Who Will Keep the Public Healthy? Educating Public Health Professionals for the 21st Century (2003) / Chapter Skim
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2. History and Current Status of Public Health Education in the United States
2. History and Current Status of Public Health Education in the United States
Pages 41-60
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From page 41... ...
However, there was no distinct education or career pattern for public health officers; most were practicing physicians who were called upon to assist with epidemic diseases in times of crisis. It was in this context that staff of the Rockefeller Sanitary Commission attempted to enlist public health officers in the southern United States to Material in the History section of this chapter is abstracted from the commissioned paper prepared for the committee by Elizabeth Fee, Ph.D.
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From page 42... ...
This central scientific school of public health would be linked to a network of state schools that sent extension agents into the field, and emphasized not only public health education, short courses and extension courses to upgrade the skills of health officers in the field, but also demonstrations of best practices. The plan as implemented, however, focused on research and largely ignored public health practice, administration, public health nursing, and health education.
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From page 43... ...
had received some public health training with funds provided by the federal government through the states. Increased funding and the continuing need for additional public health graduates led many colleges and universities to open public health departments and establish programs offering training courses of a few months' or even a few weeks' duration.
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From page 44... ...
to promote and improve graduate education for public health professionals. In 1946 the Committee on Professional Education of the American Public Health Association began monitoring the standards of public health education amid complaints that profit-making public health training courses of questionable quality were offering public health degrees by correspondence from faculty who did not even know of their appointment (Shepard, 1948~.
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From page 45... ...
Winslow commented approvingly that the eleven schools of public health constituted "eleven experimental laboratories in which new pedagogic approaches are constantly being devised" (Winslow, 1953~. The overall impression of the accredited schools of public health in 1950 was that they were doing a good job of preparing public health practitioners through courses and fieldwork, that the numbers of faculty and students were growing, and that curricular and research innovations seemed promising.
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From page 46... ...
Rhodes, and in 1958, Congress enacted a two-year emergency program authorizing $1 million a year in federal grants to be divided among the accredited schools of public health. The First National Conference on Public Health Training in 1958 noted that these funds had provided 1,000 traineeships and had greatly improved morale in public health agencies.
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From page 47... ...
. President Dwight Eisenhower signed the Hill-Rhodes Bill, authorizing $1 million annually in formula grants for accredited schools of public health and $2 million annually for five years for project training grants; between 1957 and 1963 the United States Congress appropriated $15 million to support public health trainees.
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From page 48... ...
By mid-1970, some 69,000 students were enrolled in various allied health programs (Sheps, 1976~. Although 5,000 graduate degrees in public health were awarded each year, approximately half of higher education for public health was occurring outside of accredited schools of public health.
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From page 49... ...
The report identified three core areas of public health on which the schools should focus: epidemiology and biostatistics, social policy and the history and philosophy of public health, and management and organization for public health. In addition, the report recommended that schools should serve as regional resources by helping faculties in medical and other health-related schools to develop teaching programs and research in public health; they should become involved in the operation of community health services; and schools should design their research within a broad framework established by the needs of public health practice.
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From page 50... ...
The public health workforce also includes many professionals trained in disciplines such as social work, pharmacy, dentistry, and health and public administration. Most persons who receive formal education in public health are graduates of one of the 32 accredited schools of public health or of one of the 45 accredited M.P.H.
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From page 51... ...
and only 22 percent of chief executives of local health departments have graduate degrees in public health (Turnock, 2001~. Schools of Public Health Schools of public health vary in many ways including size, organization, and degrees offered All schools offer courses in the five areas identified as core to public health: biostatistics, epidemiology, environmental health sciences, health services administration, and social and behavioral sciences.
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From page 52... ...
to define the essential elements of the profession of public health. Public health practitioners and faculty from the schools of public health were brought together in the Public Health Faculty/Agency Forum, issuing a report in 1991 that emphasized: · public health education based upon universal competencies of public health practice; and · cooperation between schools of public health and public health agencies, including supervised practice for students (Fineberg et al., 1994~.
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From page 53... ...
In 1991 the Council on Linkages Between Academia and Public Health Practice was established to "promote activities that link public health academic programs with the practice community through refining and implementing the forum recommendations" (Eisen et al., 1994~. The Council, which includes representatives from national public health academic institutions and practice organizations, has initiated many efforts to enhance academic/practice collaboration.
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From page 54... ...
recommended that schools of public health improve their educational approaches for the practicing public health workforce through short courses and continuing education. Currently, all accredited schools of public health
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From page 55... ...
It was designed for CDC field officers, state health department personnel, and selected others with at least three to five years of experience in public health practice. The program allowed CDC Public Health Advisors working in state and local health departments to earn a graduate certificate in public health and was available from one of four accredited schools of public health: Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, Emory University Rollins School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University
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From page 56... ...
Distance learning today has become an important alternative to traditional methods of education, because the existing technology has the potential to facilitate complicated distance learning environments and highly structured learning methods (Mattheos et al., 2001~. The Public Health Training Network (PHTN)
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From page 57... ...
The 1988 IOM report recommended that schools of public health provide an opportunity to learn the entire range of skills and knowledge necessary for public health practice. Recent efforts to encompass a broad scope of education have focused on identifying basic competencies in public health and on developing curricula that teach the information and skills necessary to meet those competencies.
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From page 58... ...
Producing M.P.H. graduates responsive to what is needed today requires an understanding of the driving forces that affect public health practice and the public health workforce." Respondents indicated that major needs include understanding that multiple factors influence health and that public health issues require societal change as well as changes in individual behavior for risk reduction.
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From page 59... ...
Some respondents indicated that there should be national attention and standards for trained personnel, along with funding to meet those standards. Respondents indicated that schools should be expected to be a resource to provide training and to meet these standards and that a lack of standards and funding results in an inadequately prepared public health workforce.
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From page 60... ...
Many schools and competing organizations are involved in distance learning programs that offer the possibility of fulfilling the long-recognized need to bring public health education to the homes and offices of the public health workforce. The Internet also offers the possibility of bringing public health education to populations across the country and around the world; indeed, health information sites are among the most popular and frequently visited of all Web applications.
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