The purpose of this Research Topic is to increase the shared understanding of education of health workers of all disciplines and all academic levels engaged in public health from the perspective of individual countries and specific regions around the globe. The variation in pedagogical models across the world is impressive, and this Research Topic strives to capture examples from a wide spectrum of educational frameworks.
Public health is interdisciplinary in nature and is defined for purposes of this Research Topic to encompass activities performed by those of many disciplines, including those who claim public health as their primary discipline. Moreover, those delivering public health services include workers with all levels of formal education, from community-trained healers to highly-trained physicians. This Research Topic therefore seeks insights about training at all academic levels, from brief community-based training to new baccalaureate programs to post-graduate advanced degrees.
All Article Types are welcome, including original research, evaluation studies, reviews and mini-reviews, and perspectives. A new article type, Curriculum, Instruction and Pedagogy, is designed for descriptive articles that focus on competency models, teaching modalities, innovative courses, and clinical versus management curricula, with local or global emphasis. A second new article type, Community-Based Case Study, allows yet another opportunity to capture how educational models are tailored to local context.
Articles are invited that review what’s been done in the past, describe current education initiatives, or propose what will be essential for the future to prepare an interdisciplinary workforce promoting public health in all facets of life. Numerous aspects of the education and training of the workforce affect the ability to achieve the global as well as national goals of access, prevention, and care. Articles are welcome on subjects ranging from curricula critiques to descriptions of national frameworks to innovative programs to upgrade current practitioners.
Cross-national issues for consideration are becoming forefront as patients and workforce members cross country lines with increasing frequency. These include, but are not limited to, the impact of immigration and emigration on a nation’s supply of health workers, recognition of health workforce credentials across borders, international versus national academic accreditation, appropriate mix of different disciplines, skills and knowledge competencies that span borders, and public health as a free-standing discipline versus a component of clinical disciplines. The experiences within countries and regions can contribute to these discussions.
Before global challenges are mastered, local, regional and country-specific education baselines must be understood. This Research Topic aims to achieve this shared knowledge. Evaluation and comparative research studies can then build on this foundation. Ultimately, the pedagogy for a systems approach to health workforce education, as Frenk and Chen have suggested, will be advanced.(1)
(1) Frenk, J and Chen, L. Health Professionals for a New Century. Boston, MA: Harvard School of Public Health. May 2011. ISBN 9780674061484
The purpose of this Research Topic is to increase the shared understanding of education of health workers of all disciplines and all academic levels engaged in public health from the perspective of individual countries and specific regions around the globe. The variation in pedagogical models across the world is impressive, and this Research Topic strives to capture examples from a wide spectrum of educational frameworks.
Public health is interdisciplinary in nature and is defined for purposes of this Research Topic to encompass activities performed by those of many disciplines, including those who claim public health as their primary discipline. Moreover, those delivering public health services include workers with all levels of formal education, from community-trained healers to highly-trained physicians. This Research Topic therefore seeks insights about training at all academic levels, from brief community-based training to new baccalaureate programs to post-graduate advanced degrees.
All Article Types are welcome, including original research, evaluation studies, reviews and mini-reviews, and perspectives. A new article type, Curriculum, Instruction and Pedagogy, is designed for descriptive articles that focus on competency models, teaching modalities, innovative courses, and clinical versus management curricula, with local or global emphasis. A second new article type, Community-Based Case Study, allows yet another opportunity to capture how educational models are tailored to local context.
Articles are invited that review what’s been done in the past, describe current education initiatives, or propose what will be essential for the future to prepare an interdisciplinary workforce promoting public health in all facets of life. Numerous aspects of the education and training of the workforce affect the ability to achieve the global as well as national goals of access, prevention, and care. Articles are welcome on subjects ranging from curricula critiques to descriptions of national frameworks to innovative programs to upgrade current practitioners.
Cross-national issues for consideration are becoming forefront as patients and workforce members cross country lines with increasing frequency. These include, but are not limited to, the impact of immigration and emigration on a nation’s supply of health workers, recognition of health workforce credentials across borders, international versus national academic accreditation, appropriate mix of different disciplines, skills and knowledge competencies that span borders, and public health as a free-standing discipline versus a component of clinical disciplines. The experiences within countries and regions can contribute to these discussions.
Before global challenges are mastered, local, regional and country-specific education baselines must be understood. This Research Topic aims to achieve this shared knowledge. Evaluation and comparative research studies can then build on this foundation. Ultimately, the pedagogy for a systems approach to health workforce education, as Frenk and Chen have suggested, will be advanced.(1)
(1) Frenk, J and Chen, L. Health Professionals for a New Century. Boston, MA: Harvard School of Public Health. May 2011. ISBN 9780674061484
