Working as an ICTC Team ICTC Team Training

What is a team A group of people working in an organisation can be called a team “when there is interdependency in how the different team members function, that is the activity or service cannot be undertaken by one individual alone.”

Why do teams matter As in a game, every team player has a role to play. At the ICTC, no one team member (counselling personnel, testing personnel or ICTC manager) can undertake the testing, counselling and medical advice all by themselves.

Functions of the ICTC Early detection of HIV Provision of basic information on HIV/AIDS for promoting behavioural change & reducing vulnerability Linking people with other HIV prevention, care & treatment services ICTC

Overall goal of the NACP III is to halt and reverse the epidemic in India over five years: 1. Prevention of new infections in high risk groups and general population. 2. Providing greater care, support and treatment to larger numbers of PLHA. 3. Strengthening the infrastructure, systems and human resources in prevention, care, support and treatment programmes at the district, state and national level. 4. Strengthening the nationwide Strategic Information Management System.

ICTC Team ICTC Team Manager Counselling Personnel Testing Personnel

· Administrative · Demand Generation · Quality Assurance · Supply and Logistics · Monitoring and supervision · Sensitising staff to avoid stigma and discrimination.

· Preventive and health education · Psychosocial support · Referrals and linkages · Supply and logistics · Monitoring

· HIV testing · Ensuring adequate stock of consumables and rapid HIV testing kits. · Maintaining records of HIV test results. · Ensuring the maintenance of all equipment. · Following internal and external quality assurance procedures. · Following universal safety precautions and hospital waste management guidelines.

Team Effectiveness Degree to which a team accomplishes its purpose. Includes quality and quantity of services provided. Will depend to some extent on progress of individual team members.

Conflict resolution Conflict is an inevitable part of human life. Will arise whenever people hold different opinions about how to perform a certain task. At the ICTC, it is important to recognise and encourage desirable conflict while minimizing undesirable team conflict.

Conflict resolution WHAT ARE SOME POSSIBLE AREAS OF CONFLICT IN THE ICTC?

Good communication Effective teams cannot manage without good communication (speaking openly, listening without judgment, creating small communication rituals) Person-to-person communication, enables team members to see each other as human beings with individual lives and problems, and Provides a basis from which to try and see a problem from the other person’s perspective.

Planning and task co-ordination Team members perform different sub-tasks. This calls for co-ordination between team members.

Goal setting Effective teams agree on goals, work on them and then monitoring team progress towards these goals. Achievable goals include actions and a time limit. The actions are feasible and include mention of who has to do what. – E.g. “Within the next month we will increase our counselling of general public members by (1) having the counsellor contact 5 non-governmental organizations, and (2) having the medical officer speak to personnel in the gynaecology department and making a presentation at the local IMA.”

Goals should be SMART SSpecific – defining what is to be accomplished in terms of specific steps to behavioural change MMeasurable – quantifying the objectives by indicating a numerical or percentage change expected AAppropriate – defining intended changes that are acceptable in the local context RRealistic – Avoiding objectives that are beyond the scope of available resources or contrary to relevant experience TTime-bound – identifying the time frame in which changes should be achieved

Supervision ICTC Manager OR District ICTC Supervisor

Documentation To study the increase or decrease in numbers of people visiting the ICTC To keep track of people who visit the ICTC and provide follow- up where appropriate To understand the change in profile of people visiting the ICTC (increasing number of children, increasing number of MSM) and to prepare for the issues related to these changes To identify groups or communities who are not yet reached (or underserved) if available research shows there is a high prevalence in particular communities but community members are not accessing the testing and counselling Continued …

Documentation (Continued) To make a case for more staff/ more resources more space/ better space if the numbers of patients increase To understand where patients are being referred from, and where they are not, and to then use this information to improve referral patterns To check which advertising medium is most useful in a particular center – radio, TV, posters, referrals from PHCs, referrals from private doctors, etc. To practise transparency and accountability to donors for the funds they are providing

Exercise: In Which Register Would You Find Me?