Care for People Living with Hiv or Aids - Essay Example

Running Head: DEVELOPING THE ASSESSMENT PLAN FOR TRAINING NURSES ON HOME BASED CARE FOR PEOPLE LIVING WITH HIV/AIDS Title Insert Name Tutor Date Introduction As the number of people living with HIV/AIDS continuous to increase and the number of hospital beds remain constant, there is a dire need to search for alternative means and places where patient can receive the care. It is for this reason that much emphasis has been placed on home based care which does not only offer an alternative, but a cheaper option as well. However, home based care is likely to fail due to high defaulter rate especially where professionals offering this kind of care are not well equipped. Majority of the personnel offering home based care are nurses. This has resulted to increased number of nurses being trained on home based care. Just like in any other group being trained, nurses should be assessed to understand how well the concept of home based care has been captured during and after the training. In this case, an appraisal was done for the instruments to be used in measuring four behaviors in training nurses on home based care for people living with HIV/AIDS identified as: Works effectively without direct supervision. Completes jobs in a methodological and efficient manner. Has a good work ethics. Solves unfamiliar problems within the domain. Various instruments will be used to assess nurses working in Rural Health Care for training to be conducted from the 15th of June to August 18th 2011(Sadler, p139). Behavioral Objectives: To effectively appraise each instrument, an objective was developed from each behavior based on SMART analysis. The four objectives were The learner will extract information from the patient or/and family members regarding the patient’s condition and records it accurately throughout the practicum period. The learner accurately identifies the possible complication and threats for people living with HIV/AIDS and possible solutions by the end of the training session. The learner identifies five major ethical issues when offering home based care for people living with HIV/AIDS. The learner identify possible problems resulting to deterioration of the health status of people living with HIV other than those involving the condition through a case analysis of a person living with HIV/AIDs in the third six month after commencing the training (Rowntree, 148). Specific context of behavioral objectives: Objective Specific context 1 The learner extracts information from the patient or/and family members regarding the patient’s condition and records it accurately throughout the practicum period. Training nurses on home based care for people living with HIV/AIDs 2 The learner accurately identifies the possible complication and threats for people living with HIV/AIDs and possible solutions by the end of the training session. Training nurses on home based care for people living with HIV/AIDs 3 The learning identifies five major ethical issues when offering home based care for people living with HIV/AIDS. Training nurses on home based care for people living with HIV/AIDs 4 The learner identify possible problems resulting to deterioration of the health status of people living with HIV other than those involving the condition through a case analysis of a person living with HIV/AIDs in the third month after commencing the training. Training nurses on home based care for people living with HIV/AIDs Description of the assessment instruments: Objective 1: The assessment tool will aim at assessing the learner’s diagnostic skills that are aimed at identifying the patient’s conditions from the family members. The assessments will utilize the oral and written summative tests to assess the learner’s ability to constructively assess the patient and the family members orally (Eisnm, p234). Objective 2: The learner will be assessed to ascertain if he/she is able to accurately identify the possible complication and threats for people living with HIV/AIDS and possible solutions by the end of the training session. Objective 3: Utilizing the summative assessment the learner’s ability to observe the ethical issues while attending to the patients. The assessment will test the learner’s conceptual knowledge in observing the ethical issues. Objective 4: A collaborative assessment will be conducted to assess the learner’s knowledge in the identification of the identification of the possible problems resulting to deterioration of the health status of people living with HIV other than those involving the condition through a case analysis of a person living with HIV/AIDs in the third six month after commencing the training. The collaborative tests to be implemented include practicum tests that will be administered to the learner (Rowntree, p150). Development of the assessment instruments Works effectively without direct supervision This behavior will be assessed in a better way if the competency assessment instrument is applied. Competencies combine various entities such as traits, motives, self concepts, values and attitudes, abilities and skills. All of them are important in gauging whether the health care provider is an average performer or a superior performer. Competencies look at the composite view of the health care provider and not just the knowledge they have for the job. The competency assessment tool will used gauge the quality of work that the trainee can do without being supervised and in the process produce good results that meet goals. The tool cannot be used to measure things like the ease of the person to work with other people Booth et al., (p 300). Completes jobs in a methodological and efficient manner The portfolio instrument is appropriate here in which growth towards given goals is documented. In documentation there are future plans, criteria and end goals. It has baseline information and things that give a description of the performance of the trainee. It has the work in progress to show steps taken to mastery. The portfolio acts here as a formative tool for evaluation of the trainee’s internal information. A product portfolio is made which carries examples of the program or trainee’s best efforts. It includes final evidence or things that show how end goals are attained. This assessment tool is important in assessing the way the job has been done whether the right order has been followed or not and if the assignments are done with efficiency and skill to reflect the best performance. It is however not applicable in measuring things like level of attending to duties independently or behavior toward other people. Yu, Chong Ho (p131). Has a good work ethics. Good work ethics will be measured using the multiple choice tool of assessment. It gives a choice of various answers which when gauged and eliminated leave us with only the best choice. It is very good because it overcomes the difficulty of having to decide since there is only one relevant choice. This tool can also be used to measure other behaviors such as the ability to work with other people. It may not then be effective in measuring the performance of the learner Yu, Chong Ho (p77). Solves unfamiliar problems within the domain Performance test will be used to assess the behavior where the individual has the capacity to perform by getting solutions to new problems. The instrument can guarantee good outcome because it will definitely give the level of performance with precision. It is fully applicable since a learner with the ability to solve totally new problems will definitely deliver a good performance because of his creativity and bright mind. It can also be applied in measuring the creativity and ability to judge various strategies. It may not be applicable in measuring the level of team work, ability to show sensitivity to other cultures or the work ethics Sadler, (p246). Assessment Matrix: Behavioral Objectives Assessment Targets Assessment Methods Type of Knowledge Cognitive Processes Objective type Subjective type Performance type 1 The learner will extract information from the patient or/and family members regarding the patient’s condition and records it accurately throughout the practicum period. Procedural Identify Diagnostic test Diagnostic test Practical tests 2 The learner accurately identifies the possible complication and threats for people living with HIV/AIDs and possible solutions by the end of the training session. Factual Evaluate Formative test Formative test Discussions 3 The learner will identify five major ethical issues when offering home based care for people living with HIV/AIDS. Conceptual Remember Summative test Collaborative test Discussion 4 The learner identifies possible problems resulting to deterioration of the health status of people living with HIV other than those involving the condition through a case analysis of a person living with HIV/AIDs in the third month after commencing the training. Meta-cognitive Analyze Summative test Summative test Practical tests (Griffin, p189) Appraisal of the assessment instruments The first instrument which is the one for competency assessment is critical in the assessment of the ability of the learner to work without expecting supervision. It is a gauge for the level of discipline and commitment the learner puts in the work while working alone. It has absolute reliability since it considers various entities like traits, motives, self concepts, values and attitudes, abilities and skills. It has the necessary validity because of its ability to give the measure of performance of the learner whether average or above average. The tool has relevance to the behavior under study because when the learner is able to work without supervision then he is displaying his mastery of the job and consequently his competency Booth et al., (56). The second instrument is the portfolio assessment tool used to measure the ability of the learner to finish assignments in a methodological and efficient way. Portfolio has all the validity because it gives the steps that the learner is taking in order to achieve the set goals for him. Its reliability is seen when it serves as a formative tool for evaluation of the trainee’s internal information. A product portfolio is made which carries examples of the program or trainee’s best efforts. It also shows the goals attained. It therefore shows the balance between the set goals and the goals attained Sadler, (210). The third assessment is vital in the gauging of the learner’s knowledge of the ethical issues when offering home based care for people living with HIV/AIDS. The assessment tool to be used here is the multiple choice instrument. The multiple choice tool is reliable because it gives the person assessing the freedom to choose form various options as has been observed. It is valid because there are many ethical values some of which are related and only the precise ones have to be chosen. In the process it guarantees fairness due to its many choices Eisnm, (133). Lastly, the learner will be able to assess the learner’s ability in the identification of the problems that affect the HIV/AIDS patients due to deterioration of their health. The instrument to be used for assessment in this area will be the performance test (Baartman, p154). This tool is reliable since it gauges performance on the basis of average or above average. Its validity and relevance are seen in the fat that a learner with the ability to solve strange problems will automatically have creativity and good performance Sadler, (p90). Conclusion In conclusion, the assessment tool is vital in the attempt to focus on the ability of the learners to determine their own strategies in the solving of problems and not rely on the instructors to provide answers to every challenge they meet. The knowledge gained by the students is aimed at enabling them to use, develop and apply new strategies in the solving of new challenges that arise. This will enhance the student’s creativity and modes of discovery as they will be able to appreciate the need to interact with new and reliable resources. The set objectives are designed to focus on the development of the cognitive as well as the incorporation of psychomotor skills in the solving of problems. 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