Public Health Practice 101

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Public Health Practice 101

• Module I
• Introductory Learning Module

Henry G. Taylor MD MPH Public Health Education
Program htaylor_at_hepc.wvnet.edu
Rachel T. Abraham MD MPH WVU Office of Public
Health Practice rabraham_at_hsc.wvu.edu
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Course Objectives

• By the end of these modules, the learner will
• Be familiar with basic concepts of public health
  practice
• Understand 4 ways to describe and define public
  health
• Describe the Public Health System at multiple
  levels
• Recite the 3 Core Functions of Public Health
• Recognize the 10 Essential Services
• Be aware of the 13 Core Competencies of Public
  Health
• Recognize the variety of public health careers
• Identify their own role in public health

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Module Objectives

• By the end of this module, the learner will
• Have a general idea of the breadth or scope of
  public health practice
• Be able to describe how the root causes of death
  in the US population have shifted from infections
  to lifestyles
• Recognize the ecologic model of health
• Be aware of the multiple determinants of health
  and disease, especially genetic, environmental,
  and social factors influencing health

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C.E.A. Winslow 1920

• The science and art of preventing disease and
  promoting health and efficiency through organized
  community effort.
• Functions, or categories of public health effort
• Sanitation of the environment
• Control of community infections
• Education of individuals in personal hygiene
• Organization of medical and nursing service for
  early diagnosis and preventive treatment
• Development of social machinery

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Tradition of Public Health

• Most of the gains in life expectancy are due to
  public health interventions.
• In the early 20th century, infectious diseases
  were reduced.
• In the later 20th century, injuries and chronic
  disease were addressed.
• The same skills and methods can be used to deal
  with emerging problems.

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How Healthy Are We?

• It is unfortunate that in the absence of
  epidemics and pestilence, too little attention is
  paid to the protection of the public health, and
  as a necessary consequence, to . . . those whose
  duties require them to guard the public health.
• JAMA 93

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4 Eras of US Public Health

• Prior to 1850
• Coped with epidemics, either by avoiding contact
  through quarantine, or adapting to waves of
  infection
• 1850 to 1949
• Sanitary reform through state and local
  infrastructure
• 1950 to present
• Confronted specific diseases through treatments
• 2001 to present
• Terrorism biological and chemical intentional
  injury
• Chronic disease prevention and management

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Antibiotics
Sanitary Engineering
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On Airs, Waters, and Places (5th century BC)

• Hippocrates spearheaded a move away from looking
  to blame demons for disease and injury
• In late 1800s, Koch and Virchow were two
  pathologists with different theories about the
  cause of typhus (Koch won).

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The Ecologic Model of health
A guide to thinking about the determinants of
population health
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C.E.A. Winslow 1920

• The science and art of preventing disease and
  promoting health and efficiency through organized
  community effort.
• Functions
• Sanitation of the environment
• Control of community infections
• Education of individuals in personal hygiene
• Organization of medical and nursing service for
  early diagnosis and preventive treatment
• Development of social machinery