title: Improving quality of home-based postnatal care by microteaching of multipurpose workers in rural and urban slum areas of Chandigarh, India: a pilot study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Microteaching is an efficient teaching tool to improve skills. Until now, its use is very limited in the health sector. A pilot study was carried out to improve the quality of home-based postnatal care by microteaching of health workers (HWs) and ascertain its feasibility for supportive supervision.
  
  
  METHODS
  All (n=12) the HWs catering to a population of ~0.1 million were video recorded while performing home-based postnatal check up in Chandigarh from August 2013 to December 2014. After each round, HWs were shown their videos and trained in the facility and at home. Video recordings, assessments followed by training, continued until HWs acquired the intended skills. A pretested structured checklist based on the national home-based postnatal care guidelines was used for recording and assessing of postnatal skills. A score "0" given for no task, "1" for incorrectly done or partially done task, and "2" for correct task. The average score of each round was calculated and compared.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The overall skill assessment score improved from 0.64 to 1.76, newborn examination skill from 0.52 to 1.63, maternal examination from 0.54 to 1.62, and counseling from 1.01 to 1.85 after three rounds of video recording. The proportion of HWs carrying a thermometer increased from 21% to 100%. Second and third rounds of video recording and microteaching were successfully carried out by the program supervisors.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This was the first study to report on the effective use of microteaching in improving home-based postnatal care skills of the health care workers and its feasibility for supportive supervision.
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine, School of Public Health, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh.
authors.forename: Madhu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gupta
authors.affiliation: Department of Operational Research, International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, The Union South East Asia Office, New Delhi.
authors.forename: Jaya Prasad
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Tripathy
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine, School of Public Health, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India.
authors.forename: Limalemla
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Jamir
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine, School of Public Health, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India.
authors.forename: Ashutosh
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sarwa
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine, School of Public Health, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India.
authors.forename: Smita
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sinha
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine, School of Public Health, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India.
authors.forename: Chering
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bhag
keywords: ANM; ASHA; HBPNC; home-based postnatal care; microteaching; multipurpose health worker; nursing; video recording