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 hea...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Public health reports (1974) 2008-01, Vol.123 (2_suppl), p.36-43
Main Authors: Alexander, Lorraine K., Dail, Kathy, Horney, Jennifer A., Davis, Mary V., Wallace, John W., Maillard, Jean-Marie, MacDonald, Pia
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Clinical Competence
Collaboration
Communicable Disease Control
Community health
Confidence intervals
Continuing education
Cooperative Behavior
Counties
Course content
Curricula
Disease
Disease control
Disease outbreaks
Diseases
Education
Education, Continuing
Education, Distance
Epidemiology
Epidemiology - education
Health surveillance
Humans
Infectious diseases
Internet
Medical personnel
Medical practice
Needs Assessment
North Carolina
Nurses
Population Surveillance
PRACTICE
Public health
Public health education
Public Health Nursing - education
Skills
Statistical analysis
Surveillance
Teaching
Training
Trust
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Summary: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.
ISSN:0033-3549
1468-2877
DOI:10.1177/00333549081230S206