Home-Based Care for People Living with HIV/AIDS - Report Example

Developing and Assessment of Testing Instruments xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Assessment of Testing Instruments xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Name xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Instructor’s Name xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Date of Submission Over view Developing the assessment plan for training nurses on home based care for people living with HIV/AIDS 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 I 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. This is so as to identify the effectiveness of the training and to identify emerging training needs for personal and group development. The assessment instrument must be evaluated to identify their effectiveness in assessing the achievement of clearly stated objectives. 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 Speaks confidently with others Judges the comparative effectiveness of different strategies Has a good work ethics Solves unfamiliar problems within the domain The instruments will be used to assess nurses working in Rural Health Care for training to be conducted from the 15th the June to August 18th 2011. The training will aim at ensuring that each of the nurses’ capacity is enhanced before being allocated different roles at the different centers to offer home based care for people living with HIV/AIDs. Different methods of assessment will be applied to enhance comprehensiveness (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. The assessment will be able to give information on the discussion skills acquired and how effectively the skills can be utilized to assess the patient’s complications in relation to HIV/AIDS. 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). 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 plan The main objective for the first assessment was to assess the knowledge gained by the learner in the extraction of information on the patient’s condition from the family and the patient. The knowledge is vital as it will be able to give the learner’s knowledge in diagnosing patients to be able to come up with the relevant information. Since the treatment of the HIV/AIDS patient is a continuous process that needs constant evaluation, the acquired information will be useful in the gauging of the patient’s progress in the treatments. The data collected was vital as it was able to give feedback to the students and be able to identify the gaps that exist in the learner’s diagnostic process with the aim of increasing the learner’s capacity to eliminate the gaps and maximize on the strengths. The collected data and analysis will be able to identify the possible areas that might result in the recurring of the learning difficulties. This will be relevant as the instructor will be able to identify the appropriate tools that are able to help in the equipping of relevant knowledge to the learners to enhance their skills in extracting of information from the patients that is relevant. Through this the assessment will be able to identify the appropriate tasks that will be reliable and valuable in the quest for the learning errors (Booth, p129). The second assessment was vital in the assessing of the learner’s ability to identify the complications and threats of the HIV/AIDS patients. This is information is reliable as it will be able to guide the learner in the identification of the appropriate therapy for the patients. The data collected is valuable as it will be utilized in the assessment of the patient’s progress in the consecutive ART management. The data analysis is able to give feedback to the learners to be able to identify the appropriate methodology in the gauging of the best treatment for the different HIV/AIDS patients. The process is reliable as it will identify the key areas that the learner is to emphasize in the treatment of the patients. The information gathered will be able to provide feedback to the learners on the learning progress. It is valuable as the analyzed data will be able to give a true reflection of the objectives that are to be achieved by the learners in order for them to fully gather the relevant information on the patient’s complications that are elated to HIV/AIDS. The assessment will be able to point out the key areas that are to be emphasized on. The learner’s ability to be able to classify the information gathered on the patient’s complication will also be assessed (Baartman, p153). 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 data collected and analyzed will be able to give the information on the learner’s ability to remember the principles of the ethics involved while performing therapy on the HIV/AIDS patient. These principles will among others include the ability of the learner to maintain confidentiality of the person’s condition (Stevenson, p118). The level of the learner’s performance will be assessed as the data that has been collected will be able to reveal how he/she can be able to employ the standards of ethics at work. The maintenance of professional ethics is important to the offering of effective services to the HIV/AIDS patients. In addition to this, the data collected will reveal the learner’s ability to implement the learnt skills in the application of the ethical knowledge to the patient diagnostic process. This will involve the summarization of the information to be able to acquire the tacit and reliable information. The learner is able to get information and be able to classify the practices and assess the best ethical practices that can be effectively applied to acquire the relevant information from the patient. This ensures high levels of trust by the patient in the doctor, a process that is not only vital for the treatment but also for the whole therapy (Biggs, p124). 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 the deterioration of their health. the data that is collected will be useful in the identification and giving of the feedback on the strengths that the learner has in the performance of the practical tests that are aimed at the identification of the patients complications that are not visible to the naked eye of the health practitioner. Information collected will give insight on the learner’s ability to carry out the medical procedures that are aimed at identifying the problematic condition that are associated to HIV/AIDS patients (Baartman, p154). 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 rather than the products. This empowers the learner with the relevant skills to be able to determine how he/she will make new discoveries and for self direction. In addition, the assessment tools are designed to motivate the learners by identifying and appreciating their strengths and adopting of methodologies and strategies that are aimed at eliminating the identified gaps. It in return gives adequate feedback to both the teacher and the learner on the progress of the education/training process. References Baartman, L et al., 2006, the wheel of competency assessment: presenting quality criteria for the assessment programs, in Studies in education evaluation, ELSEVIER 32, 153-170. Biggs, J, 1992, A qualitative approach to grading students, HERDSA. Booth, R, et al., 2002, Maximizing confidence in assessment decision-making: resources kit for assessors, Learook, SA : NCVER. Eisnm, W, 1969, instructional and expressive objectives, in Popham J, et al., Instructional objectives, Chicago: Rand Mcnally. Griffin, P, 2009, teachers’ use of assessment data, in Wyatt-Smith, C, & Cumming, Educational assessment in the 21st century: Connecting theory with practice, London: Springer, 183-208. Rowntree, D, 1988, the sea-effects of the assessment: reading for the intending secondary teacher, in R, Dale, R, Furgason & Robinson, Framework for teaching, 148-157, London: Hodder and stroughton. 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