A total of 1588 students were enrolled on these certificate courses. Out of these, 1323 students were enrolled in “Certificate course in Public Health Practice” and 265 students were enrolled in “Certificate course in Hospital Management”. To facilitate these courses and to provide ground-level training at the centre, a total of 100 facilitators were identified and placed at the selected centres.
COURSE OBJECTIVES
The course endeavours to enable the learners to:
- Become familiar with the scope of health and disease, and the influence of various causal factors including social determinants on health and health care.
- Gain familiarity with common diseases and health conditions of importance, and the role of healthcare facilities in dealing with these
- Learn basic skills and standards of established hospital management practice
- Become conversant with different structures, functions, and processes of a healthcare facility
LEARNING METHODOLOGY
The course is delivered in a hybrid model, i.e. as a mix of in-person interactions and distance learning. Three main learning methods were used, as detailed below.
(A) Face To Face (F2F) Interactive Sessions
F2F interactive sessions have been conducted once a week for block-level staff in groups at the District Headquarters. These sessions were facilitated locally by district-level CARE staff using adult learning approaches under the guidance and observation of domain experts. A typical session comprised of 2-4 lessons spread over about 6 hours of learning time. Lessons used videos, presentations, case studies, exercises, and quizzes, enabling learning by doing. In addition, there have been one or more live online sessions of 60-90 minutes scheduled each week where the faculties directly address the questions of the participants.
(B) Facility-based Assignments
Facility-based assignments, closely linked with the ongoing modules, form a crucial part of the course. These may involve making structured observations of a managerial process or applying a specific management skill within the healthcare facility. The assignments required 3-4 hours of participants’ time every week and will be aligned with their routine work to the extent possible. While the participants may undertake these assignments at their convenience, they need to document the learning in a structured workbook and share the experience in subsequent F2F sessions.
(C) Self-Reading
Learning material for each module and lesson have been shared with the participants well in advance for self-study before and after the F2F session. This included essential and suggested readings and audio-visual content.
Learning Management System
A custom-made Learning Management System (LMS) platform anchored the entire course. The LMS will create virtual classrooms on the web through a secure gateway with a unique username and password. It hosted the learning material and provided an interactive discussion board. It has been an interface for the participants to upload their facility-based assignments and take quizzes. The same platform was enabled for webinars, live lectures, and Question-Answer sessions. In effect, the LMS enabled keeping a log of all learning activities that the participant has engaged with during the course.
