PH 365a Placement in a Public Health Practicing Facility

Course Description:
This placement entails supervised attendance and participation, as allowed or directed, in the activities of a specific public health facility. The very practical, “real life” exposure to actual public health work is expected to enhance motivation and interest, among the students, in community-centered health work, such as immunization, epidemic control, infectious and chronic diseases prevention, environmental protection, and so on. PBL approaches will be adopted whenever possible or warranted. It is envisaged that each student will normally be placed in 2 [two] public health practicing facilities during a semester, for a recommended total of 4 facilities/ 2 semesters. However, successful completion of each of “part a – PH 365a” or “part b – PH 365b” will award 3 credits in that semester. Hence, most of the course specifications in this course outline apply to both PH 365a and PH 365b.

• Prerequisite Courses: none

A. PROGRAM LEARNING OUTCOMES (PLOS):
The student will be able to:

1. Recognize, describe and discuss and research about the basic principles and practices of the specialty;
2. List, discuss and demonstrate the essential public health functions or the specialty and its interrelationships with the other specialties and health disciplines at community and national levels;
3. Describe, discuss and research adult, children and family health issues at community level;
4. Discuss and demonstrate an understanding and practice of the specialty public health competencies;
5. Demonstrate proper public health skills for its practice in the community as a national specialty practitioner;
6. Discuss and demonstrate community and cultural sensitivity in the health care environment;
7. Describe, discuss and research the health determinants and problems of adults, children and families;
8. Demonstrate proper cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and first aid techniques and other healing and patient care abilities;
9. Demonstrate the ability and discuss how to conduct a community diagnosis and need assessment of the health determinants of the specialty in a community;
10. Identify and demonstrate good practice in the specialty; and
11. Have had management, planning experience and leadership role at a public health specialty at community and national levels.

B. STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES (SLOS) - GENERAL
The student will be able to:

1. Describe and give examples of the services provided at the public health facility.
2. Identify learning issues stemming from the day-to-day activities of the facility and apply their problem-solving skills to the learning issues identified.
3. Describe the professional behavior among health staff vis-à-vis patients/ clients and summarize the attitudes of the patients/ clients towards the workers, the premises and the overall facility.
4. Identify service areas requiring improvement of the efficiency and effectiveness and propose solutions and suggest ways to make future placements more meaningful and rewarding.

I = Introduced
D = Demonstrated
M = Mastered

C. STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES (SLOS) – SPECIFIC
The student will be able to:

General SLO 1: Describe and give examples of the services provided at the public health facility.

General SLO 2: Identify learning issues stemming from the day-to-day activities of the facility and apply their problem-solving skills to the learning issues identified.

General SLO 3: Describe the professional behavior among health staff vis-à-vis patients/ clients and summarize the attitudes of the patients/ clients towards the workers, the premises and the overall facility.

General SLO 4: Summarize efficiency and effectiveness of each facility and offer suggestions for improvement.

D. COURSE CONTENT

1. Student’s placement in the selected public health programs and services from among:
1. Adolescent health and development
   
2. Diabetes control program
3. Environmental health
4. Family planning
5. Health education
6. HIV/ AIDs and STI
7. Immunization
8. Maternal and child health (MCH)
9. Oral health
10. Pohnpei cancer program
11. Substance abuse and mental health (SAMH)
12. TB and Hansen’s disease program
2. Professionalism
   
   1. Cooperative, respectful attitude
   2. Acting and engagement in professional activities and work
   3. Code of dress, ethics, and confidentiality in health profession
E. METHODS OF INSTRUCTION

The following activities will be set up and arranged by the course’s instructor who will, in close consultation with appointed “on-site” mentors, also mentor students’ progress and effect coordination with classroom review sessions, periodically:


1. Practical, active and participatory attendance at each public health facility and service, following a schedule (2 hours/day, 5 days/week; OR 3 hours/day, 3 days/week) that would total at least 144 hours over one semester.
2. Each student would be stationed at 2 public health practicing facilities, depending on the eventual arrangements and the services they offer, during the semester long placement, to broaden their exposure to the reality of public health services.
3. Group discussions, reviews and presentations, by students, in the presence of faculty or supervisors/ “on-site mentors”, particularly when PBL methodologies are warranted.
4. While recipient of all guidance, explanation and information offered to them by the “on-site mentors”, supervisors and facility personnel, each student will seek as much information as will make the placement meaningful and prepare the student for the recording of work in the learning portfolio.
5. Weekly entries onto the learning portfolio by the student, with the endorsement by the assigned supervisor, will form a significant component of the course’s assessment.

F. REQUIRED TEXT AND COURSE MATERIALS
none

G. REFERENCE MATERIALS
none

H. INSTRUCTIONAL COST
none

I. EVALUATION
None

J. CREDIT BY EXAMINATION
None