Implementing a daily CME at a rural primary care hospital in Nepal
Keywords:
CME (Continuing Medical Education), Continuing Professional Development (CPD), Global Health, Implementation ResearchAbstract
Fostering a culture of continued learning at healthcare facilities is a global priority for healthcare systems performance, patient safety, and quality improvement. In low- and middle-income countries, continuing medical education activities are almost non-existent in rural areas. National professional academies tend to be focused almost exclusively at major teaching hospitals in urban centers. In addition to playing a central role in healthcare provision, rural district-level hospitals are formative for many young healthcare professionals who are posted there for mandatory government service. The district hospital thus represents an important opportunity to be a center for learning.
Methods
We conducted a retrospective case study to describe the implementation of a continuing medical education program at a district-level hospital in rural Nepal. The particular modalities of continuing medical education include didactic lectures, case presentations, and morbidity and mortality conferences, presented by physicians and mid-level providers.
Results
During the first twelve months of the program, 155 sessions, or 73% of scheduled sessions, were conducted as planned. Ongoing challenges to the long-term success of the program include dedicated leadership time for session preparation and presenter mentorship, and improving participatory engagement across multiple clinician cadres.
Conclusions
Building a robust continuing medical education program in rural district hospitals is feasible, and has great potential as a mechanism of developing a professional and sustainable cadre of healthcare workers in these settings. Greater investment in these types of programs may improve healthcare worker satisfaction and retention, thereby improving access to care in these remote areas.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2021 Authors
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
The author(s) retain the copyright and the full publishing right without restriction under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0) which allows readers to share (copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format) and adapt (remix, transform, and build upon the material) for any purpose, even commercially, provided the work is properly attributed. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Author(s) grant the non-exclusive publishing right to the Journal of Karnali Academy of Health Sciences (JKAHS). The publishing rights include the rights to publish, reproduce, distribute, include in indexes or search databases or other media in print or online. The JKAHS may require revisions to the manuscript before acceptance for publication or may choose not to publish it based on the judgement of the editors. Further, JKAHS might retract, withdraw, or publish a correction or other notice after publication, if such publication would be inconsistent with the good publication practices and associated guidelines set forth by the COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics) (https://publicationethics.org/core-practices).
More information about the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License can be found in the webpage of Creative Commons (CC) by following the link provided below: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/