The International Training and Education Center for Health (I-TECH) is a center in the University of Washington’s Department of Global Health. I-TECH has offices in Africa, the Caribbean, India, Haiti, and Ukraine, and projects in more than twenty countries. I-TECH’s approximately 2,000 worldwide staff work with local ministries of health, universities, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), medical facilities, and other partners to support the development of a skilled health work force and well-organized national health delivery systems.
Most of I-TECH’s projects are organized to follow our Partnership Model, which describes a project cycle in which sustainability and transition to local ownership are key project outcomes.
I-TECH works primarily in the following technical areas:
- Health Leadership and Management
- Health Systems Strengthening
- Health Workforce Development
- Implementation Science and Evaluation
- Prevention, Care, and Treatment of Diseases
Vision, Mission, and Principles
VISION
I-TECH envisions a world in which all people have access to high quality, compassionate, and equitable health care.
MISSION STATEMENT
I-TECH is a global network that works with local partners to develop skilled health care workers and strong national health systems in resource-limited countries. I-TECH promotes local ownership to sustain effective health systems.
OPERATING PRINCIPLES
SHARED VISION
- The I-TECH vision, mission, and operating principles guide our work with partners and our interactions.
- We respect cultural differences and adapt our work to the communities we serve.
- We care about one another and demonstrate that through our actions.
QUALITY RESULTS
- Our goal is to produce high quality work based on sound evidence, consideration of new ideas, effective collaboration, and rigorous evaluation.
- We consider adaptation and adoption of our products and programs by partners a successful outcome of our work.
INTEGRITY
- We honor our promises and resolve conflicts through direct and courteous communication.
- Standards of quality are used to guide our work.
- We believe in working collaboratively with partners to achieve the best outcomes.
- We value the ability to respond to changing conditions and priorities in the workplace.
ATTITUDE OF HOPE
- We assume good intent on the part of others and accept that real and lasting change takes time.
- We view challenges and setbacks as invitations for reflection, innovation, and fresh perspective.
- Our vision, mission, and operating principles sustain us.
RESPECT
- We value our differences and encourage healthy debate, knowing that better decisions are made with a full sharing of perspectives.
- We listen intently and express contrasting views in a manner that demonstrates our regard for others.
- We appreciate the whole lives that people live.
The I-TECH Approach
Background
The International Training and Education Center for Health (I-TECH) is a center within the Department of Global Health (DGH) at the University of Washington (UW). I-TECH comprises a global network, operating in 17 countries, that is committed to building long-term capacity in health systems strengthening; human resources for health; and targeted, data-driven interventions and research that are responsive to local needs.
Our unique approach to sustainability and capacity building, through training and research, creates a strong foundation for contextually appropriate health programs. Our programs effectively tackle emerging health threats and address national health priorities to achieve high quality, compassionate, and equitable health care.
Founded in 2002, I-TECH’s work is rooted in transformative education and reciprocal learning. Our global network uses these approaches to bring proven programs to scale, develop a skilled health care workforce, and ensure health system gains are sustainable and aligned to country priorities.
I-TECH is a culturally rich professional community that includes UW faculty, global partners, and U.S. and global staff and students. This community of people with diverse backgrounds, experiences, and opinions encourages learning from one another to improve our efforts for health equity.
Strategic Partnership
I-TECH was founded on a bedrock of partnership. From day one, we have worked at the request of—and in collaboration with—ministries of health to improve access to high-quality health care. Using a participatory approach, I-TECH partners with host country governments, universities, non-governmental organizations, civil society partners, and funders to design and implement locally relevant health programs within existing local systems and processes.
I-TECH’s long-established Partnership Model (below) guides the provision of technical services and technical assistance toward local ownership and sustainability, creating projects and programs that can be integrated into national systems.
WHATWE DO
I-TECH works to strengthen the following systems that support the provision of high-quality, sustainable prevention, care, and treatment of infectious diseases.
Strengthening Clinical Care and Treatment Systems
I-TECH clinical mentors work to strengthen the provision of care for people living with HIV, tuberculosis (TB), and sexually transmitted infections (STI) by assessing and making recommendations for improvements to service-delivery systems. Clinical mentors pilot and implement draft tools, algorithms, and guidelines that help providers offer quality care. I-TECH also applies quality improvement strategies such as Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycles to construct improvement goals, test proposed changes, and implement adjustments that lead to increased quality of operations, service delivery, and care.
Strengthening Health Information Systems
I-TECH has significant capacity in the rapidly expanding field of health informatics for resource-limited clinical settings. I-TECH develops tools and systems and provides technical assistance for electronic medical record, training management, and remote clinical diagnostic systems.
Strengthening Laboratory Systems
I-TECH strengthens laboratory facilities by equipping labs with up-to-date materials and supplies, designing laboratory information systems, providing training, and supporting the introduction of new diagnostics.
Strengthening Training and Education Systems
I-TECH, a center in the University of Washington’s Department of Global Health, draws on deep clinical and pedagogical expertise to strengthen educational institutions that coordinate, design, deliver, monitor, and evaluate courses, degree programs, and workshops on HIV and other infectious diseases.
Clinical Assessment for Systems Strengthening (ClASS)
The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), with support from the International Training and Education Center for Health (I-TECH), developed the ClASS framework in 2008 to promote long-term sustainability and country ownership of high quality HIV/AIDS programming. Since then, ClASS has built the capacity of 99 organizations, including governmental and civil society organizations, to manage programs in 17 PEPFAR countries in sub-Saharan Africa, the Caribbean, and Eastern Europe. From its initial development, the ClASS framework involved input from a variety of global health partners including HRSA, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Ministries of Health, and civil society organizations.
The effective diagnosis, care, and treatment of infectious diseases require a skilled and motivated health care workforce, and sustainable systems to educate and train those workers. I-TECH uses a systemic approach to build the skills and knowledge of, and foster attitude changes in, health care staff and those who train and educate them.
Health Care Worker Education Systems
I-TECH’s pre-service projects are collaborative undertakings with ministries of health and education. Together with national working groups in each country, I-TECH engages in the reform of educational degree programs and the integration of evidence-based information on infectious diseases into existing courses. I-TECH also leads faculty development training using innovative teaching methods and classroom management strategies.
Further, I-TECH supports task sharing by providing targeted training for nurses, health officers, allied health professionals, and physician assistants so that they may acquire the skills and knowledge necessary to meet the need for fully trained health care workers in places where doctors are in short supply.
Training Development
With an extensive background in instructional design and the practical application of adult learning theory, I-TECH’s curriculum developers, trainers, translators, and media specialists produce and deliver innovative, high-quality curricula, training programs, and media products for diverse cadres of health care providers and educators. I-TECH’s approach to curriculum development follows the ADDIE Framework.
I-TECH training is grounded in adult learning theory and is based on years of on-the-ground training experience. It makes use of interactive teaching methods to enhance the impact of teaching content. I-TECH has been a leader in the integration of multimedia resources—including drama and documentary storytelling—into training packages. These approaches support learners in gaining knowledge and skills that will lead to changes in practice and, ultimately, to improved patient outcomes.
Framework for Training
The I-TECH Levels of Training Framework is adapted from the U.S. ADIS Education and Training Centers (AETCs) and outlines six levels for ensuring that training programs result in the transfer of learning from the classroom to the jobsite.
Distance Education and eLearning
I-TECH takes advantage of innovative training-delivery platforms and offers distance learning opportunities for health care professionals to gain knowledge and skills without leaving busy job sites. I-TECH has technical expertise in successfully implementing distance learning programs across multiple country sites in settings with limited technology and low bandwidth. For more information on current projects, please visit the Department of Global Health’s E-Learning Library.
Clinical Mentoring
I-TECH engages in clinical mentoring as a critical bridge for the training gap that exists between in-service training and practice in the clinical setting. Clinical mentoring enables health care workers to practice new skills in clinical settings with the support and guidance of a more specialized and/or experienced clinician. I-TECH views clinical mentoring as a key component of HIV-related clinical capacity building, and a critical intervention in the decentralization of antiretroviral therapy (ART) programs.
I-TECH clinical mentors work to strengthen the provision of care for people living with HIV and AIDS, tuberculosis (TB), and sexually transmitted infections (STI) by assessing and making recommendations for improvements to service-delivery systems. Clinical mentors also pilot and implement draft tools, algorithms, and guidelines that help providers offer quality care.