Report on the use of communication technology by a sample of public health professionals in NSW

Abstract

Executive summaryA qualitative survey was carried out with a small sample of senior public health professionals to describe: the types of communication technology that they currently use; the situations in which they apply these at work; and their interest in pursuing these techniques in the future. Six techniques were investigated: teleconferencing, web bulletin boards, web conferencing, videoconferencing, media streaming and satellite television.Thirteen public health professionals were invited to be interviewed and 12 agreed to participate (response rate 92%). Participants were people working in population health structures in the area health services in New South Wales (NSW) and the NSW Department of Health. Participants were interviewed using a structured survey that examined their: roles and responsibilities; experience of using communication technology; and barriers or enablers to their use. In contrast, factors that prevented use were the lack of availability of equipment, the lack of experience and skills in setting up and operating the technology and the perceived associated costs.Many raised cost as an issue, inferring that cheap delivery increased the chance of uptake. However, there is a tradeoff between cost and quality of delivery for many of these techniques. Better quality transmission of videoconferencing is associated with higher bandwidth transmission and higher cost.To integrate the use of communication technology into public health practice, a strategy is required that complements the traditional face-to-face approach. The strategy should increase awareness of the types of techniques available, the benefits they provide and the situations in which they are best applied. The challenge for the public health workforce is to clearly articulate their requirements and to successfully and comprehensively integrate a range of communication techniques into practice.

Evaluation of three population health capacity building projects delivered by videoconferencing in NSW

“…3 The participation of experts in the sessions generated interest in these projects; previous evaluations of the delivery of Bug Breakfast in NSW has shown that remote participants especially value the opportunity to interact with experts. 4,5 Videoconferencing should however be viewed as only one vehicle for providing capacity building and the mode of delivery chosen to deliver a learning session should fit both the purpose of a session and the resources available. 6 The geographical distance spanned by these projects was large.…”

Introduction

“…For example, in response to interest from other groups in using the Bug Breakfast model to deliver training, the Division of Population Health has developed a Bug Breakfast Delivery Manual. 1,2 The other communication techniques explored in these studies were not commonly used.…”