Tammi Thomas Sections for Response to PM&DC Application InformationPage 1 of 42

Introduction

Many of the items requested in the application to the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PM&DC) for registering the Master of Public Health Program (MPH Program), University of Louisville (UofL), are not directly applicable to a standalone program in public health. Our MPH Program is population-based and does not include direct clinical- or patient-oriented experiences.

In order to be as responsive as possible, the information provided by UofL includes restatements of requests that are clinical in nature. The restatements are intended to be responsive to the requests from a public health population perspective. Restatements include reference to this Introduction for clarity.

(1)Professor Dr. Craig H. Blakely, PhD, MPH, Dean

(2)62

(3)PhD, Michigan State University, Ecological Psychology, 1980; MPH, Maternal and Child Health, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, 1992

(4)Clinical Research Statistics

Honors Seminar

Research Design

Introduction to Health Policy and Management

Capstone in Public Health

(4)Health Management and System Sciences

(7)Permanent/Tenured Full Professor

(8)[NO problem including this if necessary]

1412 Saint James Court

Louisville, KY 40208, USA

9)PNG image on right can be resized as needed

10)(a) 001-502-852-3297

(b) 001-979-777-3584

12)01 April, 2013

Pete’s comments:

  • We are not asked for anything above.
  • We don’t have the annexures cited above. In addition, for some of these (viz., (viii) and (xi)), our procedures take precedence for UofL, SACS, and CEPH considerations.
  • Suggest adding nothing, since it’s technically not OUR but NUR’s application, so far as I know.

21. 1.For the MPH Program, the learning experience opportunities through which the competencies are met include the core and concentration coursework, the Practicum, the Integration course, non-practicum related field experience, and data assessment methodology, the latter two of which are offered in several MPH courses. Methods to evaluate the degree to which students achieve the competencies vary by the learning experience opportunity. For course work, evaluations include a combination of exams, term papers, oral presentations, and peer-evaluated team work. For the practicum, all students complete their field experience, which includes preparation of a concept document and learning agreement prior to starting their field work and a written report, poster, and oral presentation after completion of the practicum work. For the Integration class, evaluation includes case evaluations and presentations and case development and presentation plus a final comprehensive examination covering the core and cross-cutting competencies.

21. 2.The practicum experience bridges the gap between classroom and public health practice by providing field experience at a public health worksite. Each MPH student identifies a practicum site, develops a learning agreement in consultation with the practice site mentor and his or her faculty mentor, works at the site to pursue the components of the learning agreement and to gain experience within the organization, prepares a written characterization of the practice site, and prepares written and oral reports describing the practicum experience.

At the completion of the practicum experience, the successful student is able to:

  • Develop goals, objectives, and execution plans for the field work and its deliverables
  • Participate in the day-to-day operations of a public health-related worksite, working with practicing public health professionals
  • Understand and describing, in detail, the functions, organization, and operations of a public health-related worksite
  • Identify challenges faced by the organization in achieving its public health mission and characterizing strategies used by the organization carry out its mission within the public health system
  • Understand and describe the experience of working at a public health-related site

On completion of the practicum, students are required to prepare written and oral reports and an electronic poster, each of which describes the learning objectives, above.

(xiii)The UofL definition of a credit hour is 50 minutes of instruction over a 14-week period in a semester. This definition applies to each credit hour of the total number of credit hours needed to complete the requirements of all professional and academic degrees offered by the UofL.

The MPH program requires 48 total credit hours to complete the MPH degree. The MPH curriculum consists of coursework in four areas: 18 credit hours covering the five core areas of knowledge basic to public health (biostatistics, epidemiology, environmental/occupational health, health policy/administration and social/behavioral health), 15 credit hours of concentration courses in one of the five core areas of public health or individual track coursework, 6 credit hours of practicum experience, and 9 credit hours of additional course work including the following three credit hour courses: Critical Thinking and Program Evaluation, and Integrated Learning and Experience in Public Health, and a 3 credit hour elective.

UofL policy requires each syllabus to include a statement that students are expected to spend at least 2.5 hours of study outside the classroom for each hour of classroom contact. While no formal method of ensuring this exists, compliance in the MPH Program is indirectly evidenced by student evaluations. Not being a clinical program, the MPH Program does not need to monitor student study or duty to protect the health of both trainees and patients.

18(1)

The concept of the culminating experience for the MPH program on matriculation and consists of the successful completion of three components. Each component builds on the knowledge and experience gained in the preceding phase of the culminating experience; students are required to pass each component. The three components are:

  • PHPH-614 Critical Thinking and Program Evaluation
  • Practicum (PHPH-679), which includes:
  • A field experience at a public health practice site
  • A paper discussing the practicum
  • An electronic poster showcasing the work done for the practicum
  • An oral presentation of the practicum, its results, and other pertinent information
  • PHPH-697 Integrating Learning and Experience in Public Health course, which includes:
  • Working in public health core interdisciplinary teams (based on students’ concentrations) to evaluate, present, and discuss practitioner-developed public health scenarios
  • Working in public health core interdisciplinary teams to write a public health case study
  • Working individually, and as a team, to complete a comprehensive examination covering the core areas of public health

Within the above culminating experience, a learning activity that meets criteria 18 (1) is the completion of a practice experience at a public health worksite (PHPH-679). This experience has been described in Section 21.2 with more detail available in the course syllabus. The practicum experience is designed to bridge the gap between academia and public health practice by providing field experience at a public health worksite. Each MPH student identifies a practicum site, develops a learning agreement in consultation with the practice site mentor and their faculty mentor, works at the site to address the components of the learning agreement and to gain experience within the organization, prepares a written characterization of the practice site, and prepares written and oral reports describing the practicum experience.

The successful practicum student is able to:

  • Develop goals, objectives, and execution plans for the field work and its deliverables
  • Participate in the day-to-day operations of a public health-related worksite, working with practicing public health professionals
  • Understand and describing, in detail, the functions, organization, and operations of a public health-related worksite
  • Identify challenges faced by the organization in achieving its public health mission and characterizing strategies used by the organization carry out its mission within the public health system
  • Understand and describe the experience of working at a public health-related site

18(2)

As described in 18(1), the capstone course PHPH-697 Integrating Learning and Experience in Public Health is taken in the last semester and is designed to synthesize and integrate knowledge acquired in course work and other learning experiences and to apply this knowledge to situations that represent professional public health practice. At the beginning of the course, students are assigned to interdisciplinary teams consisting of 5-6 members, based on their declared concentrations. The goal is to have each of the five core areas of public health represented on each team, however, because all core areas cannot be equally represented,due to varying numbers in each concentration, team composition has variable representation from each of the core areas. Teams work together during the entire semester to complete the following integration activities. Each team is required to evaluate and present two small cases (1 page vignettes) that have been selected to represent real public health events. This is followed by the analysis and presentation of a large case derived from the literature. For both the small and large cases, teams are required to provide a description of the case and relevant background information; clear identification of the decision-makers and decision to be made; lead a discussion of the team decision or recommended course of action; and a discussion of the key issues in the case and any core and cross-cutting competencies used in the analysis of the case. The third activity in the course requires that each team research, develop, write, and present a new public health case. The format for the cases is provided in the syllabus and a specific rubric is available to provide guidance for the development of the case. These activities require teams to identify relevant public health information, use relevant technology to summarize and assess the data, evaluate the validity of the available information, compile the evidence, and apply the findings into a coherent case presentation that is critically by both the faculty and their peers. A full description of these activities is available in the course syllabus for PHPH-697.

(4) a)MPH students are required to interact a variety of public health professionals, their faculty mentors, and their peers through classroom instruction, community projects (not related to their practicum), their practicum experience, and the culminating capstone course PHPH-697 Integrating Learning and Experience in Public Health. The activities associated with the practicum and the integration course (see sections 18(1) and 18(2)) are designed to demonstrate student’s knowledge of public health and his or her ability to communicate that knowledge through peer and faculty review of presentations as well as faculty-evaluated written reports. In addition to these activities, students work in teams for much of their course work in PHPH-697. For example, in the core environmental and occupational health course, students are assigned to teams and work together to develop both homework assignments and team projects that require oral and written reports that are critiqued by the faculty. This requires that a team coordinatesits members’ responsibilities for a given project and assure that a coherent document or report is provide that effectively communicates the assignment. Another example is from the course PHPH-614 Program Planning and Evaluation. For this course, students work in teams to complete community-based projects. The assignment requires that each team identifies a community project, develops a program plan to implement the project, and designs an evaluation strategy to assess the proposed program plan. The program plans and evaluation strategies are presented and evaluated by the community site health professionals and faculty. Team work is an integral part of the MPH curriculum and enhances skills needed to effectively communicate public health issues to both the general public and public health professionals.

(4) b)This section is not applicable to the MPH program. As described in the introduction, the MPH degree is a professional degree focused on the health of populations; interactions with individual patients, family members, and others are not part of the mission of public health

One of the learning activities in which students develop competency in communication to a broad range of health professionals with diverse ranges of socioeconomic and cultural background is through community service efforts. The SPHIS tracks student community service efforts by the following metrics: date of service, community group or organization served, location of service, description of the service performed, numbers of student and employee participants, and number of hours served. Additional information includes the primary issue addressed (e.g., community and economic development, disaster response and recovery, environmental health, nutrition, youth development). Students report the learning experiences involved with these activities through classroom venues and seminars. A summary of recent student service/community engagement activities is included in Appendix SPHIS 1.

Appendix SPHIS 1

Recent Student Service and Community Engagement Activities
Student, Group or Organization / Organization Served / Description of Service / Students / Faculty/ Staff / Hours Served
UofL Chapter of the Kentucky Public Health Association / Wheatley Elementary and the California Neighborhood California Love Project: / Volunteers pick up trash in a two block grid of the California neighborhood / 20 / 2 / 8
UofL Chapter of the Kentucky Public Health Association / Public health field / Hosted a booth to let students know about public health as part of National Public health week / 5 / 3 / 5
SPHIS Student Government Association / Louisville AIDS Walk / Each year, the SPHIS SGA organizes and sponsors the Louisville AIDS Walk week in September. / 25 / 4 / 12
Department of Health Management and Systems Science / Healthy Hoops Kentucky / A special initiative that uses basketball and fun to focus on the needs of kids with asthma. Children between the ages of 7 and 13 - and their families, participate. / 7 / 5 / 10
SPHIS Dean's Office / Out of the Darkness / Suicide Prevention Walk in Louisville Metro / 6 / 10 / 4
Center for Health Hazards Preparedness / H1N1 Drive Thru Clinic / Helped with the Louisville Metro Department of Public Health and Wellness H1N1 immunization clinic for two-days / 19 / 9 / 20
SPHIS Dean's Office / Service Trip to Ghana / Conducted a field study in a remote village shared findings with local university / 4 / 2 / 120
Jade Ashley / Service Trip to India / 10-day service trip to India over winter break. helped operate medical camps in needy communities. / 1 / 1 / 80
Stephanie Denkhoff and Avonne Connor / JCPS school - AHEC / Presented on public health for the AHEC-sponsored health career fair at Moore High School / 2 / 1 / 4
Whitney Kirzinger and Avonne Connor / JCPS school - AHEC / Presented on public health for the AHEC-sponsored health career fair at Olmsted South Middle / 2 / 1 / 5
SPHIS Student Government Association / Louisville AIDS Walk / Each year, the SPHIS SGA organizes and sponsors the Louisville AIDS Walk week in September / 15 / 3 / 26
SPHIS Student Government Association / Supplies Over Seas (SOS) / A local organization that collects, sorts, and packages surplus medical supplies from medical offices in Louisville and ships them to sites in need throughout the world. / 6 / 0 / 24
SPHIS Student Government Association / National Public Health Week / Activities included a cook-out, a 10,000 Step Challenge, and an Alcohol Awareness table. / 10 / 2 / 12
SPHIS Student Government Association / American Cancer Society / Sponsored a team in support of the UofL American Cancer Society Relay For Life, / 4 / 0 / 20
SPHIS Student Government Association / Community Drug Toss Event / Drug Toss event at various locations - accepted expired or unused medications. Coordinated by University of Louisville / 4 / 1 / 5
Department of Health Management and Systems Sciences / Healthy Hoops Kentucky / An initiative that uses basketball and fun to focus on the needs of kids with asthma. / 7 / 5 / 10
SPHIS Dean's Office / Service Trip to Ghana / Conducted a needs assessment in Tamale, Ghana with an emphasis on Maternal Health / 4 / 1 / 120
Department of Health Management and Systems Sciences / Healthy Hoops Kentucky / An annual initiative that uses basketball and fun to focus on the needs of kids with asthma. / 8 / 4 / 14

7.(1)See section 7.(3), below.

7.(2)The program utilizes a Blackboard organization dedicated solely to the practicum. Students and faculty mentors communicate regularly through the site as requirements are submitted. Additionally, faculty communicate with students (in person or via email) regularly to discuss practicum progress.

7.(3)Practicum requirements are evaluated based on the standards in Appendix SPHIS 2. Additionally, the practicum site is asked to complete an electronic evaluation of the student. Appendix SPHIS 3.

Additionally, during the student’s final semester of coursework PHPH-697 Integrated Learning and Experience in Public Health is required. The course is designed to integrate knowledge acquired in coursework and other learning experiences and to apply this knowledge to situations with various aspects of professional public health practice. Students develop and analyze public health cases as well as complete a comprehensive exam. The multiple choice exam assesses a student’s grasp of core public health concepts prior to graduation. Students are required to obtain a minimum score of 80% to pass the exam.

7.(4)Students are asked to complete an electronic course evaluation at the conclusion of the semester. See Appendix SPHIS 4.

Students are also asked to complete an electronic practicum experience survey. See Appendix SPHIS 5.

Graduating students are encouraged to complete the MPH graduation survey. See Appendix SPHIS 6.

Tammi Thomas Sections for Response to PM&DC Application InformationPage 1 of 42