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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Lorraine K. Alexander, DrPH, MPH¹, Mary Davis, Dr PH, MSPH², Kathy Dail, RN, MEd, BSN³, Kimberly J. Brunette, MPH¹, Anjum Hajat, MPH¹, Pia D.M. MacDonald, PhD, MPH¹, and Abigail D. Zeveloff, MPH⁴. (1) North Carolina Center for Public Health Preparedness, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Campus Box 8165, 400 Roberson, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, (2) North Carolina Institute for Public Health, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Campus Box 8165, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-8165, (3) General Communicable Disease Control Branch, North Carolina Division of Public Health, 1931 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC 27699, (4) Department of Health Behavior Health Education, School of Public Health, University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill, Rosenau Hall, CB 7440, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7440, 919-949-0486, zeveloff@email.unc.edu

To meet the need for communicable disease surveillance and outbreak investigation training among local health department staff, a free 15-week hybrid Internet/classroom-based course was created by the General Communicable Disease Control Branch of the North Carolina Division of Public Health and the North Carolina Center for Public Health Preparedness. The course has been offered twice yearly, since Fall 2004. One hundred-sixteen communicable disease nurses from 56 of the 85 North Carolina local health departments have completed the course as of December 2005. A six-month follow-up evaluation is conducted after completion of each course. The goal of the follow-up evaluation is to determine if course participants will continue to benefit from the course and if they have applied what they learned to their jobs. Ninety-two percent of all course participants indicated that the course was useful or very useful in improving their ability to fulfill their professional role as communicable disease nurse. Almost all participants (95%) have used or reviewed course materials since completion of the course. Nearly half of the participants had participated in an outbreak investigation since completing the course and all indicated that course content assisted in their public health response capabilities. For many of the participants, computer skills (57%) and skills involved in taking online trainings (80%) improved as a result of the course. Continued offerings of the course are anticipated as all past participants indicate they would recommend the course to coworkers, and 91% have recommended the course to others.

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