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Biomedical subjects

Karl E Umble

Publications and source records attributed to Karl E Umble.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

Impact studies in continuing education for health professions: update.

INTRODUCTION: This article critiques the questions asked and methods used in research syntheses in continuing education (CE) in the health professions, summarizes the findings of the syntheses, and makes recommendations for future CE research and practice. METHODS: We identified 15 research syntheses published after 1993 in which primary CE studies were reviewed and the performance (behavior) of health professionals and/or patient health outcomes were examined. RESULTS: The syntheses were categorized by the research questions they asked using a wave metaphor. Wave One (n = 3) syntheses sought to establish a general descriptive causal connection between CE and impact variables, asking, "Is CE effective, and for what outcomes?" Wave Two syntheses (n = 12) sought to explain the relationship between CE and impacts by identifying causal moderators, asking, "What kinds of CE are effective?" DISCUSSION: Wave One findings confirm previous research that CE can improve knowledge, skills, attitudes, behavior, and patient health outcomes. Wave Two syntheses show that CE, which is ongoing, interactive, contextually relevant, and based on needs assessment, can improve knowledge, skills, attitudes, behavior, and health care outcomes. The most important implication of the present review is that there are differential impacts of CE programs, and the reasons for those impacts cannot be fully understood unless the context of the program is considered.

Clinical Competence↗

An interdisciplinary MPH via distance learning: meeting the educational needs of practitioners.

This article describes a distance learning master of public health program that prepares students to lead programs and organizations. Evaluation showed that the curriculum, format, and teaching methods were accessible, affordable, acceptable, and appropriate for the working professional, and equivalent to residential master's programs aimed at experienced professionals. Students interacted with professors and other learners using the World Wide Web, weekly videoconferences, and face-to-face meetings. Students, whose main motivations for enrolling included improving job performance in leadership and career advancement, reported strengthening of knowledge, perspective, skill, technical facility, confidence, and job performance. Learner satisfaction was high, with 100% agreeing they would recommend the program to others.

Curriculum↗

Online analytic and technical training.

The authors describe the effect of online analytic and technical skills training tools on professional development and practice. Three questions were addressed: (1) Will maternal and child health and other public health professionals register for and engage in online training opportunities? (2) Was this mode of instruction perceived to be an effective means for learning specific skills? and (3) What was the impact of the tools on user knowledge, confidence, practice, and sharing of skills with colleagues? Evaluating open-enrollment online training posed significant challenges. Nonetheless, registration data and the responses to the online surveys affirmed that the opportunity for asynchronous, online learning was an effective means for learning specific skills.

Child↗

The Management Academy for Public Health: program design and critical success factors.

The Management Academy for Public Health is a team-based training program jointly offered by the School of Public Health and the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. This 9-month program teaches public health managers how to better manage people, information, and finances. Participants learn how to work in teams with community partners, and how to think and behave as social entrepreneurs. To practice and blend their new skills, teams develop a business plan that addresses a local public health issue. This article describes the program and explains the findings of the process evaluation, which has examined how best to structure and deploy a team-based method to create more effective, more entrepreneurial public health managers. Findings indicate that recruitment and retention are strong, program elements are relevant to learners' needs, and learners are satisfied with and value the program. Several specific benefits of the program model are identified, as well as several elements that support business plan success and skills' application on the job. On the basis of these findings, four success factors critical for developing similar programs are identified.

Entrepreneurship↗

The UNC Management Academy for Public Health: how the UNC School of Public Health and the Kenan-Flagler Business School created a winning partnership.

The University of North Carolina Management Academy for Public Health is a unique training program that combines a business education with a public health focus, to enhance the performance of individual public health managers and improve organizational strength throughout governmental public health. This article considers the implications of decisions made in creating this program, which, after initial funding through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Foundation, is now self-sustaining through participant fees. It details the principles behind the program's design, curriculum, evaluation, and sustainability strategies; presents results of the ongoing partnership; and draws conclusions about the program's future ability to meet a national need for public health management training.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S.↗

Evaluating the impact of the Management Academy for Public Health: developing entrepreneurial managers and organizations.

The Management Academy for Public Health is a management development program with the goals of helping public health managers learn to manage people, data, and finance, to think and plan like entrepreneurs, and to strengthen public health organizations. Managers enroll as teams and develop business plans in the Academy's extensive project-based learning component. Extensive internal and external evaluation shows that the program improves managers' knowledge, skills, and confidence in key curriculum areas; that participants apply many of the skills in their jobs; that many of the business plans receive funding, resulting in new public health programs; that the training experience helped agencies respond and plan after September 11, 2001; and that many participants report beginning to think more like entrepreneurs through activities like teaming, partnering, innovating, negotiating, finding funds, and generating revenue. The program demonstrates that robust training including extensive work-based project work with coaching can help public health managers gain many skills needed for the drive to "reinvent" government.

Entrepreneurship↗