A number of resources are available to facilitate both the teaching and learning process when IMCI (Integrated Management of Child Health) is introduced in pre-service education.
These resources include WHO regional materials, WHO generic materials and materials developed by countries.
Materials need to be adapted to be consistent with the national IMCI guidelines. They represent useful references for the preparation of local materials.
Regional IMCI pre-service education package
The IMCI (Integrated Management of Child Health) pre-service education package has been developed by the Regional Office in close collaboration with medical schools in the Region to assist teaching institutions in introducing, implementing and assessing undergraduate teaching programmes that include the IMCI approach (Integrated Management of Childhood Illness).
The package comprises the following publications. Click on the "Table of content" to view content or click on the language to download.
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IMCI pre-service education: orientation and planning workshop: facilitator guide | 2010 This guide is designed to assist in the conduct of in-depth participatory workshops for teaching institutions to develop plans to introduce IMCI into the teaching programmes. The guide includes detailed guidelines, presentations and tools to support this task. English (pdf 1.5 Mb) |
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IMCI pre-service education: teaching sessions | 2010 This document includes lesson plans to support planning and conduct of IMCI-related teaching sessions within the pediatric and community medicine teaching programmes. It describes student learning objectives and content and procedures of each session. English (pdf 1.02 Mb) |
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IMCI pre-service education: question bank | 2010 This question bank is a resource library of multiple-choice questions and case scenarios suitable for evaluations of IMCI pre-service education (training) and student formative and summative assessments. English (pdf 1.4 Mb) |
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IMCI pre-service education: guide to evaluation | 2010 This guide is a comprehensive tool to assess whether IMCI pre-service education (training) as a public health intervention improves students' competencies in managing the main childhood health problems in outpatient settings. It comes with a user guide to data entry and analysis and a CD with the relevant e-forms and programme files. English (pdf 9.89 Mb) |
WHO generic materials
The IMCI (Integrated Management of Childhood Illness) Model Handbook describes the IMCI technical guidelines in detail in just one document. As such, it is a useful and handy reference to faculty, especially when they are trained in IMCI and at the beginning of their teaching of IMCI elements, before such elements have been incorporated in the teaching materials used by that institution.
IMCI Model Chapter for Textbooks
This reference is meant to assist those involved in teaching in adapting their local textbooks.
IMCI Reference Library of Selected Materials
As the title suggests, this is an annotated, selected bibliography which provides the evidence base of the IMCI guidelines. It comes with a companion CD-ROM for practical consultation.
This document, published in 2005, provides new evidence which has become available since the IMCI guidelines were first developed and is therefore a useful reference for further adaptations of teaching and learning texts. Any adaptation work should be coordinated closely with the ministry of health to ensure that all IMCI guidelines and materials used in a country are consistent with the national policy.
Management of the child with a serious infection or severe malnutrition.
Guidelines for care at the first-referral level in developing countries
Pocket book of hospital care for children
Guidelines for the management of common illnesses with limited resources | 2005
Recommendations for management of common childhood conditions
Evidence for technical update of pocket book recommendations | 2012
The above three manuals present guidelines and their evidence for in-patient management of young children at first-referral hospital level consistent with the IMCI outpatient classifications and treatment guidelines. As such, they complement the IMCI outpatient guidelines and may serve as a useful reference also for pre-service training.
IMCI: Planning, implementing and evaluating pre-service training
This document was prepared in August 2001 to provide some guide on IMCI pre-service training. It remains a good source of information on this topic. More recently, the Regional office has developed a comprehensive IMCI pre-service education package meant to serve as a set of practical tools for those involved in IMCI pre-service training.
Other resources
A list of other WHO generic resources on IMCI pre-service training is available on the HQ website.
Training materials used in in-service training
Training materials used in in-service training are also useful references for pre-service education. These materials include among others:
The WHO standard IMCI chart booklet and country adaptations for most countries in the Region and wall charts. The booklets contain the IMCI technical guidelines presented as charts and tables for easy consultation.
Mother’s card (health provider counselling aid on home care)
Photo booklet (a photo library of cases to show key signs used in the IMCI syndromic approach)
IMCI video (guiding the use of the IMCI charts through real cases)
Case recording forms
“Facilitator guide for outpatient clinical practice” and “Guide for clinical practice in the inpatient ward”
Country materials
As schools introduce IMCI (Integrated Management of Childhood Illness), materials for IMCI training are adapted and new materials are developed by the schools. Below are few examples.
IMCI student’s notes, Egypt
Developed in 1999 and revised in 2004 by Prof Ahmed Madkour, University of Alexandria, Egypt, in collaboration with the WHO Regional office, the “Notes” have been developed to give medical students a general overview of IMCI and be a key resource together with the IMCI chart booklet. The “IMCI student’s notes” have since been used by many medical schools in Egypt which have introduced IMCI into their programmes. They have also been incorporated in local textbooks of paediatrics or used as a reference for the development of adapted versions (e.g., in Al Minya University).
Student’s manual, Sudan
A student’s manual was developed by the National IMCI pre-service Task Force, Sudan, to give medical students a general overview of IMCI. It focuses on the assessment, classification, and identification of treatment for the different conditions covered by IMCI, and counselling.
