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A dream has come true in Uganda - Fondazione Corti

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tional centre for epidemiology, monitor<strong>in</strong>g and health<br />

promotion. He was formerly Director of Research, Epidemiology<br />

Laboratory and Biostatistics at the ISS and,<br />

from 2004 to 2006, General Director of Healthcare<br />

Protection with for the Italian M<strong>in</strong>istry of Health. He<br />

is also a volunteer professor at Faculty of Medic<strong>in</strong>e of<br />

Gulu University.<br />

The capacity build<strong>in</strong>g activities were the follow<strong>in</strong>g:<br />

A three-day tra<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g course <strong>in</strong> Applied Statistics <strong>in</strong><br />

Excel which was designed to teach the use of a tool that<br />

can improve data quality control and analysis for health<br />

data officers work<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> local <strong>in</strong>stitutions. Among the<br />

23 participants, 19 were Lacor Hospital staff. The course<br />

took place at Gulu District Adm<strong>in</strong>istration Block and<br />

was free of charge for participants.<br />

Lacor Course <strong>in</strong> EXCEL, Lacor, Gulu, <strong>Uganda</strong>, May 2012<br />

Pursu<strong>in</strong>g quality<br />

IDRC <strong>has</strong> sponsored a project at Lacor Hospital that<br />

started on May 1st, 2010, and lasted until December<br />

30th, 2011. The goal was to review and strengthen management<br />

processes to determ<strong>in</strong>e impacts on the quality<br />

of services provided by the Hospital. The ma<strong>in</strong> implemented<br />

improvements were focused on empower<strong>in</strong>g<br />

middle management, <strong>in</strong>troduc<strong>in</strong>g regular quality assurance<br />

processes (<strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>spections and supervisions),<br />

and review<strong>in</strong>g the schedul<strong>in</strong>g of shifts among nurs<strong>in</strong>g<br />

and support staff, with special focus on wards requir<strong>in</strong>g<br />

qualified staff on a 24/7 basis (like the General Medic<strong>in</strong>e,<br />

Children’s Ward and Maternity Ward, etc.).<br />

Improvements <strong>in</strong> quality of services were assessed through<br />

external audits carried out at the start and at the end of<br />

the project. The f<strong>in</strong>al results highlighted significant im-<br />

A course on Epidemiology and statistical tools which<br />

was aimed at <strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>g the skills needed for handl<strong>in</strong>g<br />

<strong>in</strong>dividual cl<strong>in</strong>ical records and basic statistical analysis<br />

oriented on cl<strong>in</strong>ical research. The course <strong>in</strong>cluded basic<br />

knowledge of epidemiological methods and design,<br />

as well as of the newly-released CDC/WHO Ep<strong>in</strong>fo 7<br />

software.<br />

Most of the 29 participants were Lacor Hospital medical<br />

specialists, doctors, medical officers and nurses and<br />

took place on the Lacor Hospital University Campus.<br />

Dur<strong>in</strong>g the clos<strong>in</strong>g ceremony, each participant received<br />

a certificate of attendance and the “Lacor Pen”, a handmade<br />

tropical wood pen with gold-plated parts and<br />

enameled Lacor Hospital logo created by Prof. Greco.<br />

All students gave enthusiastic feedback.<br />

provements especially <strong>in</strong> the quality of nurs<strong>in</strong>g care, with<br />

a significant reduction <strong>in</strong> the Hospital-Acquired Infection<br />

(HAI) rate, which decreased from 28% at the beg<strong>in</strong>n<strong>in</strong>g<br />

of the project, to around 14% at the end. External<br />

audits of nurs<strong>in</strong>g practices also highlighted significant<br />

improvements <strong>in</strong> the observed compliance with agreed<br />

practices compared to the start of the project.<br />

An analysis of the results of the HAI survey as well as of<br />

the External Nurs<strong>in</strong>g Audit strongly suggests that these<br />

improvements were promoted ma<strong>in</strong>ly by the <strong>in</strong>troduction<br />

of regular and standardized Quality Assurance<br />

processes, as well as by review<strong>in</strong>g and strengthen<strong>in</strong>g the<br />

role of middle management. Better schedul<strong>in</strong>g and a<br />

new roster<strong>in</strong>g model which allowed for better plann<strong>in</strong>g<br />

of nurs<strong>in</strong>g staff shifts may also have contributed to the<br />

5

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