Importance of CRC In-Service Training on Implementation of Compassionate and Respectful Care Delivery, in Gondar Town Governmental Health Facilities Northwest Ethiopia

Background: Nowadays, compassion and respectful care (CRC) is not an optional, but it is a professional mandatory. However, the health work force frequently  considered it as it is less important as other aspects of care. A study which was conducted in Canada showed that compassion is broadly considered as a cornerstone of quality health care delivery.

The Ethiopian national Health Sector seemed as it underscored the importance of creating compassionate, respectful and caring health workforce as a major pillar to improve the quality of health care services. As a result the sector incorporated compassionate, respectful care in the transformation plan I. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the effect of CRC In-Service Training on Implementation of Compassionate and Respectful Care Delivery.

Methods: A phenomenological study design was employed. We included8 key informants, and 11 in-depth interviews on leaders and health care professionals. In addition, 14 observations were made using observation checklist to verify the actual CRC practice of the health care professionals. We used an interview guide to collect data, and we used audio records of interviews which were transcribed verbatim. Coding was done using Open code software, and thematic analysis was applied to identify patterns..

Results: The study found that CRC in-service training has many benefits to boost capacity of HCPs, to increase satisfaction of patients and to improve service quality. However, we found that currently the health care professionals are not practicing CRC due to different barriers. According to study result, the identified barriers for CRC in-service training were: misconception of the HCPs about the training, shorter duration of training, lack of support from leaders, and shortage of resources. On the other hand, presence of well experienced trainers, allocation of adequate budget, availability of proper training hall, good mode of delivery and appropriate training contents were enablers of effective CRC in-service training. The alternative strategies suggested by participants include: conducting continuous offsite trainings, including monitoring and evaluation mechanism, and involvement of religious leaders in the training process.

Conclusions: Though CRC in-service training is reported as having many benefits by participants, HCPs do not practice it well because of different barriers. Accordingly, different barriers and enablers of CRC implementations were explored, and new recommendations were also suggested. Therefore, stakeholders are expected to work on these identified barriers and optimize the enablers for the effective delivery of compassionate, respectful and caring in-service trainings.