According to this article on AllAfrica.com, Uganda Martyrs University has begun a program that uses information communication technology to provide CME for rural health workers. From the article:
- CME Project Coordinator, Mr John Mugisha said they are involved in identifying the needs of health workers, training them in the use of ICTs and setting up resource centres at the pilot hospitals where they are to access and utilise information on different health issues.
Mugisha said the move aims at keeping health professionals in rural areas updated on various health issues that are changing every other day.
"It is true that the jobs for which the health professionals were trained keep on changing because of various circumstances like change in disease patterns, drug and drug policies, medical technology, legal requirements, policy priorities. These impact greatly on the job demands and call for continuing training and learning," he said.
Speaking at the same function, Amandua said one of the serious challenges facing rural hospitals is inadequate skills among health providers. "I have worked upcountry for a long time but the biggest challenge in upcountry hospitals is not lack of professionals but what they lack is what they should do with patients," he said.
I've heard of programs like this having great success in other countries, and hopefully it will for these folks, too. I can't even imagine how difficult it would be to keep up when the nearest CME program is hundreds of miles away, and you don't have any online access.
