Information & Communication Technology (ICT) for Health Learning

“The creation of a learning environment will stimulate recruitment and retention of professional staff, even in remote rural areas. While this is not the only factor involved in the retention of staff, surveys have shown that many health professionals, particularly the more junior ranks, give as the main reason for wanting to leave rural areas, their need for professional development and career advancement.
One of the key factors in learning and professional development is access to information. In rural areas access to computers, the internet and communication is vital for this.”
( A Learning Complex in Area 3 of the KZN Department of Health — A Report on Learning Opportunities for Health Professionals , CRH 2006)

The aim of CRH’s ICT project is to facilitate access to ICT by training and supporting health workers in KZN – Area3, to use:
• Computers and relevant software
• the internet,
• the DOH’s intranet, and
• various online resources;
with a view to improving their skills and service delivery.

A key milestone for the project is to partner with the DoH Provincial IT department as active participants. This project targets professional nurses and UKZN students studying toward the Diploma in HIV management.

Professional Nurses

The primary focus group for the ICT project is professional nurses (PNs).

Firstly research on hospital-based learning done by CRH (read this research), shows that of all rural health workers in Area 3, nurses are very keen to improve their ICT skills to keep current with technological trends in the health sector.

Secondly, the shortage of doctors in rural hospitals, results very often in nurses running the wards. They therefore need access to ICT to improve decision making and to facilitate patient management.

Activities:
• Qualitative research : Information will be collected from hospitals and clinics, and the analysis of this data will be used as a baseline to formulate intervention plans.
• Develop an email discussion list-serve : As tool for building support and encouraging nurses to become familiar with computer use. This is primarily for professional nurses, commencing with midwives.
• PPIP (Perinatal Problem Identification Programme) training : The aim here is to have all nurses capturing their routine monthly data electronically and then using it.

HIV Diploma Students

A secondary focus for the ICT work, is HIV Diploma students from Area 3. This project aims to assist them to improve their computer literacy and access on-line resources.

Activities:
• Facilitating sessions (in conjunction with the UKZN Medical Library) on how best to access online resources.
• Prioritising the use of distance learning tools and resources.

Short-term Goals for the Project

• Achieve full participation of midwives in the email discussion lists.
• Increase and encourage computer usage among midwives.
• Encourage the use of online resources by HIV Diploma students in Area 3.
• To have all nurses in the district capturing their routine monthly PPIP data electronically.

This project forms part of the KZN Health Learning Complex.