The pandemic highlighted significant gaps in the public health infrastructure impacted by shortages of public health workers, an undertrained workforce, and years of disinvestment. These gaps required innovative probl...The pandemic highlighted significant gaps in the public health infrastructure impacted by shortages of public health workers, an undertrained workforce, and years of disinvestment. These gaps required innovative problem-solving by public health agencies (PHAs), including local health departments (LHDs), to respond to rapidly changing community conditions during and after the pandemic. Many schools and programs of public health (SPPH) worked with PHAs to mobilize public health (PH) students through practice-based teaching (PBT). Current research indicates PBT benefits all stakeholders—PHAs, students, faculty, SPPH, and ultimately the community served. However, more research is needed on the utility of PBT in addressing a community’s systemic public health issues, the extent to which the academic-community collaboration enhances a PHA’s capacity, and the impact of the pedagogy on preparing the workforce for an evolving PH landscape. This paper examines the process of a semester-long PBT course, guided by the PBT STEPS framework, which includes five steps from collaboration to implementation to evaluation of a PBT course. The collaborating PHA and its student group addressed community trauma and resilience issues during the semester. Additionally, it examines the longer-term impacts after the semester for the PHA, community, and the workforce by 1) conducting a formative evaluation to understand needs and gaps in the community;2) redesigning an intervention that merged the results of the formative evaluation with the intervention developed during the semester;and 3) securing funding and resources for intervention sustainability. Through the documentation of a post-course partnership between an LHD and faculty at a large school of public health, this case study illustrates the potential for PBT to lay the foundation for ongoing research that supports more impactful interventions for PHAs while bolstering the workforce abilities of students as future practitioners.展开更多
Objective: The demand for pediatric developmental evaluations has far exceeded the workforce available to perform them, which creates long significant wait times for services. A year-long clinician training using the ...Objective: The demand for pediatric developmental evaluations has far exceeded the workforce available to perform them, which creates long significant wait times for services. A year-long clinician training using the Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes (ECHO<sup>®</sup>) model with monthly meetings was conducted and evaluated for its impact on primary care clinicians’ self-reported self-efficacy, ability to administer autism screening and counsel families, professional fulfillment, and burnout. Methods: Participants represented six community health centers and a hospital-based practice. Data collection was informed by participant feedback and the Normalization Process Theory via online surveys and focus groups/interviews. Twelve virtual monthly trainings were delivered between November 2020 and October 2021. Results: 30 clinicians participated in data collection. Matched analyses (n = 9) indicated statistically significant increase in self-rated ability to counsel families about autism (Pre-test Mean = 3.00, Post-test Mean = 3.89, p = 0.0313), manage autistic patients’ care (Pre-test Mean = 2.56, Post-test Mean = 4.11, p = 0.0078), empathy toward patients (Pre-test Mean = 2.11, Post-test Mean = 1.22, p = 0.0156) and colleagues (Pre-test Mean = 2.33, Post-test Mean = 1.22, respectively, p = 0.0391). Unmatched analysis revealed increases in participants confident about educating patients about autism (70.59%, post-test n = 12 vs. 3.33%, pre-test n = 1, p = 0.0019). Focus groups found increased confidence in using the term “autism”. Conclusion: Participants reported increases in ability and confidence to care for autistic patients, as well as empathy toward patients and colleagues. Future research should explore long-term outcomes in participants’ knowledge retention, confidence in practice, and improvements to autism evaluations and care.展开更多
文摘The pandemic highlighted significant gaps in the public health infrastructure impacted by shortages of public health workers, an undertrained workforce, and years of disinvestment. These gaps required innovative problem-solving by public health agencies (PHAs), including local health departments (LHDs), to respond to rapidly changing community conditions during and after the pandemic. Many schools and programs of public health (SPPH) worked with PHAs to mobilize public health (PH) students through practice-based teaching (PBT). Current research indicates PBT benefits all stakeholders—PHAs, students, faculty, SPPH, and ultimately the community served. However, more research is needed on the utility of PBT in addressing a community’s systemic public health issues, the extent to which the academic-community collaboration enhances a PHA’s capacity, and the impact of the pedagogy on preparing the workforce for an evolving PH landscape. This paper examines the process of a semester-long PBT course, guided by the PBT STEPS framework, which includes five steps from collaboration to implementation to evaluation of a PBT course. The collaborating PHA and its student group addressed community trauma and resilience issues during the semester. Additionally, it examines the longer-term impacts after the semester for the PHA, community, and the workforce by 1) conducting a formative evaluation to understand needs and gaps in the community;2) redesigning an intervention that merged the results of the formative evaluation with the intervention developed during the semester;and 3) securing funding and resources for intervention sustainability. Through the documentation of a post-course partnership between an LHD and faculty at a large school of public health, this case study illustrates the potential for PBT to lay the foundation for ongoing research that supports more impactful interventions for PHAs while bolstering the workforce abilities of students as future practitioners.
文摘Objective: The demand for pediatric developmental evaluations has far exceeded the workforce available to perform them, which creates long significant wait times for services. A year-long clinician training using the Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes (ECHO<sup>®</sup>) model with monthly meetings was conducted and evaluated for its impact on primary care clinicians’ self-reported self-efficacy, ability to administer autism screening and counsel families, professional fulfillment, and burnout. Methods: Participants represented six community health centers and a hospital-based practice. Data collection was informed by participant feedback and the Normalization Process Theory via online surveys and focus groups/interviews. Twelve virtual monthly trainings were delivered between November 2020 and October 2021. Results: 30 clinicians participated in data collection. Matched analyses (n = 9) indicated statistically significant increase in self-rated ability to counsel families about autism (Pre-test Mean = 3.00, Post-test Mean = 3.89, p = 0.0313), manage autistic patients’ care (Pre-test Mean = 2.56, Post-test Mean = 4.11, p = 0.0078), empathy toward patients (Pre-test Mean = 2.11, Post-test Mean = 1.22, p = 0.0156) and colleagues (Pre-test Mean = 2.33, Post-test Mean = 1.22, respectively, p = 0.0391). Unmatched analysis revealed increases in participants confident about educating patients about autism (70.59%, post-test n = 12 vs. 3.33%, pre-test n = 1, p = 0.0019). Focus groups found increased confidence in using the term “autism”. Conclusion: Participants reported increases in ability and confidence to care for autistic patients, as well as empathy toward patients and colleagues. Future research should explore long-term outcomes in participants’ knowledge retention, confidence in practice, and improvements to autism evaluations and care.
