The Need to modernize training in NTEP
The Need to modernize training in NTEPNational Tuberculosis (TB) Elimination Program (NTEP) of India is one of the largest public health programs in the world. It has over 30,000 peripheral health institutions providing diagnostic and treatment services in the public sector, with a huge workforce of Medical Officers, Paramedical staff, Multi Purpose Health Workers, and other frontline health workers. Putting this together with incentivised volunteers and a huge private sector, the quantity and variety of human resources is at a scale that is unparalleled. Trained Human Resource (HR) is critical for ensuring TB patients receive quality diagnostic, treatment and other patient support services.
The program has considerably expanded in the last five years into many new technical areas such as Direct Benefit Transfers and TB Preventive Therapy. There has been a corresponding increase in the amount training is needed. These areas are continuously evolving, with very frequent updates and changes. As a result of this there is a regular need for training, to rapidly disseminate changes and additions in program operations. The current training system primarily consists of 9 printed modules which are delivered in a modular reading fashion; updates over and above these modules are disseminated using guidelines/ other documents. In addition a variety of training material is also created by a multitude of development partners operating in different geographies in specific thematic areas. This material is used for training in the form of formal training, orientation workshops and sensitization meetings. The training status of core NTEP staff is monitored using aggregate reports collected manually from the TU level.
There is a felt need to better organize, increase the pace and efficiency at which program evolution is communicated to the field in the form of training. This revision of the training system should:
- Upgrade the current paper based training material to use a combination of electronic multimedia, organizing efforts of many stakeholders into one uniform system of content development.
- Use modern methods of knowledge and skills transfer including e-learning and adult learning principles. This would also need to leverage the increased acceptance to electronic modes of training, a change brought about by the COVID19 pandemic.
- Have a low effort monitoring system that can be applied across the country.
With these needs in mind NTEP had decided to revise and modernize its training system. The subsequent sections discuss the various components of the system and the various standard processes and guidelines related to them.
Strategy for Modernizing Training
Strategy for Modernizing TrainingThe modernized training system has to find strategic ways to address felt needs. The needs described in the previous section can be fit into three themes. These are:
- Content Development
- Training operations
- Monitoring and evaluation of training
To address these needs effectively, the Modernized Training system needs to have separate sub-systems and protocols in place for each of them. Thus the Modernized Training Strategy in NTEP would have three pillars, each having a separate, but inter-linked IT enabled sub-systems. These are:
- Training content creation: This is first part, where there are systems and processes to create, update and maintain a repository of various training concepts and related standardized training content, along with other documents (guidelines, directives, etc). This would involve an online system called the Knowledge Base. This would be operated by a central team of experts and content creators, who maintain the knowledge base and its contents.
- Training Operations: This component is where the actual training is performed using content prepared. It will include processes such as planning and execution of training and certification. It would include an online Learning Management System (LMS) such as Swasth-eGurukul. This would be operated by trainers and trainees from across the country to deliver and receive training.
- Monitoring and evaluation of training: This component allows the monitoring of the ongoing training in real-time against the general goal of all human resources related to NTEP are "Trained". This would require the maintenance of training information of all related personnel and generate reports or dashboards to monitor the progress/ current status. This would need an online tool for managing the training information of all personnel, including training history and certifications and a dashboard where data can be visually explored to understand the status of training across the country. This system would also include process of training supervision and evaluation and identifying which personnel requires re- or update training.
