Additional Attendees: Seth Eckhouse (BU School of Public Health)

New England Public Health Training Center Executive Committee meeting January 21, 2015 Recording available: http://bumedical.adobeconnect.com/p2f944606wz/ (audio only, some visuals were not captured appropriately by Adobe Connect) Meeting Participants: Anna Adachi Mejia (Dartmouth College), Lynn Blevins (University of Vermont), Katie Boss (BU School of Public Health), Anne Fidler (BU School of Public Health), Kristina Fjeld Sparks (Dartmouth College), Dawn Heffernan (UMass Amherst), Hope Kenefick (evaluator), Kathleen MacVarish (BU School of Public Health), Elaine O Keefe (Yale University), Karen O Rourke (University of New England), Sharon Ravid (BU School of Public Health), Kathi Traugh (Yale University), and Jennifer Tsoi (BU School of Public Health) Additional Attendees: Seth Eckhouse (BU School of Public Health) NEPHTC Administrative Three states are still missing names for the Advisory Committee. Once those names are received, BUSPH will schedule a spring meeting. The Instructional Designer search is still ongoing. Candidates that have been interviewed were not a good fit for the position. In the interim, BUSPH is interviewing two instructional design firms to start learning more about meeting 508 compliance. BUSPH gave three modules to each firm to review and develop a quote. BUSPH has not received the quotes yet. Site Visit HRSA informed BUSPH last week that the funding for travel has ended and they will not be coming to Boston for an in person site visit. Instead, future monthly calls with HRSA will cover some of the business items they wanted to discuss during the site visit. In the future, we may set up a webinar meeting with webcams, so the HRSA personnel can meet the LPS staff in person. Results from the polling question indicate that most LPS have access to a computer, phone and webcam. BUSPH is happy to set up test runs with any LPS or partner prior to a meeting with HRSA to ensure all the technology is working properly. Needs Assessment Kathi Traugh from Yale gave a status report on the needs assessment. She outlined the ten step process for the key informant interviews, showing that they are well into the process. The interviews will yield qualitative, insightful information, which will help answer many of the information needs. These include understanding each state s use of competencies, training needs assessment and workforce development plans; the current training infrastructure in each state, including which LMS they use; strengths and challenges; how training priorities are currently developed and the relationship between workforce development and other priorities in the state. These interviews should give the big picture as well as identify possible partners for the NEPHTC to meet needs. Kathi requested that someone from that state s LPS assist in taking notes, in lieu of recording the interviews. Lastly, she shared the draft interview questions (available in the slides from the webinar). Kathi will be in contact with each LPS to 1

identify key informants and to schedule the interviews. Any questions or comments regarding the needs assessment can be directed to Kathi at kathi.traugh@yale.edu Training The training table was shared with the Executive Committee. Each LPS answered two questions about their trainings: How it can be converted to distance based learning? When can the content be given to BUSPH to work on? BUSPH Foundations for Local Public Health Sharon Ravid gave the update that the course is more than halfway complete, with 30 participants. Two of the three in person sessions have been completed; both webinars and seven of the twelve online modules are complete as well. Graduation will be on March 4. BUSPH Public Health Nursing Webinar Series Jen Tsoi said that work is underway with the Massachusetts Association for Public Health Nurses (MAPHN). Previously, they were the lead agency in hosting the webinar series. The audience will include public health nurses from across the country. In the upcoming weeks, BUSPH will work with MAPHN to identify topics and speakers for a series of four webinars to occur over the summer. BUSPH will bring the list of topics and speakers back to the Executive Committee for approval, since this is a NEPHTC sponsored event. The webinars will be recorded and archived on the Massachusetts Local Public Health Institute website for later playback. BUSPH and UNE Management and Financial Planning Planning for the course will begin in February. The course is 14 sessions, two in person and twelve webinars. BUSPH will be running it with UNE. Kathleen MacVarish explained that in MA the MA Health Officers Association and the MA Environmental Health Association would be collaborating to help run the course and offer the Day 2 in person session in multiple locations throughout the state, and one central location for the final in person session and graduation. The course should start in May and end in September. Any LPS that thinks their workforce may want to participate in this course should let Kathleen MacVarish (kmacvar@bu.edu) know as soon as possible, so that they can be included on the planning team. UNE Health Communication Plain Language and Culturally Competent Karen O Rourke said that they are close to identifying the topics for the course, as it is part of the bigger state workforce development plan. A follow up piece of the state s in person training will be online and this is what NEPHTC will help support. This will join other online trainings already available. More planning will be happening soon. Yale Healthy Homes Kathi Traugh described how the Healthy Homes webinar series would be similar to the Public Health Nursing webinar series. They are starting with the Healthy Homes projects already occurring in other states (Maine, Vermont and Rhode Island). At a meeting in February, they will be picking topics for the 2

webinar series and identifying speakers. It should be a series of three webinars, recorded and posted online for later viewing/listening. CE credit will also be available. Yale Public Health Quality Improvement Kathi then described the plan to develop an online training tutorial and introduction to Quality Improvement. After speaking with performance managers in Connecticut and Rhode Island about quality improvement, the plan is to put together some core content with help from a Subject Matter Expert to create two self study tutorials, one specific to each state. If this model works, then it can be used for the other New England states as well. Dartmouth Community Health Assessment and Improvement Kristina Fjeld Sparks said the training that was developed in New Hampshire under the previous PHTC grant. Community Benefits Offices at community hospitals were under pressure to conduct an authentic community needs assessment collaborating with the public health workforce after the passing of the Affordable Care Act. This was a face to face training, so there are binders, disks and the materials created as well as video of some of the training done. This is ready to be converted to an online format. Dartmouth Technology and Social Media This is not an existing training, but a training need in New Hampshire. UMass Amherst Community Health Worker Core Competency Training Dawn Heffernan is currently running an in person CHW training that is a 64 hour course, plus 16 hours of special topics all for a voluntary certification. Currently, there are 18 participants enrolled in the course and all are expected to graduate. The goal is to have components of this course converted to an online format by April. Vermont and Rhode Island Lynn Blevins is meeting with the Vermont Department of Health who is preparing to do its own needs assessment shortly. They are interested in adapting existing trainings to be specific to the state, such as the Healthy Homes (Yale) and interest in the Foundations course (BUSPH). The work is still in its early stages. Kathi Traugh gave an update on Rhode Island. The state is interested in the Quality Improvement course with Yale and the Healthy Homes webinar program. Yale is providing technical assistance to Rhode Island as they develop their own trainings. They have a well defined workforce development plan and are looking to leverage resources as much as possible. Student Internship Program Katie Boss reviewed the details of the student internship program. She emailed the group last week the Student Internship Administrator s Handbook and three forms (Agreement Form, Learning Contract and Student Demographic Survey). As opportunities arise and students placed, please let Katie know. There is a rolling application process; it does not have to be tied to the academic semester calendar. Student placements must be completed 3

by August 31 due to the end of the fiscal year, so students can be paid. There is very little flexibility with that deadline, and any specific questions are handled on a case by case basis. The soft deadline of May 1, so that there is time to ensure all 20 placements are filled for the year. If states have not placed their 3 students by May 1, we may re allocate those spots to other states so we have a full complement of 20 students. Katie also walked through the Handbook and highlighted the process map which covers who is responsible for what aspect of the program and when. [Ed note: Handbook is being sent with these meeting notes] Clarification was made that the deliverables of the student internship will not be submitted to the LPS or NEPHTC. The deliverables are only used to determine the completion of the internship. The product is between the student and the agency. A question was raised regarding the faculty advisor s role for a field placement. This person s involvement is minimal, to approve the completed agreement and learning contract for the student as well as advise the student if necessary. There may be some consideration to assess the student s knowledge gain of knowledge in public health competencies. Technical Assistance Please review the TA plan which was sent out with the meeting agenda and available for download from the webinar as well. Target Goals HRSA provided target goals for the PHTC network to achieve in Year 1. We anticipate that NEPHTC will be able to achieve 10% of those targets. Evaluation Hope Kenefick described the national evaluation group. The NCC has a workgroup of the evaluators meeting with biweekly calls. The mission of the workgroup is to create uniformity in evaluation and needs assessments across the PHTCs. Over time, there may be changes in some of the data that they will want us to collect. She then talked about training evaluation. The post test template was shared to show the data we want to collect. Quiz questions will be asked at pre test and post test. Additionally at post test, we are asking students to rate their ability to perform the learning objective before and after the training. We will also be evaluating the longer term impact of training. This is something we will be working with the national group on. Lastly, Hope talked about student evaluation for field placements and faculty student collaborative projects. We want to do some assessment of their learning before and after field placement. Students will work with their site supervisor and their faculty advisor on learning objectives for their placement. Additionally, we will ask the site supervisors some basic questions about the student and if they would take another student in the future. Lastly, there will be a one year follow up with just the students. Some of these forms are still in development. 4

Marketing and Communications NEPHTC logo and HRSA attribution language are required on all HRSA supported products, such as training modules and related materials. Each LPS can customize and work within their organizations branding requirements to meet their program needs, if the NEPHTC logo and HRSA attribution language are visible. The NEPHTC PowerPoint template and letterhead were shared with the group. Instructions for adapting these for your agency s needs are provide within these documents. HRSA Attribution Language The language provided here is required on all HRSA supported products, such as training modules and related materials. The grant funding amount and percentage financed by nongovernmental sources are a new requirement by HRSA. If you have any questions with this regarding your trainings and products, please contact Jen Tsoi (jtsoi@bu.edu). This project is supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under UB6HP27877 Regional Public Health Training Center Program for $825,634.00 with 0% financed with nongovernmental source. This information or content and conclusions are those of the author and should not be construed as the official position or policy of, nor should any endorsements be inferred by HRSA, HHS or the U.S. Government. Summary and Next Steps An LPS representative is requested for the key informant interviews to help take notes. Kathi will coordinate this. February Executive Committee meeting CANCELLED; Next Executive Committee meeting March Advisory Committee meeting Spring 2015 LPS calls to be scheduled with each LPS in February Webinar 1/27 The PHTC Network s Collective Role in Helping the Public Health Workforce Prepare for and Respond to Infectious Diseases... (Information has been disseminated to join the webinar) LPS To do List Send Sharon names for the Advisory committee (if you have not already) Documents sent with these notes Student Internship Program Handbook Quick Tips for Formulating Effective Learning Objectives Slides from call HRSA attribution language Management flyer PowerPoint template Letterhead template CHW core competencies 5