title: Establishing a field epidemiology elective for medical students in Kenya: a strategy for increasing public health awareness and workforce capacity.
abstract: Medical students have limited exposure to field epidemiology, even though will assume public health roles after graduation. We established a 10-week elective in field epidemiology during medical school. Students attended one-week didactic sessions on epidemiology, and nine weeks in field placement sites. We administered pre- and post-tests to evaluate the training. We enrolled 34 students in 2011 and 2012. In 2011, we enrolled five of 24 applicants from a class of 280 medical students. In 2012, we enrolled 18 of 81 applicants from a class of 360 students; plus 11 who participated in the didactic sessions only. Among the 34 students who completed the didactic sessions, 74% were male, and their median age was 24 years (range: 22-26). The median pre-test score was 64% (range: 47-88%) and the median post-test score was 82% (range: 72-100%). Successful completion of the field projects was 100%. Six (30%) students were not aware of public health as a career option before this elective, 56% rated the field experience as outstanding, and 100% reported it increased their understanding of epidemiology. Implementing an elective in field epidemiology within the medical training is a highly acceptable strategy to increase awareness for public health among medical students.
authors.affiliation: US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, USA. Electronic address: dwi4@cdc.gov.
authors.forename: Wences
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Arvelo
authors.affiliation: Kenya Ministry of Health, Nairobi, Kenya.
authors.forename: Zeinab
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Gura
authors.affiliation: Kenya Ministry of Health, Nairobi, Kenya.
authors.forename: Samuel
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Amwayi
authors.affiliation: CTS Global, Inc., Assigned to: US Centers for Disease Control Prevention, East Africa, USA.
authors.forename: Petra
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Wiersma
authors.affiliation: Kenya Ministry of Health, Nairobi, Kenya.
authors.forename: Jared
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Omolo
authors.affiliation: US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, USA.
authors.forename: Steven
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Becknell
authors.affiliation: US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, USA.
authors.forename: Donna
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Jones
authors.affiliation: University of Nairobi, Nairobi, Kenya.
authors.forename: Dismas
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ongore
authors.affiliation: US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, USA.
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Dicker
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003479:Curriculum; D004504:Education, Medical, Undergraduate / Q000379:methods*; D004813:Epidemiology / Q000193:education*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007630:Kenya; D008297:Male; D011634:Public Health / Q000193:education; D012577:Schools, Medical; D013337:Students, Medical; D000078329:Workforce; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Africa; Field epidemiology; Medical elective; Workforce development