Proposing a Marriage of Academe and Public Health

Abstract

Today’s national priorities include health, outcomes, and a competent public health workforce. The Institute of Medicine (IOM) reports continue to push the national Healthy People agenda.1–3 With wildly different organizational cultures, academic-public health collaborations have been likened to a “divorce settlement, with each party speaking past the other or through a representative, but never really hearing what the other has to say.”4 Yet, the IOM educational report recommends that schools of public health actively seek opportunities for collaboration with other academic departments and communities for improved communitybased research, learning, and service.3 The National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO), the organization that represents all local governmental public health agencies, focuses on developing tools, publications, programs, and public advocacy designed to facilitate effective and innovative public health practice.5 Sharing model practices and workforce development results are two of the NACCHO priorities. Further, cooperative agreements between the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Association of Teachers of Preventive Medicine (ATPM) led by Kristine Gebbie resulted in the creation of the competency-based curricula toolkit, with the goal that graduates of schools of public health will have the knowledge, skills, and abilities to deliver essential public health services in all program areas.6 Within this context, the School of Public Health (SPH) and Health Sciences Library (HSL) of New York Medical College (NYMC) and two local public health departments in Hudson Valley New York developed a successful relationship built on mutual respect, mutual needs, a spirit of openness, and a willingness to test academic models and training in real working settings. The levels of involvement include the dean, county health director or commissioner, faculty and public health workers. Orange and Putnam county health departments volunteered to participate. Public health informatics was the underlying thread of what became our collaborative project. Public health informatics is defined by Yasnoff et al. as “the systematic application of information, computer science and technology to public health practice and learning.”3 Relevant questions included: What is the current status of public health workers in terms of competencies, information needs, and capabilities? How can we assess them, and then how can we better meet their informational needs? A knowledgeable workforce is critical to the entire public health infrastructure. The IOM has detailed at some length the immense potential of informatics for public health; informatics has the potential to transform practice and present-day capacity.3 The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) completed a first step by funding a national study of public health workforce characteristics including profiles by title, function, and educational background.7 A clear understanding of worker profiles and competencies is basic to developing educational curriculum as well as providing on-the-job training in public health practice. For academics, informatics is central to the entire curriculum and is one of the eight content areas targeted by the IOM. This paper describes key success factors needed to meld this partnership from its inception, predicated on a dynamic relationship that is built on continuous communication.