Organization of PhD studies at the Faculty of Public Health of the Slovak Medical University in the context of practice.

OBJECTIVES: The Slovak Medical University (SMU) holds a unique position in the health education system in Slovakia. It has a direct connection to the health sector, allowing health education to reflect the actual needs in this field. Because of increasing importance of public health in the last decades, more attention must be given to disease prevention and the promotion of healthy lifestyles. We aim to highlight the main characteristics of health higher education at one of the specialized health universities in Slovakia, with a particular focus on public health and its practical impacts. METHODS: We analysed the available legal regulations for postgraduate studies in Slovakia and the officially valid documents of the Faculty of Public Health (FPH) and the Slovak Medical University in accordance with the accredited study programme in Public Health. Archived data from the Department of Science, Research, and Doctoral Studies of the Faculty over the past 10 years were used for the analysis of postgraduate studies (2013-2023). RESULTS: PhD studies in Slovakia are conducted in accordance with Act No. 131/2002 Coll. on Higher Education Institutions and on amendments to certain acts. There are two forms of PhD study in Slovakia: full-time and external. The evaluation of study results is based on the credit system. The doctoral study programme proceeds according to an individual study plan under the guidance of the advisor. The PhD study concludes with the defence of the dissertation, which serves as the final thesis. A total of 97 students have graduated at FPH SMU in Public Health in the last 10 years. The majority of graduates were females (68% vs. 32% males) and studied in the external form of study (80.4% vs. 19.6% in the full-time programme). The most frequent research topics at FPH SMU in the last 10 years included Epidemiology and Prevention of Non-communicable (21.7%) and Infectious Diseases (11.3%), Health Management and Policy (17.5%), Environmental Health (15.5%), as well as Occupational Health (13.4%). CONCLUSION: High-quality and innovative postgraduate education in public health plays a crucial role in this field, preparing experts for the public health services. From a quality perspective, it is substantial to share experiences with various study programmes across the European region, as well as with other universities. Graduates of the Faculty of Public Health are highly sought-after professionals with diverse career opportunities not only in Slovakia but also within the European Union, other countries, and various important international institutions.

Public Health Student Response to COVID-19.

To understand the role public health students play in response to COVID-19 despite cuts in funding for graduate student emergency response programs (GSERPs), we reviewed the websites of the Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health, Council on Education in Public Health, and individual schools and programs to identify student participation in COVID-19 response activities. Thirty schools and programs of public health are supporting public health agencies in response to COVID-19, primarily through the provision of surge capacity (n = 20, 66.7%), contact tracing (n = 19, 63.3%), and training (n = 11, 36.7%). The opportunity to participate in formal and informal applied public health experiences like practica, service-learning, and field placements can benefit both public health students and agency partners. Although recent publications have identified gaps in academic public health response to COVID-19, in part due to the cessation of funding for workforce development and other university-based programs in public health preparedness, schools and programs of public health continue to support public health agencies. Future funding should explicitly link public health students to applied public health activities in ways that can be measured to document impacts on public health emergency response and the future public health workforce.

Education and training in public health: is there progress in the European region?

BACKGROUND: The Association of Schools of Public Health in the European Region (ASPHER) is confronted with challenges to improve education for public health professionals. In this article, we attempt to answer the question: Did ASPHER members improve their organization and programmes to enable their graduates to acquire the competences to tackle the diverse areas of public health defined in the Ten Essential Public Health Operations (EPHOs)? METHODS: ASPHER run two surveys among its membership: In 2011, 66 Schools and Departments of Public Health (SDPHs) took part (82.5%), while in 2015-16, 78 SDPHs (81.3%). The performance of graduates was estimated using a Likert scale. RESULTS: In 2015-16, the SDPHs delivered 169 academic programmes (2.2 on average per SDPH). Among the SDPHs participating in both surveys, significant differences could not be determined, neither for the organization (except increasingly using social media) nor for teaching areas. The performance of graduates did not show significant differences except for the deterioration of EPHO-8 ('assuring sustainable organizational structures and financing'). However, the qualitative data revealed progressive dynamics regarding innovations in the organizational set-up, digitalization, teaching/training, introduction of new modules and research. CONCLUSIONS: The results generated do not allow us to state that the innovative elements introduced after the first survey in 2011 have had a clear impact reflected in the second survey carried out in 2015-16, but perhaps this is due to the need for a broader follow-up in order to objectify the potential consequences derived from the boost generated by the changes introduced.

Developing a Community-Based Research Project Proposal to Build Public Health Educator Capacity: A Graduate Student Perspective.

This article is the author's first-person perspective of completing an Applied Practice Experience (APE) at an accredited public health program. Graduate-level public health students in the United States are mandated by the Council on Education for Public Health to complete this supervised field experience to apply knowledge and concepts to real-world public health practice. For his APE, the author worked with a faculty advisor and two community groups to facilitate and submit a community-based participatory research grant proposal. This article discusses the author's experiences before, during, and after the APE. The author outlines challenges and success of working on this applied project. The article concludes with implications for public health education specialists regarding experiential learning and applied practice experiences for graduate students.

Perceived Benefits of Collaboration Between Local Health Departments and Schools and Programs of Public Health: A Mixed-Methods Study.

OBJECTIVES: Collaboration between local health departments (LHDs) and schools and programs of public health (SPPH) may be a way to improve practice, education, and research. However, little is known about why LHDs and SPPH collaborate. This mixed-methods study addressed this issue by exploring what LHDs and SPPH perceive to be beneficial about their collaboration. METHODS: A mixed-methods study using quantitative and qualitative data was conducted. A survey of 2000 LHDs that completed the 2013 National Profile of LHDs measured how important and effective LHDs perceived 30 indicators of the 10 essential public health services to be for collaboration with SPPH. Focus groups were held with LHD officials and the faculty from SPPH to further explore their perceptions of the mutual benefits of their collaboration. RESULTS: This study showed that LHD officials and the faculty from SPPH valued their collaborative work because it can improve education and training, support public health accreditation, enhance LHD credibility, enhance LHD technological capabilities, and improve research and evidence-based practice. Benefits increased with an increase in the degree of collaboration. This also showed that LHD officials would like to collaborate more closely with SPPH. CONCLUSION: Collaboration between LHDs and SPPH is mutually beneficial, and close collaboration can help transform public health practice, education, and research. In light of this, more attention should be paid to developing goals and objectives for a collaborative agenda. Attention should be paid not only to the immediate needs of the organizations and individuals involved but also to their long-term goals and underlying desires. Funding opportunities to support the development of partnerships between LHDs and SPPH are needed to provide tangible tasks and opportunities for taking a more long-term and strategic view for collaborative relationships.

Public health educational comprehensiveness: The strategic rationale in establishing networks among schools of public health.

The establishment and continuing development of a sufficient and competent public health workforce is fundamental for the planning, implementation, evaluation, effect and ethical validity of public health strategies and policies and, thus, for the development of the population's health and the cost-effectiveness of health and public health systems and interventions. Professional public health strategy-making demands a background of a comprehensive multi-disciplinary curriculum including mutually, dynamically coherent competences - not least, competences in sociology and other behavioural sciences and their interaction with, for example, epidemiology, biostatistics, qualitative methods and health promotion and disease prevention. The size of schools and university departments of public health varies, and smaller entities may run into problems if seeking to meet the comprehensive curriculum challenge entirely by use of in-house resources. This commentary discusses the relevance and strength of establishing comprehensive curriculum development networks between schools and university departments of public health, as one means to meet the comprehensiveness challenge. This commentary attempts to consider a two-stage strategy to develop complete curricula at the bachelor and master's as well as PhD levels.

Student outbreak response teams: lessons learned from a decade of collaboration.

OBJECTIVES: Student response teams within colleges of public health effectively address important concerns for two stakeholders. For universities, students learn the fundamentals of field epidemiology and provide popular training and networking opportunities. For health departments, students serve as surge capacity as trained workforce available during outbreak investigations and potentially for routine tasks. STUDY DESIGN: This paper describes the interaction between a student response team and several health departments utilizing specific examples to demonstrate the various roles and activities students can fulfill. Lessons learned from both University team leaders and the various health departments are also included. METHODS: The program evolved over time, beginning with a needs assessment of local health departments and a determination of student training needs, collection, and confidential transmission of data, and interviewing techniques. Over the last decade students have worked on outbreak investigations, case-control studies, program evaluations, and in-field responses. RESULTS: Since 2005, over 200 public health graduate students have contributed more than 1800 h investigating 62 separate disease outbreaks in Arizona. In addition, over the past four years students also worked an additional 2500 h to assist county health departments in routine enteric investigations, specifically for Campylobacter and Salmonella. Best practices and lessons learned found that communication, preplanning and a willingness to collaborate increased the learning opportunities for students and ability for health departments to increase their capacity both during an emergency and for routine work. CONCLUSIONS: Establishment of a student response team (1) trains students in field experiences; (2) creates trained surge capacity for health departments; (3) increases collaboration between schools of public health and state/local health departments; (4) establishes a way to share funding with a local health department; and (5) increases the number of students being placed in health departments for projects, internships, and jobs following graduation.

The DNP/MPH Dual Degree: An Innovative Graduate Education Program for Advanced Public Health Nursing.

Strong professional priorities, evolving Affordable Care Act requirements, and a significantly limited public health nursing workforce prompted the University of Colorado College of Nursing to collaborate with the School of Public Health to implement one of the first Doctor of Nursing Practice/Master of Public Health dual degree programs in the nation. Federal grant funding supported the development, implementation, and evaluation of this unique post-baccalaureate dual degree program, for which there were no roadmaps, models, or best practices to follow. Several key issues emerged that serve as lessons learned in creating a new, novel higher education pathway for Advanced Public Health Nursing. This paper highlights two of those: (1) marketing, admission, and matriculation across two programs, and (2) enhancing curricula through distance coursework and interprofessional education. When collaboration with a school of public health is possible, the Doctor of Nursing Practice/Master of Public Health dual degree is an efficient way to prepare public health nurses' with the highest level of public health knowledge, practice, and leadership expertise.

Leadership of the Department of Epidemiology of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Its First Century.

This commentary reviews the contributions of each of the 7 Chairs of the Department of Epidemiology from the Department's inception in 1919 to the advent of the Centennial Celebration of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in 2016. The founding Chair, Wade Hampton Frost (1919-1938), was among the handful of foundational thinkers in the discipline of epidemiology. Kenneth Maxcy (1938-1954) and Philip Sartwell (1954-1970) oversaw the Department through the epidemiologic transition from a preponderance of morbidity and mortality due to infectious diseases to a preponderance of noncommunicable diseases. Abraham Lilienfeld (1970-1975) and Leon Gordis (1975-1993) were perhaps best known for their mastery of teaching, influencing generations of both medical and public health students. Jonathan Samet (1994-2008) oversaw a major curriculum revision and expanded the Department significantly, and David Celentano (2008-) is working to rebalance the practice of epidemiology with the etiological foundations of epidemiology. All Chairs were a product of their times, and their research focus and portfolios influenced the direction of the Department. Future generations of Johns Hopkins students will be influenced directly or indirectly by the heritage of these Chairs' actions and those of their faculty.

The lack of a non-communicable disease curriculum threatens the relevance of global public health education.

BACKGROUND: Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), cancer, lung disease and diabetes are major public health challenges for emerging economies. However, Masters of Public Health (MPH) curricula in the USA do not provide germane coursework. METHODS: To assess the availability of global NCD courses in MPH curricula, we searched the websites of the 50 schools accredited by the Council on Education for Public Health as of 1 July 2013. Our questionnaire queried availability of a global or international health department or track, availability of an NCD track, and the presence of courses on NCD, NCD risk factors, CVD or global NCDs as well as global health infrastructure. RESULTS: All schools had online course coursework available. Thirty-one schools (62%) offered a global/international health track or certificate; 38 (76%) offered an NCD course but only 4 (8%) offered a global NCD course. Of the schools with a global health program, none required an NCD course but all offered courses on global health economics or infrastructure. CONCLUSION: For public health schools to be aligned with global realities and to retain a leadership role, curricular initiatives that highlight the NCD epidemic and its societal complexities will need new emphasis.

Developing the new Columbia core curriculum: a case study in managing radical curriculum change.

Curricular change is essential for maintaining vibrant, timely, and relevant educational programming. However, major renewal of a long-standing curriculum at an established university presents many challenges for leaders, faculty, staff, and students. We present a case study of a dramatic curriculum renewal of one of the nation's largest Master of Public Health degree programs: Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health. We discuss context, motivation for change, the administrative structure established to support the process, data sources to inform our steps, the project timeline, methods for engaging the school community, and the extensive planning that was devoted to evaluation and communication efforts. We highlight key features that we believe are essential for successful curricular change.

A call to action: training public health students to be effective agents for social change.

In the 21st century, we face enormous public health challenges that differ fundamentally from those of the last century, because these challenges involve widespread societal change and complexity. To address these challenges, public health professionals need to be able to place their work in a larger social context, understand local and global perspectives on a deeper level, and effectively engage a wide variety of stakeholders. To confer these skills, we need to change the way we train our students. We present two examples of low-cost innovative approaches to teaching public health that promote active engagement with individuals across a wide range of backgrounds and fields and that train students to be effective agents for change.

Public health 101 nanocourse: a condensed educational tool for non-public health professionals.

Graduate students and postdoctoral fellows-including those at the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH)-have somewhat limited opportunities outside of traditional coursework to learn holistically about public health. Because this lack of familiarity could be a barrier to fruitful collaboration across disciplines, HSPH postdocs sought to address this challenge. In response, the Public Health 101 Nanocourse was developed to provide an overview of five core areas of public health (biostatistics, environmental health sciences, epidemiology, health policy and management, and social and behavioral sciences) in a two half-day course format. We present our experiences with developing and launching this novel approach to acquainting wider multidisciplinary audiences with the field of public health.

Public health as a catalyst for interprofessional education on a health sciences campus.

Although interprofessional education (IPE) has existed in various formats for several decades, the need for IPE recently has taken on renewed interest and momentum. Public health has a critical role to play in furthering IPE, yet schools of public health are often underrepresented in IPE initiatives. The University of Iowa College of Public Health is serving as a catalyst for IPE activities on our health sciences campus, which includes colleges of dentistry, medicine, nursing, pharmacy, and public health. IPE-related activities have included campus visit by IPE leaders, administration of the Survey of Critical Elements for Implementing IPE, administration of the Interprofessional Learning Opportunities Inventory survey, the development of a comprehensive strategic plan, and the pilot of an IPE course for all first-year prelicensure students and Master of Health Administration students. Although more work is needed to more fully integrate IPE into the curriculum, success to date of the University of Iowa IPE initiative demonstrates that public health can play a critical role as a convener and catalyst for IPE curricular innovations on a health sciences campus.

Curriculum revitalization initiative at Tulane.

Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine launched its curriculum revitalization initiative to examine the Master of Public Health degrees (MPH). The initiative will enhance excellence in MPH education and incorporate innovative teaching approaches. Taskforces determined the MPH core should provide the foundation for public health, integrate knowledge across public health areas, and develop skills and methods needed in practice. The MPH is being updated to provide specialized study that builds skills and practical applications based on theory and evidence-based approaches. Eleven graduate certificates were developed to provide a second area of specialization. Practica are viewed as increasingly important for students without practical experience. Teaching methods will incorporate more technology including online modules for a blended classroom approach.

Our practice is our passion: development and delivery of a 21st-century doctor of public health program.

Twenty-first century advances have significantly altered the functions of public health professionals, resulting in a need for advanced level training in community health leadership and practice-oriented research without interruption of professional careers. We present an example of an innovative Doctor of Public Health (DrPH) program developed at the University of South Florida College of Public Health. This program incorporates 21st century public health competencies within a competency-based curricular model, delivered in a hybrid format (fall or spring online delivery and a 1-week face-to-face summer institute) in collaboration between academic and practice-based public health professionals at local and national levels. This revised competency-based program is an example of how to meet the needs of the 21st century public health practitioners while maintaining their connections to the practice world.

Service learning: a vehicle for building health equity and eliminating health disparities.

Service learning (SL) is a form of community-centered experiential education that places emerging health professionals in community-generated service projects and provides structured opportunities for reflection on the broader social, economic, and political contexts of health. We describe the elements and impact of five distinct week-long intensive SL courses focused on the context of urban, rural, border, and indigenous health contexts. Students involved in these SL courses demonstrated a commitment to community-engaged scholarship and practice in both their student and professional lives. SL is directly in line with the core public health value of social justice and serves as a venue to strengthen community-campus partnerships in addressing health disparities through sustained collaboration and action in vulnerable communities.

Innovations in public health education: promoting professional development and a culture of health.

As the field of public health advances toward addressing complex, systemic problems, future public health professionals must be equipped with leadership and interprofessional skills that support collaboration and a culture of health. The University of Memphis School of Public Health has infused innovative strategies into graduate education via experiential learning opportunities to enhance leadership, collaboration, and professional development. Novel training programs such as Day One, Public Health Interdisciplinary Case Competition, and Memphis Healthy U support Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health cross-cutting competencies and prepare Master of Public Health and Master of Health Administration graduates to function effectively at the outset of their careers and become catalysts for creating a culture of health.

Redefining leadership education in graduate public health programs: prioritization, focus, and guiding principles.

Public health program graduates need leadership skills to be effective in the complex, changing public health environment. We propose a new paradigm for schools of public health in which technical and leadership skills have equal priority as core competencies for graduate students. Leadership education should focus on the foundational skills necessary to effect change independent of formal authority, with activities offered at varying levels of intensity to engage different students. Leadership development initiatives should be practice based, process focused, interdisciplinary, diversity based, adaptive, experimental, innovative, and empowering, and they should encourage authenticity. Leadership training in graduate programs will help lay the groundwork for public health professionals to have an immediate impact in the workforce and to prioritize continuous leadership development throughout their careers.

Improving the use of competencies in public health education.

Competency-based education is the present and future of public health education. As programs have adopted competencies, many have struggled and continue to struggle with actual implementation and curricular redesign. We experienced these problems at The University of Oklahoma College of Public Health; thus, we propose an adaptable and replicable process to better implement competencies and evaluate student mastery of them throughout any public health program. We specifically recommend adopting mission-based competencies followed by a longitudinal evaluation plan like the model provided.