Terms of Reference (TOR) to Conduct Laboratory Training for Health Workers in Sahil Region, Somaliland
Reference: EPHS Lab Training
Deadline for submission of proposals: Friday, 7th June 2013
Health Poverty Action-HPA
(formerly known as Health Unlimited) is a British NGO, which aims to
create a world in which the most vulnerable communities can enjoy their
rights to health and well-being.
We give priority to the most excluded and, in particular, indigenous people and
communities affected by conflict and political instability.
HPA under the financial
support of DFID through the Health Consortium Somalia (HCS) is
implementing a Maternal and Child Health programme piloting the
‘Essential Packages of Health Services (EPHS) in Sahil Region of
Somaliland.
This is a comprehensive
program with interventions ranging from human resources for health,
building institutional capability of health facilities to provision of
support to referrals and medical supplies and equipment.
Sahil Region – The Context
The Sahil Region
(Saaxil), one of the six administrative regions of Somaliland shares
boundaries with The Gulf of Eden and Maroodi Jeex, Sanaag, Togdheer and
Awdal regions.
Although the capital
Berbera is a modern town with urban characteristics, majority of the
population live in rural areas with agro-pastoralists and nomadic
lifestyles. Difficult geographic terrains and a hot harsh weather
characterize Sahil. Harmful traditional practices such as FGM and GBV
are common. It has the highest HIV prevalence in Somaliland with no
adequate VCT facilities.
HPA under the current
program covers the entire Sahil region with 4 referral health centres, 6
health centres 15 primary health care units and Berbera (regional)
hospital.
Since commencement of HPA support, all the 4-tiers of health facilities are now fully operational in the region.
The Primary health care
unit (lowest level of health service staffed by Community Health
Worker-CHW) provides basic health services to community.
The PHUs play a role of
providing basic services and health education, and informing upper level
facilities if there are any obstetric patients or where specialized
care is required. TBAs and Community Health Committee support to CHW in
PHU level.
The second level is the
Health Centre. This facility is staffed by two qualified nurses, one
midwife, two auxiliaries, one health aid, cleaner and watchman. This
facility provides basic emergency obstetric care (BEOC) and other
general health services such as OPD, ANC/PNC, health education,
nutrition and pharmacy.
All complicated cases, if
they receive are referred to the Referral Health Centre or Berbera
hospital. HPA and MOH have provided 7 ambulances stationed in the RHCs
and Berbera hospital to support emergency services. The Referral Health
Centres provide BEOC/CEOC (CEOC service are expected to start soon) and
other services such as services OPD, ANC/PNC, health education,
nutrition, pharmacy, ambulance and laboratory.
This facility is staffed
by Clinical officer (Incharge), four qualified nurses, three midwives,
one laboratory technician, one auxiliary, two health aids, two cleaners
and two guards. This facility provides 24/7 services.
Berbera
hospital is the final referral point in Sahil region providing
specialised services such as CEOC, assisted delivery, child health,
Nutrition, TB, mental health, x-ray, ultrasound, ECG, laboratory, VCT
etc.
Laboratory needs
HPA has supports the
infrastructural establishment of the health system in the region. In the
referral health centres it has established fully equipped operating
theatre rooms, maternity wards and laboratory rooms to support
diagnosis. Proper diagnosis of most health cases depends on laboratory
services, examination and report. Accessible, high-quality laboratory
services are critical to the deliver quality health services.
They provide support for
the day to day routines of diagnosing illnesses presented by patients,
disease surveillance activities, assessment of the adequacy of treatment
for infectious and chronic diseases, and development of more sensitive
methods for the detection of preventable illnesses.
Sahil is a challenging terrain with harsh weather patterns.
As a result, it attracts relatively youthful health workforce.
Laboratory technicians
working in referral health centres for instance are fresh graduates
locally trained in Somaliland institutions.
They don’t have any practical skills or training on laboratory.
In Berbera hospital,
there are 10 staffs of technician and assistant in laboratory unit
(General laboratory, HIV, TB and Blood Bank).
However they have not had
continuing professional development related to improved laboratory
skills other than blood banking and transfusion (2011), HIV counselling
(2012) and chemical & biohazard safety training (2013).
They have many modern
laboratory equipment supported by agencies and also donated by diaspora
Somali groups and other therefore remain non-functional, due to the lack
of operation skills.
HPA in light of this gap
is putting up efforts to revitalise human resources in laboratory
sections of the hospital and RHCs through practical training and skills
improvement.
This TOR development is a
result of consultative efforts and request by the regional health
office for skills support in laboratory field.
Main Objective: To improve clinical laboratory skills on major tests of 15 staffs of Berbera hospital and four-referral health centres of Sahil.
Specific Objectives
The training will seek to fulfill the following objectives:
- Relate the role of the clinical laboratory to the total patient care and enhance professional ownership and accountability.
- Demonstrate a
theoretical understanding of the major basic laboratory tests, most
specialized laboratory testing and some esoteric laboratory testing.
- Review current
knowledge and make clinical decisions regarding the correlation of
patient results, validity of those results and the need for additional
testing.
- Demonstrate
proficiency by discussing, interpreting and utilizing quality control
methods to maintain laboratory accuracy and precision.
- Apply established quality assurance practices in respect to patient care
- Perform preventative
and corrective maintenance on laboratory instrumentation and recognize
when to refer repairs to the appropriately trained source.
- Provide an understanding on managing lab supplies chain
- Patient and staff safety procedures and proper management of lab waste
- Record keeping and reporting of lab activities
Deliverables:
- Submit a protocol and tools for the skills assessment
- Carry out the
laboratory skills assessment of both Hospital and Referral Health
Centre’s laboratory technicians and set up the three level of training
i.e. Basic level, intermediate level (six months later) and advance
level (one year later)
- Develop laboratory training protocol and materials including handouts and presentations
- Prepare a report on the training including outcomes, with pragmatic future steps and certification
Time Frame
Total duration of this
assignment will be 20 days (10 days basic level, 5 days intermediate
level and 5 days advance level) in field training.
Preparation, travel days and report duration will be negotiable.
Supervision: The consultant (trainer) will work under the supervision of the programme manager in consultation with the APM.
Proposal submission
Qualified consultants/firms are invited to submit technical and financial proposals to consultancies@healthunlimited.or.ke
Please indicate the reference, EPHS Lab Training, of the Call for Consultancy in the e-mail subject line.
The deadline for submission of technical and financial proposals is on Friday, 7th June 2013
7:49 AM
maboko
