Leveraging academic-practice partnerships for public health workforce development

APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Elaine Anderson, MPH and Marie Roberto, DrPH. School of Public Health, Yale University, PO Box 208034, 60 College Street, New Haven, CT 06520, 203-785-6245, elaine.anderson@yale.edu

This paper reports on a unique statewide academic-community based partnership developed in each of the New England states facilitating the identification of priority training needs and the design and delivery of courses and field exercises to address them. The goal of this network is to strengthen the local public health infrastructure by providing training in basic public health competencies associated with core functions and essential services, especially focused on the workforce in underserved areas.

The discussion includes how this unique consortium has been instrumental in creating a culture of learning that promotes public health workforce development in each of the six states; fosters efficiency and creativity among partners in resource utilization; and facilitates the systematic assessment, planning, prioritization, and delivery of competency-based education and training.

One of the most important lessons learned is how vital collaboration can be to leveraging limited resources. A case study from Connecticut details the development and maturation of its partnership, a funds-flow analysis of its financing, and the results of a system-wide five-year evaluation of its education and training programs. One focus of this study is how academic partners can act as significant resources to government at all levels in development of public health policy and workforce education. Finally, the case demonstrates how the partnership model facilitates providing training to professionals working with the underserved in urban communities, especially two our poorest cities, applying analytical tools to assess health resources and constructing interventions that can be evaluated.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusionof the session, the participant will be able to

understand how academic-practice partnerships can create a culture of learning
identify resource assessment tools important to practitioners working with special populations, especially the underserved
understand the potential of resource leveraging using a dynamic statewide partnership model
identify ways to motivate academic partners to become active resources to governement at all levels in the development of education and training programs
isolate appropriate interventions and policy adjustments, which meet given standards of acceptability adn feasiblity, with potential for needed policy shifts
apply analytical standards to evaluate the efficiency of the collaborative effort on at least three dimensions
Keywords: Collaboration, Workforce
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Not Answered

Strengthening Local Health Departments for Preparedness and Addressing Health Issues
The 134th Annual Meeting & Exposition (November 4-8, 2006) of APHA