Accepted for/Published in: Journal of Medical Internet Research
Date Submitted: Dec 30, 2022
Date Accepted: Apr 28, 2023
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
Digital health and health system strengthening: A qualitative study on need of capacity building and development of evidence based digital solution, NI-KSHAY SETU, strengthening knowledge support of the health care workers to ensure management of TB patients.
ABSTRACT
Background:
The five-year ahead of global target of eliminating Tuberculosis (TB) in India by 2025 depends critically on one of the components of health system strengthening, the capacity of human resources. Due to the rapid transposition of standards and protocols, the human resources for TB health are lacking in understanding recent updates and acquire needful knowledge.
Objective:
With a focus on the digital revolution in healthcare, there is no such platform to deliver the key updates in the national TB control program with easy access. Thus, this manuscript narrates the evolution of a digital platform for the capacity building of the Indian health system’s workforce in management of TB patients.
Methods:
A qualitative method study was conducted, i.e., qualitative personal interviews to understand the basic requirements of staff working in management of TB patients and then, participatory consultative meetings with the stakeholders to validate and develop the content. This study collected qualitative information from the Purbi Singhbhum and Ranchi districts of Jharkhand and Gandhinagar and Surat districts of Gujarat State. Secondly, a series of participatory workshops were conducted as part of the content validation exercises during 2021-22.
Results:
The first phase collected information from 126 healthcare staff, with the mean age of participants being 38.4 ± 8.9 years and the average work experience of 8.9 years. The assessment revealed that more than two-thirds of participants needed further training and lacked knowledge of the most current updates to the NTEP guidelines. The consultative process determined the training requirements in easily accessible formats and ready reckoner content to deliver practical solutions to programme implementation's operational issues. The digital platform should be adaptable and flexible enough to accommodate future programme revisions.
Conclusions:
The development of staff capacity is vital to the success or failure of any programme or intervention. Having up-to-date information provides confidence to the staff when interacting with patients in the community and aids them in making quick judgements when handling case scenarios. The NI-KSHAY SETU could be one of the other examples of a digital capacity-building platform for enhancing human resources skills working for TB elimination.
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