Strengthening core competences of medical and public health students for public health emergencies

Background

The importance of public health capacity development with a focus on public health emergencies and humanitarian assistance is continuously increasing at the global scale. In the time of Public Health Emergencies of International Concern is crucial to provide basic training in core public health competences to all health professionals, including students. Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry, Palacký University Olomouc, Czech Republic (full ASPHER member), implemented in medical as well as public health curricula new topics focused on core competences of health professionals in the area of public health emergencies and humanitarian assistance.

Objectives

To strengthen competences and skills of medical as well as public health students to prepare them better for public health emergencies and humanitarian assistance in the time of increasing risk of global public health emergencies. New modules were proposed and tested in all education programmes at our Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry, Palacký University Olomouc (CZ): General Medicine (Czech and English programmes), Dentistry (Czech and English programmes) and Public Health (Czech programme).

Results

New modules on Public Health Emergencies, including preparedness, responses, risk management and risk communication were successfully tested in all education programmes during the academic year 2018/19 and fully implemented for the academic year 2019/20. New module has blended learning structure based on combination of face-to-face seminars and exercises with e-learning parts, including self-assessment. New module is presented in details.

Conclusions

This new education module fully supports international recommendations to strengthen public health competences and skills of medical as well as public health students to be ready for any unexpected public health emergencies at all levels, in particular at the local community level. COVID-19 pandemic confirmed.

Supported by university project CZ.02.69/0.0/16_015/0002337

Key messages

Medical and public health students with competences and skills on public health emergencies and humanitarian assistance will be an asset for any public health emergency of international concern.

New education module on public health emergencies will support both medical and public health students to be prepared for risk communication, advocacy and action if needed and called to action.

Review of pandemic plans, varying international approaches focusing on medical students’ contribution

A review of pandemic plans and international approaches to pandemics focusing on the responsibilities of medical students should they be called to help in times of need. Are there specific guidelines or competencies in place with respect to medical students? Are medical students being utilised to their maximal capability when compared across different nations on an international basis? These questions were kept in mind during the evaluation and analysis of publicly available pandemic plans and other international systems concerning the approach to pandemics. The main differences, strengths and weaknesses of these responses will be highlighted. The presentation will conclude with proposals of the specific role medical students could play in the pandemic response and the importance of their contribution on an international level.

Future visions for medical education, the importance of public health themes in education and beyond

Steps for the future improvement of competencies evaluation and fulfilment were studied, with the eventual goal of the unification of guidelines internationally to ensure the standardisation and uniformity of the quality of medical education. The future vision for the integration of public health into medical education curriculums, highlighting the importance of public health in medical education and its application in a wide variety of situations across medical education and beyond in practise as a medical professional in a range of specialities. The need for ways to increase engagement of medical students within public health issues will also be discussed.

Personal experiences of medical school education: methods to evaluate competency and ways to improve

Personal experiences of medical school education and the manner in which it is delivered will be discussed. Examples of approaches used for student evaluation of different competencies and the methods to track their progress and development were identified. They were appraised, with their strengths and weaknesses discussed. Ideas to improve the approaches for competencies assessment in medical students were also explored.

Comparing European guidelines for medical student education focusing on emergency preparedness

A review of a variety of European guidelines for the assessment of medical students and their education, progression and preparedness for practise post-medical school. The various approaches were compared and contrasted with the advantages and disadvantages of each being evaluated. Their approaches towards emergency situation preparedness, or lack thereof, were also assessed.

ASPHER V4 Working Group supports the road map for professionalising the public health workforce

Background

The ASPHER V4 Working Group (WG) was established in 2016 and officially launched during the 9th European Public Health Conference in Vienna. One of the key objectives of the WG is to strengthen public health capacity development in V4 countries. The WG supports the implementation of the recently reviewed European Action Plan for Strengthening Public Health Capacities (EAP). The EAP’s review highlighted the need to focus further action on four enabling Essential Public Health Functions (EPHOs) including human resources for public health. This is why the WG is heavily involved in the recent development of a new Road map for professionalising the public health workforce, one of the products of the recently established Coalition of Partners (CoP) that was convened by the WHO Regional Office for Europe in close cooperation with ASPHER and Maastricht University.

Objectives

Supporting the WHO CoP with a focus on development and further implementation of a new Road map for professionalising public health workforce in V4 countries. Using a new rapid assessment tool to evaluate the state of the public health profession in the Czech Republic. Sharing the report on the current state of public health professions in the Czech Republic with the WG and using it as a comparison of the current state in all V4 countries.

Results

Key strengths and weaknesses of the first rapid assessment of the current state of the public health profession in the Czech Republic are presented. Key actions are proposed for the WG: a) Preparation of a grant proposal to the International V4 Fund and b) Continuing active involvement in CoP activities.

Conclusions

The rapid assessment tool for evaluating the state of the public health profession was successfully implemented in the Czech Republic with the close cooperation of academia, researchers, policy makers and practitioners. The summary confirms that further work on the professionalization of the public health workforce is needed.

Key messages

ASPHER V4 WG is strongly involved in the development of a new road map for professionalising the public health workforce, coordinated by the WHO CoP, ASPHER and Maastricht University. Summary of the first rapid assessment of the current state of the public health profession in the Czech Republic confirms the importance of further action in this area of work.