Assessing the Status of Partnerships Between Academic Institutions and Public Health Agencies

Section: • Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Facilitators and Barriers for Effective Academic-Community Collaboration for Disaster Preparedness and Response

Dunlop

Logue

Vaidyanathan

et al. 2016

“…Yet, numerous studies have touted the importance of mutual benefit to both practice and academia as a necessary success factor for sustainable collaboration. 2,3,6,7,19 So, understanding how public health practitioners themselves perceive collaborations and conditions associated with a greater likelihood of a successful outcome is itself a relevant and important measure.…”

Section: • Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Such cooperation can greatly benefit a public health department, 3 can be mutually beneficial for a university, 4 and can provide benefits to the individual faculty members, students, and practitioners involved in the engagement. 5 Previous research has demonstrated that academicpractice collaboration can strengthen core public health functions, 6 emergency preparedness capabilities, 7,8 and overall scope of services offered.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Successful Academic–Public Health Practice Collaboration

McCullough¹

2015

While characteristics related to a public health practitioner's position are most significant in predicting whether a collaboration will occur, characteristics of the individual him- or herself are more relevant in predicting whether a collaboration will be successful. Public health managers interested in fostering an environment that promotes a successful academic-practice collaboration may benefit from ensuring that the public health practitioners involved in such collaborations are themselves trained in public health.

“…1 The separation may be influenced by the differing emphases on primary mission: teaching and research are valued more by academia, and service is the major focus of public health practice. 2,3 Despite AHD collaborative benefits reported in the literature, [3][4][5][6] AHDs are still few in number; however, renewed interest in establishing AHDs followed the January 2011 launch of an AHD Learning Community through the Council on Linkages Between Academia and Public Health Practice. 7 The Learning Community has a growing membership of more than 260.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Forming an Academic Health Department

Hamilton

Buchanan

Grubaugh

et al. 2014

The disconnect between public health practice and its academic base has major implications for training and hiring the future public health workforce, for practice-based research, and ultimately for improving the public's health. To bridge this disconnect, the University of Tennessee Department of Public Health and the Knox County Health Department established an academic health department in early 2011 through a memorandum of understanding. This action followed a long history of informal collaborations, built on mutual trust. The memorandum of understanding identified the scope of academic health department activities, clarified responsibilities of each organization, and created a shared coordinator position. Accomplishments during the first 18 months include improving the efficiency and effectiveness of student field placements; establishing collaborative learning sessions delivered jointly by University of Tennessee Department of Public Health faculty and Knox County Health Department staff; and exploring opportunities for practice-based research. The shared coordinator position and an active steering committee are considered fundamental to achieving sustainable academic-practice linkages.