Department of Biochemistry, St. Paul's Hospital Millennium Medical College, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
School of Medicine, Diredawa University, Diredawa, Ethiopia.
Hum Resour Health. 2023 Jun 20;21(1):47. doi: 10.1186/s12960-023-00837-1.
Continuing professional development (CPD) is required for health workers in practice to update knowledge and skills regularly to match the changing complexity of healthcare needs. The objective of this study was to identify the training needs of Medical Laboratory professionals in Ethiopia.
A total of 457 medical laboratory professionals from five regions and two city administrations were involved in the study. Data were collected from August 02 to 21, 2021 with structured self-administered online tool with five-point Likert scale. The tool had consent, demography, cross-cutting issues, and main activity area specific to medical laboratory.
Majority of the participants were male (80.1%). Participants from Amhara region 110 (24.1%) were the largest groups in the survey followed by Oromia 105 (23%) and Addis Ababa 101 (22.1%). The study participants comprised 54.7% with a bachelor's degree, 31.3% with a diploma (associate degree), and 14% with a master's degree. The participants had varying years of service, ranging from less than one year to over 10 years of experience. Most of the participants work as generalists (24.1%) followed by working in microbiology (17.5%) and parasitology (16%). The majority (96.9%) were working in a public sector or training institutions and the rest were employed in the private sector. Our study showed that the three most important topics selected for training in the cross-cutting health issues were health and emerging technology, computer skills and medico-legal issues. Topics under microbiology, clinical chemistry and molecular diagnostics were selected as the most preferred technical areas for training. Participants have also selected priority topics under research skill and pathophysiology. When the laboratory specific issues were regrouped based on areas of application as technical competence, research skill and pathophysiology, thirteen topics under technical competence, four topics under research skill and three topics under pathophysiology were picked as priority areas.
In conclusion, our study identified that CPD programs should focus on topics that address technical competence in microbiology, clinical chemistry and molecular diagnostics. Additionally competencies in research skill and updating knowledge in pathophysiology should also receive due attention in designing trainings.
为了使卫生工作者不断更新知识和技能，以适应医疗保健需求的不断变化，继续教育（CPD）是医疗保健工作者在实践中的必备要求。本研究旨在确定埃塞俄比亚医学实验室专业人员的培训需求。
共有来自五个地区和两个城市行政区的 457 名医学实验室专业人员参与了这项研究。数据于 2021 年 8 月 2 日至 21 日收集，采用结构化的在线自我管理工具，采用五点李克特量表。该工具包含同意书、人口统计学、跨领域问题以及医学实验室特定的主要活动领域。
大多数参与者为男性（80.1%）。参与者中来自阿姆哈拉地区的有 110 人（24.1%），是调查中最大的群体，其次是奥罗米亚地区的 105 人（23%）和亚的斯亚贝巴地区的 101 人（22.1%）。研究参与者中 54.7%拥有学士学位，31.3%拥有大专文凭（副学士学位），14%拥有硕士学位。参与者的服务年限从不到一年到 10 年以上不等。大多数参与者为通才（24.1%），其次是从事微生物学（17.5%）和寄生虫学（16%）工作。大多数（96.9%）在公共部门或培训机构工作，其余在私营部门工作。我们的研究表明，在跨领域健康问题中，选择培训的三个最重要的主题是健康和新兴技术、计算机技能和医学法律问题。在微生物学、临床化学和分子诊断学下的主题被选为最受欢迎的培训技术领域。参与者还选择了研究技能和病理生理学下的优先主题。当根据技术能力、研究技能和病理生理学的应用领域对实验室特定问题进行重新分组时，技术能力下有 13 个主题、研究技能下有 4 个主题、病理生理学下有 3 个主题被选为优先领域。
总之，我们的研究表明，CPD 项目应侧重于微生物学、临床化学和分子诊断学等技术能力领域的主题。此外，在设计培训时，还应注重研究技能和更新病理生理学知识的能力。
