An Interprofessional Approach to Training in Cervical Cancer Screening in a Low Resource Setting of Rural Haiti [12H]

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Cervical cancer continues to be a public health concern mostly affecting low-resource countries and has a high prevalence in Haiti, where no national prevention program exists. To address this gap, Hospital Albert Schweitzer (HAS) launched a cervical cancer screening and treatment program. The first step consisted of a two-week workshop providing didactic and supervised clinical training to healthcare professionals. METHODS: A US-based interprofessional team developed a comprehensive curriculum focusing on visual inspection with acetic acid, cytology-based screening, colposcopy, cryotherapy and loop electrosurgical excisional procedure. 3 Ob/Gyns, 2 general practitioners, 3 nurse-midwives and 2 nurses were trained. The course consisted of half-day didactic sessions and half-day supervised clinical practice sessions during the first week. The second week involved high-volume practice of skills. Pre-and post-tests were utilized during didactics, and clinical competency assessment were utilized at the end of each week. These tools will also be used during the 6-month follow-up evaluation. RESULTS: All trainees attended all didactic and clinical training sessions. They screened a total of 988 women. Based on the pre-and post-tests, trainees demonstrated an average increase of knowledge of cervical cancer screening by 9.5%. They all demonstrated satisfactory clinical competency by the end of the second week. CONCLUSION: Implementation of an interprofessional training event in a low-resource setting proved to be effective in teaching healthcare professionals to perform cervical cancer screening and treatment services on a clinically competent level. Results of the 6-month.