31,  发布年份 2010

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundTanzania, like many developing countries, faces a crisis in human resources for health. The government has looked for ways to increase the number and skills of health workers, including using distance learning in their training. In 2008, the authors reviewed and assessed the country's current distance learning programmes for health care workers, as well as those in countries with similar human resource challenges, to determine the feasibility of distance learning to meet the need of an increased and more skilled health workforce.MethodsData were collected from 25 distance learning programmes at health training institutions, universities, and non-governmental organizations throughout the country from May to August 2008. Methods included internet research; desk review; telephone, email and mail-in surveys; on-site observations; interviews with programme managers, instructors, students, information technology specialists, preceptors, health care workers and Ministry of Health and Social Welfare representatives; and a focus group with national HIV/AIDS care and treatment organizations.ResultsChallenges include lack of guidelines for administrators, instructors and preceptors of distance learning programmes regarding roles and responsibilities; absence of competencies for clinical components of curricula; and technological constraints such as lack of access to computers and to the internet. Insufficient funding resulted in personnel shortages, lack of appropriate training for personnel, and lack of materials for students.Nonetheless, current and prospective students expressed overwhelming enthusiasm for scale-up of distance learning because of the unique financial and social benefits offered by these programs. Participants were retained as employees in their health care facilities, and remained in their communities and supported their families while advancing their careers. Space in health training institutions was freed up for new students entering in-residence pre-service training.ConclusionsA blended print-based distance learning model is most feasible at the national level due to current resource and infrastructure constraints. With an increase in staffing; improvement of infrastructure, coordination and curricula; and decentralization to the zonal or district level, distance learning can be an effective method to increase both the skills and the numbers of qualified health care workers capable of meeting the health care needs of the Tanzanian population.

【 授权许可】

Unknown   
© Nartker et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2010. This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.