Partnering to meet training needs: a communicable-disease continuing education course for public health nurses in North Carolina.
In 2004, the General Communicable Disease Control Branch of the North Carolina Division of Public Health and the North Carolina Center for Public Health Preparedness partnered to create a free continuing education course in communicable-disease surveillance and outbreak investigations for public health nurses. The course was a competency-based curriculum with 14 weeks of Internet-based instruction, culminating in a two-day classroom-based skills demonstration. In spring 2006, the course became mandatory for all public health nurses who spend at least three-fourths of their time on tasks related to communicable diseases. As of December 2006, 177 nurses specializing in communicable diseases from 74 North Carolina counties had completed the course. Evaluations indicated that participants showed statistically significant improvements in self-perceived confidence to perform competencies addressed by the course. This course has become a successful model that combines academic expertise in curriculum development and teaching technologies with practical expertise in course content and audience needs. Through a combination of Internet and classroom instruction, this course has delivered competency-based training to the public health professionals who perform as frontline epidemiologists throughout North Carolina.
Alexander
Lorraine K
LK
Department of Epidemiology, The University of North Carolina School of Public Health, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7435, USA. Lorraine_Alexander@unc.edu
Dail
Kathy
K
Horney
Jennifer A
JA
Davis
Mary V
MV
Wallace
John W
JW
Maillard
Jean-Marie
JM
MacDonald
Pia
P
D002983:Clinical Competence; D003140:Communicable Disease Control; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D004496:Education, Continuing; D020375:Education, Distance; D004813:Epidemiology / Q000193:education*; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D020380:Needs Assessment; D009657:North Carolina; D011159:Population Surveillance; D011637:Public Health Nursing / Q000193:education*
Health Educ Res. 2001 Dec;16(6):735-45
11780711
J Public Health Manag Pract. 2003 Mar-Apr;9(2):123-35
12629913
J Public Health Manag Pract. 2005 Nov;Suppl:S119-22
16205530