ETOO Stakeholders Meeting 2018
The 2018 Stakeholder Meeting and Curriculum Review Forum in Kampala, Uganda on March 12-13, presented and analyzed findings from the Surgical Skills and Operative Obstetrics (SSOO) program and developed a plan for sustainable integration of the training into medical education. ACOG’s Carla Eckhardt and Faisa Ali facilitated the meetings. ACOG Fellows from Drexel University led discussions that included program improvement, innovations in technology, and sustainability. Members from the Association of Obstetricians and Gynecologists of Uganda, University of California San Francisco, the Ministry of Health, Makerere University, Mbarara University of Science and Technology, Busitema, Engender Health, and Health Volunteers Oversees were at the meeting.
Discussion included opportunities to integrate this training into the pre-service training of other health care providers including non-physician clinicians, depending upon scope of practice requirements.
The attendees discussed and identified challenges during the Stakeholder Meeting. There was intense discussion on the accomplishments and drawbacks that each university had in their experiences with the SSOO program. A representative from Engender Health and Ms. Ali presented their findings from analyzation of the monitoring and evaluation data. Dr. Annette Nakimuli, Chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Makerere University, led discussions about the requirements necessary to sustain the SSOO program for it to be effective and beneficial to the trainees. These issues included space requirements, data collection and follow up, and simulation lab supplies.
The intention of the Curriculum Review Forum was to create a new curriculum outline based on Ugandan trainees’ needs. After a brief re-cap and discussion on solutions to the challenges presented, the attendees were broken up into small groups. The groups were divided in terms of their expertise. There were three groups (content, implementation and monitoring and evaluation) to examine the lectures and develop topics they would like to include in a new curriculum. Ms. Eckhardt led the brainstorming session by using affinity diagraming to organize the ideas presented within the small groups. Following the small group work, a representative from each group presented on their ideas to construct a new curriculum.
The next steps of the SSOO program are to conduct a training in a new university, Busitema University, to acclimate the faculty to ACOG and the SSOO program. The stakeholders from the meetings are now constructing the depths of the curriculum and developing lectures tailored to their needs and requirement, which they have named ETOO: Essential Training in Operative Obstetrics.