Vocational Training

Overview

The University of Health and Allied Sciences, Ho (UHAS) was established primarily for Practical Orientation, Research and Community Service. To this extent, UHAS seeks to be "a pre-eminent research and practically orientated health educational institution dedicated to community service and to provide for related matters". UHAS understands that obtaining practical experience is a mandatory guideline in training healthcare professionals; it's non-negotiable, essential and fundamental.

The Vocational Training (VT) Programme was therefore instituted as a flagship programme to ensure the community becomes an extension of UHAS's four (4) walls, where the community health facilities become an extension of UHAS lecture rooms and skills laboratories. The Programme is to place students in their chosen work environment for a hands-on experience of the nation's health delivery system, interaction with professionals across all levels of the health and allied sciences service delivery system, provision of health-related support services to the community they are posted to, as well as collection of related field data for their dissertation (i.e. research).

Welcome Message

The Vocational Training (VT) programme enhances the University's ambitions for service to the community and provides the best avenue for students to acquire skills and competencies in their specialized field of study. It also forms part of a wider employability strategy for UHAS products in partnership with institutions such as the Ministry of Health, Ghana Health Services, CHAG, quasi-governmental institutions, and the private sector; it also brings the University closer to the communities.

VT as an experiential Training and should be taken very seriously by students if they want to be truly professional because it is the surest way to Training Health Professionals and Scientist in the 21st century. VT is the Reason UHAS students excel in their Professional Exams conducted by the various professional bodies in Ghana.

Professor Elvis Enowbeyang Tarkan

BSc; MSc; PhD; MIHPE; cHP

Professor Elvis Enowbeyang Tarkang is a specialist in Health Promotion and currently the Dean of International Programmes of the University of Health and Allied Sciences, Ghana. He is an Adjunct Professor (Health Promotion) at Universities in South Africa and Cameroon. He has examined several PhD and MPH/MPhil Theses in Health Promotion for various Universities and supervised several students in Public Health at both the undergraduate and postgraduate levels. His main research interests are Social and Behavioural Aspects of HIV/AIDS and Public Health, Health Promotion, and Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health.

He is a Consultant with FHI 360 on USAID-accelerating social and behaviour change (ASBC). He is a Registered Health Promotion Practitioner and an Assessor of course accreditation with the International Union of Health Promotion and Education (IUHPE), and also an Expert Assessor (Health Promotion) for the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC). He is also a Trustee with the Institute of Health Promotion and Education of the UK and a Global Assessor for the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (RSTMH) Grant.

The Programme takes place during the long vacation often referred to as the Third Trimester in UHAS for (8) weeks for all students and sixteen (16) weeks for SONAM Sandwich students. Students are posted to health facilities, institutions/industries and communities in the country for a hands-on experience of the nation's health delivery system.

• It’s compulsory for all undergraduate students.

• Vocational Training Period forms part of the academic year.

• All students select facilities of their choice that meet the objectives of that level subject to the School VT Coordinator's approval referred to as - Guided self-placement.

• 4 credits for each phase of the Programme.

• Undergraduate students of the University must earn credits for the Programme, which qualifies them to progress to the next level.

• Monitoring and Evaluation take place and students are assessed for 20%.

• Students are supervised by trained Preceptors who sign and stamp their Log books.

• Provide feedback (submit logbooks, VT Manuals & assessment reports one week after they report to school for marking and grading).

The Programme is structured as follows (for 4-year degree programmes):

1. Year 1 - Observatory phase: to expose students to the health facility, institution/industry, community and the various activities that are undertaken daily. That is, to get students acquainted with the operations of a health facility, institution/industry, community

2. Students are supervised by trained Preceptors who sign and stamp their Log books.

3. Year 2 – Experiential phase: having been exposed in year one, students get directly involved in the operations of the facilities. They start using equipment and appreciate their roles in the health service delivery system. At this level, students will be expected to conceptualise research ideas.

4. Year 3 – Application phase: With the experience gathered in the previous years, students are given more room to practice the skills and experiences acquired over the period. Students may be expected to collect related field data for their dissertation at this stage. That eventually takes them to graduation in the fourth year and ready for the job market.

Note: The phases may differ depending on the student's Programme. The Programme extends beyond the three phases for programmes such as Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery (MB CHB) and Doctor of Pharmacy (Pharm D).

The objectives of the Programme can be looked at from four perspectives: Students, Faculty, Schools and the community.

Students

Generally, the vocational training programme seeks:

1. To allow students to apply the knowledge acquired from the classroom on the field through service provision to help address the health and health-related needs of the people.

2. To enable students to gain relevant experience in working with other health professionals and stakeholders in the community through the exchange of ideas.

3. To help students to learn how the health system is planned for effective evidence-based service provision.

4. To enable students to understand how the health system operates and prepare them for work upon completion.

5. To help students identify the nature of development issues confronting the country.

6. To help students develop appropriate attitudes towards working in the community and deprived areas of the country where their services are most needed.

Specifically, the University believes that by the end of the Programme, the student should be able to:

1. Describe the Health System under the various disciplines as well as the clinical components of the Health System.

2. Understand the community and its allied services as related to public health.

3. Understand the relationship between the various health disciplines to ensure public health.

4. Undertake short or mini research projects during the Programme or conceive and implement a community project in the host community.

Faculty / Lecturers

The vocational training programme seeks to afford Faculty the opportunity to:

1. Put their expertise at the disposal of host health facilities, institutions/industries and communities;

2. Identify health-related and other developmental challenges/problems in the host community, investigate them and make recommendations to the appropriate authority.

Schools

The vocational training programme seeks to afford Schools the opportunity to:

1. Establish a longitudinal study on several indicators, such as monitoring the nutritional status and immunisation coverage of women and children under five (5) years, health insurance coverage and renewals in selected electoral areas, and sexual behaviour among adolescents in selected electoral areas in the nation and beyond.

2. Organise meetings or seminars with the communities and other stakeholders on specific projects identified after the longitudinal study and incorporate stakeholder feedback and concerns into the projects.

Community

The vocational training programme seeks to help communities to:

1. Identify health-related and other developmental challenges/problems in the community.

2. Conceive and implement interventions to address health-related and other developmental challenges/problems or make recommendations to the appropriate quarters.

Mr. Bright Melvis Dogbatse

Senior Administrative Assistant

Mr. Basintale D. Iddrisu

Assistant Registrar