206616 Fundamentals in Public Health: Professional Development through Distance Education

Tuesday, November 10, 2009: 11:08 AM

Lillian U. Smith, DrPH, MPH, CHES , Director, Office of Public Health Practice and SC Public Health Consortium, University of South Carolina, Arnold School of Public Health, Columbia, SC
Lisa Waddell, MD , Deputy Commissioner for Health Services, SC Department of Health and Environmental Control, Columbia, SC
Joe Kyle, MPH , Director, Office of Performance Management, SC Department of Health and Environmental Control, Columbia, SC
Gregory A. Hand, PhD MPH , Arnold School of Public Health, Department of Exercise Science, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC
Adrienne Ross, MEd , Continuing and Distance Education Coordinator, Office of Public Health Practice and SC Public Health Consortium, University of South Carolina, Arnold School of Public Health, Columbia, SC
  
The Fundamentals of Public Health project is a continuing education program which includes courses that can be taken individually or combined for a Certificate as well as on-demand mini courses, tutorials or refreshers of key concepts from the Certificate courses. The Fundamentals in Public Health project was conceptualized through a comprehensive assessment process and funded by SC Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC), the Arnold School, Southeast Public Health Training Center, and a grant from The Duke Endowment. The program is designed to meet the educational and professional development needs of the adult learner and the public health practitioner, especially those working in rural areas. The project builds on the workforce assessment and collaborative curricula development of the South Carolina Public Health Consortium, a program administered by the USC Arnold School's Office of Public Health Practice and DHEC, by providing the competency-based curricula through distance formats. The Certificate is composed of the following five courses:

• Community Assessment

• Public Health Data 101

• Advocacy and Policy Workshop

• Financial Management

• Evidence Based Public Health: Program Planning and Evaluation

The on-demand courses provide tutorials of key concepts from each of the Certificate courses. Successful implementation of a distance continuing education program depends upon planned diffusion within both the Arnold School and DHEC.

Learning Objectives:
At the conclusion of the session, participants will be able to: 1. Identify areas to be assessed in the conceptualization of professional educational programs 2. Discuss the implications of diffusion of innovations within organizations theory in development and implementation of professional distance education programs

Keywords: Distance Education Development, Professional Development

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: MPH, CHES, DrPH Director, Office of Public Heatlh Practice, Arnold School of Public Health, USC Director, SC Public Health Consortium
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

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