Academic-Government Partnership Builds a Better Public Health Workforce

BACKGROUND: Public health workforce development is critical to promoting community health but training resources are often expensive and distal to the work site. To address this, the master of public health programs at Meharry Medical College, Tennessee State University and Vanderbilt University Medical Center pooled their resources with the local health department to form the Nashville Public Health Learning Collaborative (NPHLC). The Collaborative offers no cost training opportunities to local public health employees. METHODS: NPHLC surveyed local public health employees and leaders, and based on the results developed a series of didactic learning sessions. Each session addressees a public health competency prioritized by the survey. All sessions are archived and available for online viewing. The first training series included cultural competency, program planning and evaluation, epidemiology and evidence-based practice, and public health advocacy. Since its inception in 2010, NPHLC has trained over 120 individuals representing 8 divisions and/or programs within the local health department. RESULTS: 98% of the participants expressed they would participate in continuing public health education, 95% were satisfied with the learning session that was offered, and 97% indicated they would apply the skills they learned. CONCLUSIONS: NPHLC has proven to be an effective mechanism to: a) build a bridge between academia and public health practice; b) establish a non-competitive partnership that builds upon the unique strengths of participating institutions; and c) delivers relevant, high quality, cost effective educational opportunities to public health employees.