Evaluation of Advanced Field Epidemiology Training Programs in the Eastern Mediterranean Region: A Multi-Country Study

Nsour, Mohannad Al; Khader, Yousef; Bashier, Haitham; Alsoukhni, Majd

doi:10.3389/fpubh.2021.684174

Cited by 10 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…These programs, which mostly function within ministries of health, have conducted most of the surveillance of emerging infections worldwide and have trained most of the public health workers who manage surveillance systems at a country or regional level [ 49 ]. In a recent evaluation study, it was shown that approximately two-thirds of FETP graduates in the EMR are engaged in managing PHS systems or analyzing surveillance data [ 51 ]. During the COVID-19 outbreak, the efforts of FETP graduates in supporting the surveillance functions within their countries were witnessed firsthand within the EMR [ 11 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Public Health Surveillance Systems in the Eastern Mediterranean Region: Bibliometric Analysis of Scientific Literature

Saad¹,

Nsour²,

Khader³

et al. 2021

JMIR Public Health Surveill

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Background The Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR) hosts some of the world’s worst humanitarian and health crises. The implementation of health surveillance in this region has faced multiple constraints. New and novel approaches in surveillance are in a constant state of high and immediate demand. Identifying the existing literature on surveillance helps foster an understanding of scientific development and thus potentially supports future development directions. Objective This study aims to illustrate the scientific production, quantify the scholarly impact, and highlight the characteristics of publications on public health surveillance in the EMR over the past decade. Methods We performed a Scopus search using keywords related to public health surveillance or its disciplines, cross-referenced with EMR countries, from 2011 to July 2021. Data were exported and analyzed using Microsoft Excel and Visualization of Similarities Viewer. Quality of journals was determined using SCImago Journal Rank and CiteScore. Results We retrieved 1987 documents, of which 1927 (96.98%) were articles or reviews. There has been an incremental increase in the number of publications (exponential growth, R2=0.80) over the past decade. Publications were mostly affiliated with Iran (501/1987, 25.21%), the United States (468/1987, 23.55%), Pakistan (243/1987, 12.23%), Egypt (224/1987, 11.27%), and Saudi Arabia (209/1987, 10.52%). However, Iran only had links with 40 other countries (total link strength 164), and the biggest collaborator from the EMR was Egypt, with 67 links (total link strength 402). Within the other EMR countries, only Morocco, Lebanon, and Jordan produced ≥79 publications in the 10-year period. Most publications (1551/1987, 78.06%) were affiliated with EMR universities. Most journals were categorized as medical journals, and the highest number of articles were published in the Eastern Mediterranean Health Journal (SCImago Journal Rank 0.442; CiteScore 1.5). Retrieved documents had an average of 18.4 (SD 125.5) citations per document and an h-index of 66. The top-3 most cited documents were from the Global Burden of Diseases study. We found 70 high-frequency terms, occurring ≥10 times in author keywords, connected in 3 clusters. COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, and pandemic represented the most recent 2020 cluster. Conclusions This is the first research study to quantify the published literature on public health surveillance and its disciplines in the EMR. Research productivity has steadily increased over the past decade, and Iran has been the leading country publishing relevant research. Recurrent recent surveillance themes included COVID-19 and SARS-CoV-2. This study also sheds light on the gaps in surveillance research in the EMR, including inadequate publications on noncommunicable diseases and injury-related surveillance.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Public Health Surveillance Systems in the Eastern Mediterranean Region: Bibliometric Analysis of Scientific Literature

Saad¹,

Nsour²,

Khader³

et al. 2021

JMIR Public Health Surveill

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“…As part of field epidemiology training, all trainees are expected to be involved in surveillance and outbreak reporting. Although it is unclear how many FETP graduates from these regions continue to perform outbreak- and surveillance-related activities after graduating, a previous study found that 65.7% of graduates from the Eastern Mediterranean region investigate outbreaks, and 69.9%–71.7% work in public health surveillance [5]. Assuming that approximately 70% of graduates in the WPRO and SEARO regions also conduct surveillance and outbreak reporting activities, we anticipate a sample frame for this study of 2,610 persons.…”

Section: Methods and Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Field epidemiology training programs (FETPs) produce skilled epidemiologists who learn to perform public health functions through experiential learning in field settings at the local and subnational level [4]. As part of their training, FETP trainees typically participate in surveillance and outbreak reporting activities [5]. Thus, FETP participants have unique insights into the various determinants of outbreak reporting, particularly at the local level.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigating the barriers and enablers to outbreak reporting in the Asia-Pacific region: a mixed-methods study protocol

Talwar,

Katz,

Kirk

et al. 2024

Preprint

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IntroductionThe COVID-19 pandemic has raised concerns about the global capacity for timely outbreak reporting. However, gaps remain in our understanding of barriers and enablers to outbreak reporting, particularly at the local level. Field epidemiology training program (FETP) fellows often participate in the outbreak reporting process as part of both their training and the public health roles they assume after graduating; they therefore represent a potentially valuable source of information for better understanding these barriers and enablers. This study will investigate the barriers and enablers to outbreak reporting through a mixed methods approach that will encompass a review of the existing literature as well as surveying and interviewing FETP trainees and graduates from the Asia-Pacific region.MethodsThis study will begin with a scoping review of the literature to identify existing evidence of barriers and enablers to outbreak reporting. Based on our findings from the scoping review, we will administer a survey to FETP trainees and graduates from the World Health Organization Western Pacific and South-East Asian Regions and conduct interviews with a subset of survey respondents to investigate the survey findings in more detail. We will summarise and compare the survey results according to various country-level economic and political indicators, and we will employ thematic analysis to evaluate the interview responses. Based on the findings from the scoping review, survey, and interviews, we will construct a model to comprehensively describe the various barriers and enablers to outbreak reporting.DiscussionThis study will contribute to our understanding of the determinants of outbreak reporting across several geographic, political, and economic contexts by eliciting the viewpoints and experiences of persons involved with outbreak reporting, particularly at the local level. This information will help improve the outbreak reporting process, allowing for more timely reporting and helping prevent future outbreaks from becoming pandemics.

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“…For instance, an evaluation of multiple FETP focused on Kirkpatrick’s levels 3 (behaviour) and 4 (results) found that most graduates engaged in field epidemiology activities and perceived their FETP experience to have helped them perform these roles. It did not assess programme competencies or skills of the graduates nor explicate the learning process 18…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

How do field epidemiologists learn? A protocol for a qualitative inquiry into learning in field epidemiology training programmes

Griffith,

Field,

Huang

et al. 2024

BMJ Open

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IntroductionCOVID-19 underscored the importance of field epidemiology training programmes (FETPs) as countries struggled with overwhelming demands. Experts are calling for more field epidemiologists with better training. Since 1951, FETPs have been building public health capacities across the globe, yet explorations of learning in these programmes are lacking. This qualitative study will (1) describe approaches to training field epidemiologists in FETP; (2) describe strategies for learning field epidemiology among FETP trainees and (3) explain the principles and practices aligning training approaches with learning strategies in FETP.Methods and analysisThe research design, implementation and interpretation are collaborative efforts with FETP trainers. Data collection will include interviews with FETP trainers and trainees and participant observations of FETP training and learning events in four FETP in the Western Pacific Region. Data analysis will occur in three phases: (1) we will use the constant comparison method of Charmaz’s grounded theory during open coding to identify and prioritise categories and properties in the data; (2) during focused coding, we will use constant comparison and Polkinghorne’s analysis of narratives, comparing stories of prioritised categories, to fill out properties of those categories and (3) we will use Polkinghorne’s narrative analysis to construct narratives that reflect domains of interest, identifying correspondence among Carr and Kemmis’s practices, understandings and situations to explain principles and processes of learning in FETP.Ethics and disseminationWe have obtained the required ethics approvals to conduct this research at The Australian National University (2021/771) and Taiwan’s Ministry of Health and Welfare (112206). Data will not be available publicly, but anonymised findings will be shared with FETP for collaborative interpretation. Ultimately, findings and interpretations will appear in peer-reviewed journals and conferences.

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Evaluation of Advanced Field Epidemiology Training Programs in the Eastern Mediterranean Region: A Multi-Country Study

Cited by 10 publications

References 14 publications

Public Health Surveillance Systems in the Eastern Mediterranean Region: Bibliometric Analysis of Scientific Literature

Public Health Surveillance Systems in the Eastern Mediterranean Region: Bibliometric Analysis of Scientific Literature

Investigating the barriers and enablers to outbreak reporting in the Asia-Pacific region: a mixed-methods study protocol

How do field epidemiologists learn? A protocol for a qualitative inquiry into learning in field epidemiology training programmes

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