Project News

Three mentors were dispatched in March and May 2014 to the Dodoma Regional Hospital to rectify some issues identified through comprehensive supportive supervision conducted in Jan 2014. The specific areas for mentoring were: 1) pediatric HIV care, 2) HIV related laboratory services and 3) HIV related pharmaceutical services and logistics management. During the first mentoring visit, mentors spent 5 days at the site.

They started with courtesy visit to the Regional Medical Officer and the Medical Officer in Charge of the Hospital. The mentors were introduced to mentees of the respective service provision sites and began with building rapport with the mentees. They first observed and assessed the mentees' performance by using mentoring tools (external link). Each mentor discussed and prioritized, with the mentees, issues identified by the supervisors and additionally identified through the assessment. Based on the mentoring plan agreed between the mentor and the mentees, on-the-job training was provided to the mentees, using several mentoring methodologies. On the 5th day, each mentor developed an action plan with the mentees and provided feedback to the Hospital Management Team (HMT) and shared the action plan to be followed by the HMT.

Second visit was made in May 2014 for the mentors to make a follow-up with the action plan developed during the previous visit. A lot of improvements were observed in the issues. However, the mentors found some issues remained unsolved. The mentors needed to discuss these issues with the mentees, tried to identify root causes of the issues and agreeable solutions with the mentees. Some of the issues unsolved were not technical but administrative issues that should be attended by the HMT such as broken air conditioners in the laboratory that needed maintenance service. Therefore, it was critical for the mentors to address and discuss these issues with the HMT.

Through these experiences, it was revealed that one-shot mentoring visit may not be effective enough to solve some issues. Importance of continuous mentorship and follow-ups of action plan by HMT cannot be overemphasized for quality improvement.

Laboratory mentor providing OJT to mentee

Pharmacy mentor discussing with mentee

Pediatric mentor reporting to HMT and discussing unsolved issues