Harnessing the expertise and enthusiasm of university students for assistance in disasters

2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 213-216
Author(s):  
Sharon Medcalf, PhD ◽  
Mariah Morgan, MPH

The University of Nebraska Medical Center’s, College of Public Health modeled a student response team after similar successful programs at Emory University and the University of North Carolina. The team was created for three specific scenarios: epidemiology outbreak assistance, points of dispensing assistance, and monitoring social media in a disaster. Graduate students in public health are an overlooked volunteer resource. Many have prior work experience and are eager for the opportunity to gain additional practical experience while demonstrating classroom knowledge about the foundations of public health. Requesting agencies gain access to a dependable, replenishable volunteer pool. Academic institutions are encouraged to create teams to serve local communities, giving students access to serve local communities and to give students access to valuable applied experience that can be beneficial as they enter the public health workforce.


2016 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lynnell Angus ◽  
Shaun Ewen ◽  
Leanne Coombe

The Master of Public Health (MPH) is an internationally recognised post-graduate qualification for building the public health workforce. In Australia, MPH graduate attributes include six Indigenous public health (IPH) competencies. The University of Melbourne MPH program includes five core subjects and ten specialisation streams, of which one is Indigenous health. Unless students complete this specialisation or electives in Indigenous health, it is possible for students to graduate without attaining the IPH competencies. To address this issue in a crowded and competitive curriculum an innovative approach to integrating the IPH competencies in core MPH subjects was developed. Five online modules that corresponded with the learning outcomes of the core public health subjects were developed, implemented and evaluated in 2015. This brief report outlines the conceptualisation, development, and description of the curriculum content; it also provides preliminary student evaluation and staff feedback on the integration project.



Author(s):  
Kahler W. Stone ◽  
Kristina W. Kintziger ◽  
Meredith A. Jagger ◽  
Jennifer A. Horney

While the health impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on frontline health care workers have been well described, the effects of the COVID-19 response on the U.S. public health workforce, which has been impacted by the prolonged public health response to the pandemic, has not been adequately characterized. A cross-sectional survey of public health professionals was conducted to assess mental and physical health, risk and protective factors for burnout, and short- and long-term career decisions during the pandemic response. The survey was completed online using the Qualtrics survey platform. Descriptive statistics and prevalence ratios (95% confidence intervals) were calculated. Among responses received from 23 August and 11 September 2020, 66.2% of public health workers reported burnout. Those with more work experience (1–4 vs. <1 years: prevalence ratio (PR) = 1.90, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.08−3.36; 5–9 vs. <1 years: PR = 1.89, CI = 1.07−3.34) or working in academic settings (vs. practice: PR = 1.31, CI = 1.08–1.58) were most likely to report burnout. As of September 2020, 23.6% fewer respondents planned to remain in the U.S. public health workforce for three or more years compared to their retrospectively reported January 2020 plans. A large-scale public health emergency response places unsustainable burdens on an already underfunded and understaffed public health workforce. Pandemic-related burnout threatens the U.S. public health workforce’s future when many challenges related to the ongoing COVID-19 response remain unaddressed.



2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (Supplement_4) ◽  
Author(s):  
M Perkiö ◽  
R Harrison ◽  
M Grivna ◽  
D Tao ◽  
C Evashwich

Abstract Education is a key to creating solidary among the professionals who advance public health’s interdisciplinary mission. Our assumption is that if all those who work in public health shared core knowledge and the skills for interdisciplinary interaction, collaboration across disciplines, venues, and countries would be facilitated. Evaluation of education is an essential element of pedagogy to ensure quality and consistency across boundaries, as articulated by the UNESCO education standards. Our study examined the evaluation studies done by programs that educate public health professionals. We searched the peer reviewed literature published in English between 2000-2017 pertaining to the education of the public health workforce at a degree-granting level. The 2442 articles found covered ten health professions disciplines and had lead authors representing all continents. Only 86 articles focused on evaluation. The majority of the papers examined either a single course, a discipline-specific curriculum or a teaching method. No consistent methodologies could be discerned. Methods ranged from sophisticated regression analyses and trends tracked over time to descriptions of focus groups and interviews of small samples. We found that evaluations were primarily discipline-specific, lacked rigorous methodology in many instances, and that relatively few examined competencies or career expectations. The public health workforce enjoys a diversity of disciplines but must be able to come together to share diverse knowledge and skills. Evaluation is critical to achieving a workforce that is well trained in the competencies pertinent to collaboration. This study informs the pedagogical challenges that must be confronted going forward, starting with a commitment to shared core competencies and to consistent and rigorous evaluation of the education related to training public health professionals. Key messages Rigorous evaluation is not sufficiently used to enhance the quality of public health education. More frequent use of rigorous evaluation in public health education would enhance the quality of public health workforce, and enable cross-disciplinary and international collaboration for solidarity.



2021 ◽  
Vol 80 (Suppl 1) ◽  
pp. 115.2-115
Author(s):  
L. Larkin ◽  
A. Moses ◽  
T. Raad ◽  
A. Tierney ◽  
N. Kennedy ◽  
...  

Background:Public and patient involvement (PPI) improves quality and relevance of research (1). PPI is advocated by policy makers and funding bodies and is supported by EULAR (2). Arthritis Research Limerick (ARL) is a partnership between researchers at the University of Limerick and clinicians at University Hospitals Limerick. PPI representatives have been involved in ARL projects, however no formal PPI network had been established prior to 2020. The need for a formal PPI network to collaborate with ARL was identified by both ARL and patient representatives. This need arose from a joint ambition to promote meaningful involvement of the public and patients in ARL projects and to develop a platform through which researchers and PPI representatives could collaboratively set research priorities.Objectives:The aim of this project was to create a formal PPI network to engage with people living with rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases (RMDs) and their families and to identify collaborative research opportunities between ARL and PPI representatives.Methods:A face-to-face PPI seminar was planned for October 2020. The seminar consisted of speakers from ARL providing an overview of research projects and a World Café research ideas session. Funding was obtained through a competitive, peer-review funding call from the PPI Ignite group at the University of Limerick to support the PPI seminar. The funding application was a joint application between ARL members and a PPI partner (iCAN - Irish Children’s Arthritis Network). The seminar was advertised through national patient organisations (iCAN and Arthritis Ireland), social media and ARL research networks.Results:Due to Covid-19 public health restrictions the PPI seminar was held virtually. The ARL PPI inaugural seminar was attended by N=19 researchers and people living with RMDs. The seminar speakers included ARL researchers and a PPI representative. The World Café event was modified to adapt to the virtual seminar delivery. Research ideas were noted by the seminar organiser and summarised for attendees at the end of the research ideas and priorities session. An ARL PPI mailing list was set-up post seminar as a means of communicating with seminar attendees and will serve as a formal PPI network for ARL. Research updates and opportunities will be communicated via this formal network to people living with RMDs and researchers alike.Conclusion:This was the first PPI seminar organised by ARL in collaboration with a PPI seminar, and has led to the creation of a formal PPI network. Delivery mode of the PPI seminar was changed due to Covid-19 public health restrictions. This change may also have impacted engagement and attendance at the PPI seminar, given that virtual events are not accessible to all of the RMD population. Future PPI seminars will consider a hybrid approach of face-to-face and virtual attendance, to enhance accessibility. A formal PPI communication network has been established. Future work will focus future collaborative opportunities between the PPI panel and the ARL group, including project development, co-led research funding applications and joint research dissemination.References:[1]INVOLVE. (2012). Briefing notes for researchers: Involving the public in NHS, public health and social care research. Retrieved from www.invo.org.uk 7th January 2020.[2]de Wit MPT, Berlo SE, Aanerud GJ, et al (2011). European League Against Rheumatism recommendations for the inclusion of patient representatives in scientific projects. Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases 70:722-726Disclosure of Interests:None declared





2014 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebekah R Jacob ◽  
Elizabeth A Baker ◽  
Peg Allen ◽  
Elizabeth A Dodson ◽  
Kathleen Duggan ◽  
...  


Author(s):  
David I Lewis

The world of work is changing rapidly, with an increasing global demand for employees with higher-level skills. Employees need to have the right attitudes and aptitudes for work, possess work-relevant skills, and have relevant experience. Whilst universities are embedding employability into their curricula, partnerships outside of the taught curriculum provide additional, largely untapped, opportunities for students to develop these key skills and gain valuable work experience. Two extracurricular partnership opportunities were created for Bioscience undergraduates at the University of Leeds, UK: an educational research internships scheme, where students work in partnership with fellow students and academic staff on on-going educational projects, and Pop-Up Science, a unique, student-led public engagement volunteer scheme. Both schemes generate substantial benefits for all. They enhance student’s skills and employability, facilitate and enhance staff-student education practices and research, and engage the public with research in the Biosciences. Collectively, they demonstrate the extraordinary value and benefits accrued from developing extracurricular partnerships between students, staff, and the community.



2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
F Tahzib

Abstract Background Public health practitioners regularly face moral dilemmas in their daily practice but they are not well prepared to deal with them. Yet, from an ethics perspective, educational programmes are often inadequate. Rather, there is a need to better understand public health ethical competencies and to develop education and training in public health ethics (PHE). Objectives This presentation will share findings and learning from an ESRC funded research by the UK Faculty of Public Health in collaboration with the Universities of Southampton and Bristol around the nature of competency in PHE and law. Our leading question is: What are the key ethical and legal knowledge, skills, values and attitudes necessary for PHE and law as a professional competency of the public health workforce (PHW)? Results We created a working list of what the competencies should look like based on the material from the competency library, comments from a panel of practitioners, experts which we convened, and own analysis that reflects subject matter knowledge, expressed skill development requirements and personal work experience. These were organized within five areas which: (i) Awareness and Understanding, (ii) Engagement and Research, (iii) Analysis and Reasoning, (iv) Evaluation and Reflection and (v) Action and Advocacy. The five areas and various issues which they cover will be described, as well as reflection and learning from some key activities and initiatives in building competency and capacity. Conclusions There is need to appreciate the nature of competency of PHE and build capacity and competency of the PHW through education and training programmes as key element of public health training curricula. Key messages There are distinguishing features in teaching, learning and practice of PHE compared to clinical ethics. To implement PHE competencies into practice and in public health curricula requires better understanding of practice and the political mandate of public health.





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