by Milena Chodoła and Dorota Zadroga
At the end of February, the Polish Medical Mission completed the first six months of the one-year project titled "Strengthening neonatal and obstetric healthcare in the war-affected regions of Ukraine". Activities are being implemented in 10 neonatology hospitals in Ukraine, located in the cities of Kyiv, Dnipro, Chernihiv, Kharkiv, Chernivtsi, Zaporizhzhia, Poltava and Lviv. Cooperation with Ukrainian neonatologists in supporting this branch of medicine is a continuation of one of the leading projects of the Polish Medical Mission's portfolio worldwide. The Polish association is carrying out similar activities in Colombia, Venezuela and Tanzania. The organization became involved in activities to help Ukraine's healthcare system after the conflict began, providing specialized assistance to hospitals across the country.
In the first quarter of the project, starting September 1st 2022, a needs assessment on medical training for Neonatology and Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICUs) was conducted in 10 hospitals. Based on it, a training plan (including the approach, methodology, scheme and work plan of trainers) was prepared, taking into account the current needs of each hospital. The process of purchasing specialized equipment has also begun -- an advanced and high-quality neonatal resuscitation station, as well as a neonatal patient monitor (for measuring and analyzing vital signs) and a neonatal infusion pump were on the list for each institution. In accordance with the schedule, a complete plan of activities for the next second quarter of the project was developed by the end of November. Cooperation agreements with hospitals were signed and a project team of 27 staff members was recruited in Ukraine, including medical training coordinators, medical trainers, patient rights training coordinators, patient rights educators and administrative representatives of hospitals.
As part of the support for pregnant and postpartum patients, a series of onsite sessions raising awareness of patients' rights, pregnancy and newborn care, will be held up monthly at each of the hospitals included in the project. Of the planned 80 trainings, 10 have already taken place, one at each facility. A total of 102 patients have taken part in them. There have also been two complementary online sessions (out of a planned 8) raising awareness about patients' rights, pregnancy and newborn care for women who are patients or whose newborns are patients. A total of 42 female patients attended.
The second quarter was devoted to equipping hospitals and launching medical and patient rights trainings for health workers and awareness-raising sessions for patients. In each of the 10 hospitals, also stationary training sessions were being held for medical personnel in the use of neonatal resuscitation stations and neonatal patient monitors.
In December 2022, stationary medical training for staff of the neonatology and obstetrics departments began, ending in early February 2023. The project held one 4-day medical training in each of the 10 hospitals. A total of 346 doctors from Ukraine participated in all 10 medical trainings (the project's indicators planned for a minimum of 100 doctors from 10 hospitals to participate in in-person medical trainings, more than tripling the expected result).
Prior to attending the in-person medical trainings for health workers in 10 hospitals, trainees filled out an anonymous knowledge test, which was repeated upon its completion. By compiling the results from the test before the training, as well as after the training, it was verified to what extent the trainees raised their level of knowledge. Approximately 95% of the participating doctors increased their level of knowledge in the topics that were covered in the training. They also filled out an anonymous questionnaire surveying their level of satisfaction with the training. Some 93% of the doctors gave the maximum score for the training, or 5 points; the remaining 7% of doctors rated the training on a scale of 4 to 4.9 points.
In the second half of January 2023, two online events were also organized on the Ukrainian medical platform Medvoice, streaming from January 17-19, while recordings of them are now available online. One, titled "Becoming a mom during wartime: important things to know", is prepared for patients across Ukraine. The webinar has been replayed 780 times so far (February 28, 2023). The second is aimed at medical professionals, also across Ukraine, and was titled "Doctor-patient communication: foreign practices and Ukrainian realities". So far, 1,607 doctors from Ukraine have registered, of which 995 doctors took the online course, passed the test and received a certificate. The events were held under the auspices of the National Health Service of Ukraine. In addition, the online course for doctors has been registered with the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, so doctors who participated and passed the online test received a certificate and official credits from the Ministry, which doctors collect to confirm the continuous development of their professional qualifications.
On February 16, 2023 the second online training on patient rights was held for the medical staff of the 10 neonatology hospitals participating in the project (a total of 8 such online trainings conducted at regular intervals are planned). A total of 50 doctors from 10 hospitals have already participated in these trainings. The purpose of the meetings run on the Zoom platform is to raise awareness among medical professionals about patient rights, legal liability of hospitals and doctors, communication with patients, and counteracting professional burnout and taking care of doctors' well-being. It also demonstrates good practices used by Polish and EU doctors in the field of patient rights. Small groups allow participants to exchange insights and experiences, and to a greater extent assimilate the knowledge from the training.
Total numbers:
10 NICUs in project
995 trained medical staff representatives in online course on patient rights on Medvoice
346 trained medical staff representatives in stationary medical training
50 trained medical staff representatives in online trainings on patient rights
780 patients in webinar on Medvoice
144 patients in online and stationary awareness-raising sessions
Total budget 2 360 000,00 PLN