Exercises - PH 411: What Is Public Health?

In addition to a variety of learning activities, there are 3 instructor-evaluated activities associated with PH 411: (1) complete the individual exercise; (2) participate in a multi-learner conferencing exercise; and (3) complete and submit the assessment quiz. Each of these is explained below.

Learning Activities (Note: these ARE NOT to be submitted!)

A series of individual learning exercises for this module are provided below. Completing these exercises will familiarize you with the knowledge, skills and attitudes that relate to the competency expectation for this module that is described above. Note that learners are not required to submit written response for these learning exercises. Completing these exercises, however, will prepare you for components of this module that are assessed and scored.

1. Read Chapter 1, Public Health: What It Is and How and Works, 3rd Edition or review similar information provided in the following online resources:
   • Orientation to Public Health - an online introductory training course developed by the New York-New Jersey Public Health Training Center (see information under Conferencing Exercise below if you encounter problems accessing this site)
   • What Is Public Health? - an online training module developed by the Public Health Data Standards Consortium
   • What Is Public Health? (PDF document) - Chapter 1 of Public Health: A Legislator's Guide, developed by the National Conference of State Legislatures
   • What Is Public Health: An Orientation to the Public Health System for Participants and Spectators (PDF document) - Introduction to public health core functions and essential public health services developed by a leadership team completing the Mid America Regional Public Health Leadership Institute
2. There is little written in history books about public health problems and responses suggesting that these issues have had little impact on history. Consider the European colonization of the Americas beginning in the 16th century. How was it possible for Hernan Cortes and other European figures to overcome longstanding Native American cultures consisting of millions of people? What role, if any, did public health themes and issues play?
3. Read the case study Snow on Cholera: Part 1.  What aspects of Snow’s journal reflect modern thinking about the communicability of diseases? What aspects reflect thinking prior to the germ theory? Which factors described in Snow’s journal contributed most to the control of the cholera outbreak near Golden Square? (For those who want to learn more about John Snow, there is an entire web site devoted to his life and times, including a very interesting audio and slide presentation developed at the University of North Carolina School of Public Health.)
4. Reflect back on John Snow's investigations into the cholera outbreak near Golden Square in Snow on Cholera: Part 1 and Snow's revered status in public health history. Two features often stand out: his use of the spot map and removal of the pump's handle. But Snow's own text and data do not support contentions that he used a map to identify the source of the outbreak or that the outbreak subsided only after the pump handle was removed. With the drama of the pump handle removal being questioned and the map occupying a more illustrative than central role, do you believe that Snow's revered place in public health history should be reconsidered? Why or why not?



5. Review the History of Selected Public Health Events in Chicago from 1834-1999 and Public Health in Illinois: A Timeline. (If you are not from Illinois and can access similar information from your state, please feel free to do so in your response to this question!) Consider how public health strategies and interventions have changed over time in the U.S. What influences were most responsible for these changes? Does this suggest that public health functions have changed over time as well?
6. Access the National Library of Medicine web site and conduct an online literature search of keywords related to the definition, development, and current status of public health practice in the U.S. Indicate the parameters used in this search and the general contents of an interesting article that you found.
7. Examine each of the web sites listed below and become familiar with their general contents. Which ones did you find to be the most useful for providing information and insights related to the central topic of PH 411 ("What Is Public Health?")? Why? Are there other web sites you would suggest adding to this list?
   
   • American Public Health Association
   • Association of State and Territorial Health Officials
   • National Association of County and City Health Officials
   • Public Health Foundation
   • US Department of Health and Human Services and its various Public Health Service Agencies (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Food and Drug Administration, Health Resources and Services Administration, National Institutes of Health, Agency for Health Care Policy and Research, etc.)
   • US Environmental Protection Agency
   • State Health Departments (such as the Illinois Department of Public Health or others that you may find at the ASTHO web site)
   • Local Health Departments (such as the Chicago Department of Public Health or others you may find through some of the various national web sites or those of state health departments)
   • Association of Schools of Public Health and individual schools (such as the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health and others accessible through the ASPH web site)
8. Review the Public Health Code of Ethics. Then identify a public health figure, past or present, whose career you believe embodies these principles. Briefly explain the rationale for your choice.

Evaluated Activities (Note: these ARE to be submitted!)

(1) Individual Exercise

Each learner will submit a response to the following exercise. Approximately 500 words per response is suggested! Produce your response on a separate document to be uploaded at the "Submit Assignments" link. Please use "PH 411 Individual Exercise" as the title of your submission.

You and your co-workers have been instructed to develop two slide presentations for your boss, who is the director of a medium-sized local health department in a community with a population of approximately 75,000 persons. Your boss will be speaking for approximately 30 minutes at two different meetings: (1) a meeting of the local Chamber of Commerce at their monthly luncheon meeting; and (2) a meeting of the medical staff at the local hospital. She believes that about 15 slides will be necessary to convey the important messages about what public health is and how it works to these two audiences.

Based on the content from this module of the course, identify the messages and content of the 15 slides that you would prepare for your boss to use for these speaking engagements. You need to determine if the there should be one presentation for both audiences or different presentations for each audience. Review the suggested approaches provided by your staff co-workers. After reviewing the input from your co-workers, develop a brief outline of the topics that you would include on each slide. Remember, you are not being asked to create the slides here, but rather to indicate their content!

(2) Conferencing Exercise

Add your contributions to this multi-learner conferencing exercise. Produce your response on a separate document to be uploaded at the "Submit Assignments" link. Please use "PH 411 Conferencing Exercises" as the title of your submission.

Review the online orientation program for the technical and support staff working at the local health department in your jurisdiction. This Orientation to Public Health will require you to register and complete the training program online. This training can be completed in about 45-60 minutes. After completing the program (you will receive a certificate for that accomplishment), briefly critique this training program identifying its strengths and weaknesses, including your recommendations as to how it might be revised to serve its intended purpose. (Note: if you receive a "time out" error message when running this program, it may be necessary to go directly to the URL for this training program <http://www.nynj-phtc.org/orientation/> rather than working through LearningSpace. You can do this by pasting the URL above directly into your browser, closing LearningSpace, completing the program, and then coming back into LearningSpace.)

(3) Assessment Quiz

Follow the LearningSpace link to the Assessment Quiz. You may be asked for your login ID and password to access the quiz through your Preparedness Center Personal Page. Complete the quiz and submit your responses. You make take the quiz several times.

Course Evaluation: All learners are asked to electronically complete a Course Evaluation Questionnaire; this is available to you as an electronic form and will be transmitted to a data base without your identity being known, and your instructor will have no way to link your identity to your comments. Before participating in these course evaluation activities, students should review the specific learning objectives established for this course (and others you may have taken as part of this series); these are available in the Syllabus. Evaluation of the course should focus on the extent to which these objectives were achieved.

PH 411 Exercises last revised April 18, 2006 (csong)