MCH Training: Medium Term Trainee Work Group Report: Comments Requested

November 26, 2007

The MCH Training Program continuously attempts to improve its ability to "tell the MCH story" and monitor the impact of MCH Training investments. It is critical that we document the accomplishments of the MCH Training Program. One area in which we need better information is medium-term training activities. Currently, more than one third of MCH Training Programs provide medium-term training, and several thousand medium-term trainees participate in MCH programs annually (medium-term is defined as equal to or more than 40 and less than 300 contact hours). However, we know very little about who these trainees are and the type of MCH leadership training they receive.

In June 2007, we invited a group of your colleagues from programs that serve a significant number of medium-term trainees to meet with us in Washington, D.C. to discuss their current medium-term training efforts and to develop recommendations for assessing and reporting outcomes of medium-term training within the MCH Training Program. A summary of the meeting, and recommendations made by the participants, are attached. We are eager to move forward to make the necessary changes for staying informed about training activities and our ability to showcase the Training Program's accomplishments related to medium-term training.

The three main recommendations from the June meeting were:

• Collect more detailed data on medium-term trainees
• Revise the contact hour categories and description of medium-term training
• Tailor reporting requirements for revised contact hour categories.          

Please review the meeting summary report and recommendations [, 1MB] generated by your colleagues at the meeting. The participants themselves emphasized that they represented a small portion of all MCH Training Grants. Therefore we are eager to receive your feedback on topics identified as key and the suggestions for addressing those issues.

Specifically, we are interested in your thoughts on:

1. the key issues identified (do they resonate with you? what other issues are critical to medium term training?)
   
2. the revised contact hour categories and descriptions suggested
3. the reporting and monitoring changes proposed (are they feasible? how useful do you think the resulting data would be?)

By December 14, please reply to Sheryl Mathis at the MCH Training Resource Center ([email protected]) with your feedback on the meeting summary and the issues identified above.

Your input will be used to make improvements and implement changes in how we currently describe and report on medium-term training efforts.

Thank you so much,

Laura Kavanagh, MPP
Training Branch Chief
Division of Research, Training and Education
Maternal and Child Health Bureau
Health Resources and Services Administration