After Inadvertently Increasing Doctor’s Workload, TCIHC Strengthens Capacity of other Facility Staff

by | Dec 17, 2018

Dr. Renu Suman works in an Urban Primary Health Center (UPHC) in an urban slum in Gorakhpur in the northeastern part of Uttar Pradesh. While she aspires to serve all clients that visit her facility, demand generation activities by The Challenge Initiative for Healthy Cities (TCIHC) inadvertently increased her caseload recently beyond her capacity.

“I have seen a four-fold increase in family planning clients in my facility which is because of TCIHC’s support,” she said, noting she can see up to 60 patients a day but that was still not everyone who came in for services.

The uptick in patient volume started in February 2018, when TCIHC began coaching and capacity strengthening activities for Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs). This led to the number of family planning patients increasing from eight to 10 a month to 30 to 40 patients per month.

Nine ASHAs from the facility now go out in the community each day to meet and refer potential family planning clients. Dr. Renu noted that the ASHAs’ communication skills have improved as a result of TCIHC.

“What I appreciate the most is the TCIHC coaching process which ensures that each of my ASHAs have been coached during their home visits to improve their interpersonal communication skills,” she said.

But to alleviate the increase in patient volume, TCIHC also provided on-the-job coaching support to facility staff, and worked to ensure an adequate number of staff were trained in intrauterine contraceptive device (IUCD) insertion.

“TCIHC facilitated IUCD refresher training for my staff nurse and with this training she is able to provide IUCD services confidently on her own,” said Dr. Renu.

Now, the facility has a full-time family planning service provider in the trained staff nurse and Dr. Renu can focus on providing curative services to clients. No family planning clients are leaving the facility without receiving the services that they seek.