Curriculum

Public Health Overview

4 contact hours/credits will be available for successful completion of this session.

• Detail the history of public health services delivered in the United States
• Identify how the New to Public Health Residency Program can be used to develop and maintain a competent workforce, including a resource for recruitment, retention, and succession planning; training; and performance review and accountability
• Describe legal principles, scope, and the role of government within public health practice
• Demonstrate the use of plain language including the ability to support, use, and maintain communication technologies needed to interact with community residents
• Discuss the importance of reflection in professional practice

• Public Health 101
• Public Health Practice Models
• Discussion: Public Health Practice Models
• Public Health Law, Policy, and Ethics
• Scavenger Hunt
• Health Literacy
• Case Study: Plain Language
• Reflection

Accountability and Performance Management

7.5 contact hours/credits will be available for successful completion of this session.

• Recognize how public health performs according to accepted business standards and is held accountable in accordance with applicable federal, state, and local laws and policies
• Define how public health departments assure compliance with national and Public Health Accreditation Board standards
• Detail how organizational objectives are achieved and monitored through a performance management system
• Apply evidence-based and/or promising practices when implementing new or revised processes, programs, and/or interventions at the organizational level
• Identify nationally recognized framework quality improvement tools and methods and explain how they contribute to and maintain an organization-wide culture of quality improvement
• Describe how to establish a budgeting, auditing, billing, financial system, chart of expense and revenue accounts in compliance with federal, state, and local standards and processes
• Articulate how to secure grants or other funding (governmental and not) and how public health departments demonstrate compliance with an audit required for the sources of funding utilized

• Overview of Accountability and Performance Management
• Scavenger Hunt
• Quality Improvement
• Case Study: Quality Improvement
• Introduction to Evidence-Based Public Health
• Models, Methods, and Tools
• Programmatic Budgets and Funding
• Program Planning and Evaluation
• Public Health Accreditation
• Case Study: Continuous Quality Improvement
• Translating Evidence to Practice
• Professional Development

Health Equity

5.75 contact hours/credits will be available for successful completion of this session.

• Articulate how socioeconomic status, racism, and power impact health and wellbeing
• Identify how programs, policies, and practices within the five domains of the Healthy People 2030’s Social Determinants of Health (economic stability, education, health care, neighborhood/built environment, social and community context) positively or negatively impact the health of individuals, families, and communities
• Strategically coordinate health equity programming through a high level, strategic vision and/or subject matter expertise which can lead and act as a resource to support such work across the department
• Detail the levels of the Social Ecological Model of Health and how public health can intervene at various levels to improve health outcomes

• Health Equity 101
• Conditions of Health
• Social Determinants of Health
• Case Study: Social Ecological Model
• Neighborhoods and Health
• Power and Policies
• Discussion: Social Determinants
• Scavenger Hunt
• Health in All Policies
• Building Capacity and Sustaining Effort

Communicable Disease

7.25 contact hours/credits will be available for successful completion of this session.

• Explain how public health provides timely, statewide, and locally relevant and accurate information to the health care system and community on communicable diseases and their control
• Identify statewide and local communicable disease control community partners and their capacities
• Describe how public health receives laboratory reports and other relevant data; conducts disease investigations including contacting tracing and notification; and recognizes, identifies, and responds to communicable disease outbreaks for notifiable conditions in accordance with local, national, and state mandates and guidelines
• Determine how public health assures the availability of partner notification services for newly diagnosed case of syphilis, gonorrhea, and HIV according to CDC guidelines
• Define how public health assures the appropriate treatment of individuals who have active tuberculosis, including the provision of directly observed therapy in accordance with local and state laws and CDC guidelines
• Explain how public health supports the recognition of outbreaks and other events of public health significance by assuring capacity for the identification and characterization of the causative agents of disease and their origin, including those that are rare and unusual, at the appropriate level.
• Recognize how public health coordinates and integrates categorically funded communicable disease programs and services.
• Recognize how to access 24/7 laboratory resources capable of providing rapid detection
• Prioritize and respond to data requests, including vital records, and translate data into information and reports that are valid, statistically accurate, and accessible to the intended audiences
• Indicate how a public health organization maintains and procures the hardware and software needed to access electronic health information and to support the department’s operations and analysis of health data
• Validate that proper systems are in place to keep health and human resources data confidential in a public health organization.

• Overview of Communicable Disease
• Scavenger Hunt
• Surveillance and Disease Investigation
• Electronic Health Data
• Contact Tracing
• Epidemiology 101
• Motivational Interviewing
• Outbreaks
• Case Study: Legionnaire’s Disease Outbreak
• Discussion: Communicable Disease Surveillance, Investigation, Treatment, Counseling, and Prevention
• Tuberculosis 101
• Sexually Transmitted Diseases/Infections

Chronic Disease and Injury Prevention

7.25 contact hours/credits will be available for successful completion of this session.

• Explain how public health provides timely, statewide, and locally relevant and accurate information to the health care system and community on chronic disease and injury prevention and control
• Identify statewide and local chronic disease and injury prevention community partners and their capacities, develop, and implement a prioritized prevention plan, and seek funding for high priority initiatives
• Describe how public health can reduce statewide and community rates of tobacco use through a program that conforms to standards set by state or local laws and CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health, including activities to reduce youth initiation, increase cessation, and reduce secondhand smoke exposure, as well as exposure to harmful substances
• Identify how public health works actively with statewide and community partners to increase statewide and community rates of healthy eating and active living through a prioritized approach focusing on best and emerging practices aligned with national, state, and local guidelines for healthy eating and active living.
• Recognize how public health coordinates and integrates categorically funded chronic disease and injury prevention programs and services
• Evaluate ways to engage members of the community in a community health improvement process that draws from community health assessment data and establishes a plan for addressing priorities
• The community health improvement plan can serve as the basis for partnership development and coordination of effort and resources

• Chronic Disease Overview
• Scavenger Hunt
• Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity Prevention
• Tobacco Prevention
• Alcohol
• Injury Prevention
• Health Behaviors
• Policy, Systems, and Environmental Change
• What Works for Health
• Healthy People 2030
• CHA & CHIP Overview
• Case Study: Using Local Data for a Community Health Assessment
• Chronic Disease and Injury Prevention Showcase
• Discussion: CHA & CHIP

Environmental Health

8 contact hours/credits will be available for successful completion of this session.

• Provide timely, statewide, and locally relevant and accurate information to the state, health care system, and community on environmental public health issues and health impacts from common environmental or toxic exposures
• Identify statewide and local community environmental public health partners and their capacities, develop, and implement a prioritized plan, and seek action funding for high priority initiatives.
• Identify public health goals accomplished through environmental public health activities including laboratory testing, inspections, and oversight to protect food, recreation sites, and drinking water; manage liquid and solid waste streams safely; and identify other public health hazards related to environmental factors in accordance with federal, state, and local laws and regulations
• List ways to protect workers and the public from chemical and radiation hazards in accordance with federal, state, and local laws and regulations
• Articulate how to participate in broad land use planning and sustainable development to encourage decisions that promote positive public health outcomes (e.g., housing, and urban development, recreational facilities, and transportation systems) and resilient communities
• Recognize how public health coordinates and integrate categorically funded environmental public health programs and services.

• Overview of Environmental Health
• Scavenger Hunt
• Discussion: Interdisciplinary Roles in Environmental Public Health
• The Built Environment
• Food Safety
• Case Study: Food Safety
• Drinking Water
• Liquid and Solid Waste Management
• Lead
• Chemical and Radiation Hazards
• Radon
• Case Study: Radon
• Recreational Activities
• Zoonotic and Vector-Borne Diseases
• Planetary Health

Maternal, Child, and Family Health

8.25 contact hours/credits will be available for successful completion of this session.

• Detail how public health provides timely, statewide, and locally relevant, accurate information to the health care system and community on emerging and ongoing maternal child health trends
• Identify local maternal and child health community partners and their capacities
• Demonstrate life course expertise and an understanding of health disparities to understand how to develop a prioritized prevention plan and seek funding for high priority initiatives
• Describe, disseminate, and promote emerging and evidence-based information about early interventions in the prenatal and early childhood period that promote lifelong health and positive social-emotional development
• Explain how newborn screening is assured as mandated by a state or local governing body including wraparound services, reporting back, following up, and service engagement activities
• Recognize how to coordinate and integrate categorically funded maternal, child, and family health programs and services

• Overview of Maternal, Child, and Family Health
• Maternal Child Health Assurance
• WIC
• Scavenger Hunt
• Trauma Informed Care
• Discussion: Strategies to Prevent ACEs
• Case Study: ACEs
• Life Course Perspective
• Reproductive Justice
• Childhood Vaccines
• Vaccine Hesitancy
• Conspiracy Theories and Public Health

Access to and Linkage with Clinical Care

7.5 contact hours/credits will be available for successful completion of this session.

• Detail how public health provides timely, statewide, and locally relevant and accurate information to the health care system and community on access and linkage to clinical care (including behavioral health), healthcare system access, quality, and cost
• Locate what organizations inspect and license healthcare facilities, and license, monitors, and discipline healthcare providers, where applicable
• Identify healthcare partners and competencies and describe how to develop prioritized plans for increasing access to health homes and quality health care in addition to seek funding for high priority policy initiatives, in concert with national and statewide groups and local providers of health care
• Recognize how to coordinate and integrate categorically funded clinical health care
• Explain how public health convenes across governmental agencies, such as departments of transportation, aging, substance abuse/mental health, education, planning and development, or others, to promote
• health, prevent disease, and protect residents of the health department’s geopolitical jurisdiction.

• Health Care Coverage and Access to Care
• Scavenger Hunt
• Rural Health
• Substance Use Disorders and Mental Health
• Oral Health
• Transportation
• Aging
• American Indian/Alaska Native Health
• Discussion: Access to Quality Healthcare

Emergency Preparedness

8.25 contact hours/credits will be available for successful completion of this session.

• Describe how public health develops, exercises, and maintains preparedness and response strategies and plans in accordance with established guidelines to address natural or other disasters and emergencies, including special protection of vulnerable populations
• Recognize how public health leads the Emergency Support Function 8 – Public Health & Medical for the county, region, jurisdiction, and state
• Describe how public health activates the emergency response personnel and communications systems in the event of public health crisis
• Detail how public health coordinates with federal, state, and local emergency managers and other first responders and operates within, and as necessary leads, the incident management system
• Articulate how public health maintains and executes a continuity of operations plan that includes a plan to access financial resources to execute an emergency and recovery response
• Demonstrate how to establish and promote basic, ongoing community readiness, resilience, and preparedness by enabling the public to take necessary action before, during, or after a disaster
• Explain how public health issues and enforces emergency health orders
• Express how public health is notified and responds to events on a 24/7 basis
• Indicate how public health functions as a Laboratory Response Network (LRN) Reference laboratory for biological agents and as an LRN chemical laboratory at a level designated by CDC

• Emergency Preparedness 101
• Scavenger Hunt
• Incident Command System
• National Incident Management System
• Preparedness Laws and Regulations
• Public Health Response
• Case Study: Emergency Preparedness and Response
• Laboratory Response Network
• Psychological Resilience
• Discussion: Psychological Resilience
• Crisis and Risk Communication
• Community Readiness and Resiliency

Leadership and Policy Development

5.25 contact hours/credits will be available for successful completion of this session.

• Demonstrate ability to lead internal and external stakeholders to consensus, with movement to action, and to serve as the public face of governmental public health in the department’s jurisdiction
• Discuss how to directly engage in health policy development, discussion, and adoption with local, state, and national policymakers, and to define a strategic direction of public health initiatives
• Articulate how to engage with the appropriate governing entity about the department’s public health legal authorities and what new laws and policies might be needed
• Describe the ability to access and appropriately use legal services in planning, implementing, and enforcing, public health initiatives, including relevant administrative rules and due process
• Explain how public health serves as a primary and expert resource for establishing, maintaining, and developing basic public health policy recommendations that are evidence-based, grounded in law, and legally defendable. This ability includes researching, analyzing, costing out, and articulating the impact of such policies and rules where appropriate, as well as the ability to organize support for these policies and rules and place them before an entity with the legal authority to adopt them
• Detail how to effectively inform and influence polices being considered by other governmental and non-governmental agencies within your jurisdiction that can improve the physical, environmental, social, and economic conditions affecting health but are beyond the immediate scope or authority of the governmental public health department

• Public Health Leadership
• Introduction to Policy Development
• Health in All Policies
• Scavenger Hunt
• Public Health Advocacy
• Collaborative Decision Making
• Case Study: Liberating Structures
• Public Health Authority
• Discussion: Health in All Policies
• Professional Organizations
• Professional Certification

Communications and Community Partnership Development

6 contact hours/credits will be available for successful completion of this session.

• Identify how to maintain ongoing relations with local and statewide media including the ability to write a press release, conduct a press conference, and use electronic communication tools to interact with the media
• Detail how to write and implement a routine communication plan that articulates the health department’s mission, value, role, and responsibilities in its community, and support department and community leadership in communicating these messages
• Recognize how public health transmits and receives routine communications to and from the public in an appropriate, timely, and accurate manner, on a 24/7 basis
• Explain how to develop and implement a proactive health education/health prevention strategy (distinct from other risk communications) that disseminates timely and accurate information to the public in culturally and linguistically appropriate (i.e., 508 compliant) formats for the various communities served, including through the use of electronic communication tools.
• Discuss how to create, convene, and sustain strategic, non-program specific relationships with key health-related organizations; community groups or organizations representing populations experiencing health disparities or inequities; private businesses and health care organizations; and relevant federal, tribal, state, and local government agencies and nonelected officials
• Illustrate ability to create, convene, and support strategic partnerships
• Demonstrate ability to maintain trust with and engage community residents at the grassroots level
• Explain how to strategically select and articulate governmental public health roles in programmatic and policy activities and coordinate with these partners.

• Scavenger Hunt
• Health Communication
• Discussion: Health Communication
• Media
• Health Education
• Community Engagement
• Community Coalitions
• Case Study: Community Coalitions
• Public Health 3.0

Evidence-Based Public Health

2 contact hours/credits will be available for successful completion of this session.

• Ability to collect timely and sufficient foundational data to guide public health planning and decision making at the state and local level, including the personnel and technology that enable collection. ​
• ​Ability to collect, access, analyze, interpret, and use data from a variety of sources including granular data and data disaggregated by geography (e.g., census tract, zip code), sub-populations, race, ethnicity, and other variables that fully describe the health and well-being of a community and the factors that influence health. 

• Foundational Data
• Dissemination and Implementation
• Presentation of Evidence-Based Practice Projects