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The
PLHA-friendly Achievement Checklist
http://www.popcouncil.org/horizons/pfechklst.html
Background:
Population Council/Horizons and SHARAN are conducting an
operations research study in three New Delhi hospitals (newsletter
article on study). The study, entitled “Improving the
hospital environment for HIV-positive clients in India,” is
endorsed by the National AIDS Control Organization (NACO) of
India. The objective of the study is to assess factors that
affect the quality and type of care received by the general
patient population, with special emphasis on patients with
HIV. An additional objective is to assess and address factors
that affect staff safety with respect to infectious diseases.
As part of the study, a practical Checklist has been developed
that can be used by managers and others to identify
institutional strengths, pinpoint problems, and set goals for
improvement of services for people living with HIV/AIDS (PLHA)
and staff safety. The study will be complete in March 2003.
NACO plans to distribute the Checklist, adapted for the Indian
context, to all government medical facilities throughout
India.
Development
of the Checklist:
“Gold standards” were compiled from national (Indian) and
international guidelines and policies on the human rights of
PLHA, HIV testing and counseling, infection control, and care
and management of HIV/AIDS. These standards were reviewed and
endorsed by NACO and hospitals participating in the study
through a series of consultative discussions. In turn they
were adapted into a Checklist format, similar to UNICEF’s
“Baby Friendly Hospital” guidelines and Checklist. The
version presented here, called the PLHA-friendly Achievement
Checklist, is a generic version. In India, it was tailored for
the local context and is referred to as the “Self-assessment
Checklist for Institutions Caring for PLHA.” The Indian
version, soon to be distributed by NACO, used the term
“patient-friendly” in place of the term “PLHA-friendly.”
Purpose
of the Checklist:
The PLHA-friendly Achievement Checklist is intended as a
self-assessment tool for managers to use in gauging how well
their facility (hospital, clinic, or department) reaches,
serves, and treats HIV-positive patients. This gives managers
an opportunity to identify institutional strengths and
weaknesses, consider ways to address the weaknesses, and later
to assess progress toward “PLHA-friendliness.” The
Checklist is designed in a simple format that can be readily
adapted for each unique context. It can be used by individual
managers or by groups of managers and/or staff. It can be
applied to large hospitals, clinics, or specific departments.
In the context of the ongoing study in India, surveys and
observations were conducted and hospital-specific reports were
produced to enable medical superintendents to “score”
their institutions fairly precisely and objectively based on
data. However, it is not necessary to have access to this
level of data in order to use the Checklist. Users of the
Checklist can use hospital records, survey data, observation
or simply “guesstimates” to rate their own institution.
We
highly encourage users of the checklist to please provide
feedback. Please send your comments to Laelia Gilborn via
e-mail at lgilborn@pcdc.org
or via mail to the address below .
For more
information about the PLHA-Friendly Achievement Checklist and
the accompanying operations research project, please contact:
Laelia Gilborn (lgilborn@pcdc.org)
or Vaishali Sharma Mahendra (vmahendra@pcindia.org)
of the Population Council, Horizons program.
To receive
a hard copy of the Checklist, please contact:
Horizons-CDU
Unit
Population Council
4301 Connecticut Ave. N.W., Suite 280
Washington, DC 20008
Facsimile: 202-237-8410
E-mail: horizons@pcdc.org
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