How an Online Upsklling Initiative prepared over 1 Lakh Indian Nurses to Fight CO-VID-19

By Sharjeel Yunus

Arming a workforce of over one lakh nurses to care for COVID-19 patients within five months, Generation India’s online training module was very much what the country needed to fight this pandemic.

“COVID-19 has overwhelmed healthcare systems and workers in delivering timely and efficient treatment to those suffering from the disease in India. UNESCO New Delhi aims to empower nurses and healthcare workers with skill-training through this multi-stakeholder partnership to ensure responsive health action amidst the pandemic,” says Mame Omar Diop, Chief of Education, UNESCO New Delhi.

Generation India Foundation, a youth employment not-for-profit organization, along with a coalition of partners including Columbia Asia Hospitals,  Learnet Skills, Hosmac, The Trained Nurses’ Association of India, UNESCO, and ABP News, created an online upskilling program specifically for nurses to train them to work with COVID-19 patients. The initiative has seen some notable sponsors including Ikea Foundation and Metlife Foundation. With immense private support continuing to drive the initiative, government players such as the Andhra Pradesh State Skill Development Corporation (APSSDC) and the Army Network of Hospitals have also decided to opt into this digital course adding more credibility and awareness to this free-to-access certification program.

How does the Nurse Upskilling Course help?

The nurse upskilling course provided by Generation India is a practical, demonstration-based course for frontline healthcare professionals that offers training and knowledge about infection prevention, practical use of PPEs, the role of nurses in handling COVID-19 patients, and self-care for nurses. Most of these subjects are different from those taught at conventional nursing programs and have a more immediate effect on the ability of nurses to do their job. What’s more, it’s only a 4-hour course which can be taken up by nurses at their own time.

Amit, a student at the Holy Cross College of Nursing, Kedarpur, who took the course provided by Generation India said, “I found the course very valuable and it added a lot in terms of long-term value because most of the techniques we learned are easy to transfer when it comes to the spectrum of ‘communicable diseases’. In fact, I believe this should be a necessary course in ‘How to Prevent Communicable Diseases’ for all nursing students.”

Upon completing the course, students are also offered credits which furthers the incentive for undertaking the program. However, in a country like India where continuous learning is not a part of the institutional regime, most skill development is usually limited to the student level.

That’s not to say all facilities and institutions are at fault for not keeping their staff up-to-date, but it’s safe to say a majority are.

The course is also not a mandated requirement, but one that requires a proactive attitude from an entire community of healthcare professionals. However, those who have completed the course have a much better job readiness and a more confident approach at handling this pandemic, or any future ones - both of these attributes go a long way in keeping the immediate society and the larger community safe and healthy. 

Taking a Multi-lingual, Multi-organizational Approach

India is a multi-lingual country and providing the course only in English (spoken by around 10% of the population) may not affect the larger section of society. This is why Generation has turned to Hindi and Telugu as alternative languages to dispense the course. When it comes to figures in Hindi, so far 3,259 students have completed the course.

The APSSDC had a huge role to play in ensuring the course is translated and delivered in Telugu. In fact, the APSSDC aims to train over 25,000 nurses in Andhra Pradesh through this online course. Speaking about the initiative, Dr. Arja Sreekanth, Nodal Officer COVID-19 and MD & CEO, APSSDC, said “As the coronavirus pandemic is creating an alarming situation, it is imperative for us to upskill our nurses on handling the situation as they are our frontline warriors. This online free course is a welcome step in this direction and we hope nurses and hospitals are able to avoid infection and handle COVID-19 patients more effectively.”

Knowledge is Forever

The union of several stakeholders can be seen as a knee-jerk reaction, but the validity and knowledge gained is something that will outlast the pandemic. Arunesh Singh, CEO - Generation India Foundation adds, “Although the course has an immediate effect on nurse upskilling with regards to COVID-19, we believe this will also have several long term benefits as the knowledge gained can be applied in the context of several communicable diseases.”

And knee-jerk reactions aren’t all bad. The coronavirus pandemic forced most of the world into a state of limbo, and when compared to limbo, knee-jerk reactions are the way to go.  Krishna Thacker, Director, Asia Region, Metlife foundation  - “ With this tie-up with Generation, we saw an opportunity to provide for the upskilling of an in-demand community, and it makes us really happy to support such a timely and relevant program.”

All said one cannot dispute the intent and validity of this certification program which aims at ensuring frontline healthcare workers have the correct know-how and follow the correct SOPs when it comes to dealing with the pandemic. And it can assuredly be said that the one lakh + participants of the course are better equipped at dealing with the infected now and in the future.