COPE® FOR MALE CIRCUMCISION SERVICES - EngenderHealth

Staff Need for Information, Training, and
Development
COPE for Male Circumcision Services
Health care staff need knowledge, skills, and ongoing training and professional development
opportunities to remain up to date in the rapidly evolving area of HIV and AIDS health care.
Staff also needs professional development opportunities that will help them acquire
knowledge and skills on provision of male circumcision (MC) services as one of the strategies
of prevention of HIV infection, including current MC techniques and approaches. Every site
that seeks to continuously improve the quality of its services should plan for ongoing staff
development and provide all staff access to updated information and training opportunities.
The group working on this guide should include a cross-section of staff representing
all departments within your service setting.
If any of the following questions reveal a problem in your health care setting, or if you think
any questions need to be discussed further, write your comments on a flipchart in the
following format:
Problem Cause(s) Recommendations By Whom By When
If you are aware of a problem in your health care setting that is not addressed here, please list
it in “Other Issues That You Think Are Important,” at the end of this guide.
1. Do you think your health care setting has sufficient trained staff to provide MC services
for prevention of HIV infection
2. Does your service setting have a system in place to regularly assess staff training and
development needs
■ Does this system involve a staff self-assessment of their development and training
needs
■ Does this system include an assessment of staff’s knowledge of issues related to their
job duties and MC services in general
■ Are the technical skills of clinical and other staff assessed regularly (in such areas as
the MC procedure, HIV counseling and testing, and sexually transmitted infection
screening and management)
3. Do all staff feel that they have the knowledge and skills they need to follow standards
and procedures related to provision of MC services
4. Have all staff who counsel clients about MC observed the procedures being performed
5. Has your health care setting developed standards for MC services (or adopted national
standards where they exist), with clear roles and job descriptions for various levels of
providers
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