Developing an inter-professional transition course to improve team-based HIV care for Sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract Background With funding from the Health Resources Service Administration (HRSA), a consortium of health professional training institutions from Africa developed HIV-specific, inter-professional, team-based resources to better support trainees during the transition period between pre-service training and professional practice.Methods Ten faculty members representing nine medical and nursing schools in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) developed a training package of modules focused on core clinical, public health, interprofessional education (IPE), and quality improvement (QI) domains related to HIV service delivery. All modules were targeted at newly qualified health care professionals and intended to be taught in workshops meant to complement existing institution specific HIV-curricula.Results Between April and July 2019, a comprehensive case-based HIV training package was developed to support trainees in transition from pre-service training to independent professional practice. Each module was intended to be delivered in an inter-professional format and addressed different elements of inter-professional practice.Conclusions To our knowledge this is the first IPE HIV-specific curriculum explicitly focused on enhancing the quality of training provided to graduating health care professionals working in SSA. The collaborative, cross-institutional, inter-professional approach to curriculum development provides a benchmark for how best-practice approaches to education can be rapidly disseminated in SSA.