The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA

Abstract #68302

Holger Hansen, MD, DrPH, School of Medicine, University of Connecticut, 263 Farmington Ave., Farmington, CT 06030-1910, 860-679-3402, hansen@nso.uchc.edu

Objective: To enhance emergency preparedness of local public health leaders by providing a continuing education program focused on high priority management skills. Methods: Faculty of the University of Connecticut and staff of the Connecticut State Department of Public Health have collaborated in planning a continuing education curriculum that will be offered statewide between March and August 2003. The program will present five short courses of four sessions each, with instructors drawn from academe and the practice community. Effectiveness of the program will be evaluated and certificates will be issued to the attendants. All sessions will be videotaped for statewide distribution. Material: The selection of course topics was informed by an educational needs assessment on which the two partner organizations collaborated. We used the Council of Linkages competencies to survey staff of the State Department of Public Health. The 120 resondents gave top rankings to analytical/assessment skills and to policy development and program planning skills. The themes of the five modules are Environmental Bioterrorism Risks, Disease Outbreaks: Investigation and Surveillance, Stress Management, Public Health Law and Bioterrorism, and Organizing Volunteers for Emergency Preparedness. The material will be presented using a mix of lectures, seminars and workshops. Each session will have a detailed syllabus with learning objectives. Significance: Expected benefits include a better prepared and more confident public health workforce and closer practice linkages on part of the participating faculty. Lessons learned from this project will be shared with the public health academia at large.

Learning Objectives:

The participant will be able to:
• Identify priority areas for bioterrorism preparedness training.
• Recognize special challenges for continuing education dealing with bioterrorism.
• Develop effective evaluation procedures for bioterrorism training.

Keywords: Bioterrorism, Training

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.