Category: Summer 2022

Qualitative research in Medical Respite Care

Posted on by
Joanne Johnson
Joanne Johnson

Hey there! I’m Joanne, an MPH student in the Global Health concentration. Born and raised in Minneapolis, I completed a BA in biology & geography in 2016 and worked in healthcare information technology (IT) as a project manager for 5 years before moving to North Carolina to attend the Gillings School of Public Health. For my summer practicum, I am working on a pilot research study with Dr. Tim Daaleman at UNC Family Medicine, and in collaboration with the national Respite Care Providers Network, that aims to investigate Medical Respite Care (MRP) for persons experiencing homelessness (PEH).

Medical respite refers to short term residential acute or post-acute care for PEH who are not ill enough to be hospitalized, but also cannot support themselves on their own. It occurs in nursing homes, homeless shelters, transitional housing, and freestanding facilities. Although there are approximately 120 MRP facilities in 25 different states, there is little research or existing guidelines about how to effectively measure MRP quality and PEH care experiences. Our team aims to develop a protocol and collect mixed methods data to investigate the relationship between MRP characteristics and care experience outcomes. Specifically, I am conducting individual interviews and surveys with MRP staff, providers, and patients, and writing a protocol paper, documenting our process for data collection and analysis.

A doctor examines a patient at Center for Respite Care in Cincinnati, Ohio, one of the pilot study research sites. (Source: Center for Respite Care)
A doctor examines a patient at Center for Respite Care in Cincinnati, Ohio, one of the pilot study research sites. (Source: Center for Respite Care)

I am excited about this opportunity, because I have little qualitative research experience, and none in my area of professional interest – working with marginalized populations. Also, I will be working on an interdisciplinary team of public health professionals and providers that will provide guidance, mentorship, and feedback throughout the process. Altogether, this practicum allows me to delve into the complicated world of healthcare access and quality for PEH, an underserved and ignored population that I would like to continue to work with throughout my public health career.

-Joanne

Starting anew

Posted on by nayavill

New Look!

New site. New look. New bloggers. We needed a change and wanted to start of the summer with a new site and look! Every year we have our Master of Public Health (MPH) students blog about their practicum experience. The practicum is a planned, mentored, and evaluated work experience (paid or unpaid) that enables students to integrate and apply their Gillings MPH training in a professional public health setting, locally or globally. This year we have a record 38 students blogging this summer! We are happy that some of our students will be based internationally, while others will be based locally.

We have a diverse group of bloggers from the MPH concentrations of:

  • Applied Epidemiology
  • Global Health
  • Health Behavior
  • Leadership in Practice
  • Maternal, Child, and Family Health
  • Nutrition and
  • Population Health for Clinicians

We hope you enjoy reading about our students summer experiences!

Communication, communication, communication

Posted on by nayavill

My practicum with NARAL Pro-Choice North Carolina was to take place over 10 weeks, the last of which began on August 2nd. I expected to enjoy my time with NARAL NC, but my practicum has surpassed my anticipations dramatically.

I believe my good experience centers around the way the staff treats me. They speak to me as an equal, not just as a student who needs supervision. While my preceptor helped me identify a few deliverables that I could work on at the beginning of my practicum, she was flexible and supportive when our goals shifted throughout the summer, allowing me to amend my deliverables as needed.

My last deliverable has been my favorite by far. In short, I have been working on a report on a specific public health problem that is meant to be consumed by the public. I started this project by receiving an abundance of raw data that needed to be analyzed, which allowed me to practice my STATA skills. I was able to take some of that raw data and turn it into an ArcGIS map, which I believe will be a valuable addition to the report. Lastly, I’ve been able to practice my graphic design skills by designing the layout and format of the report as I go.

However, my favorite part of this project has been the writing aspect. The MPH program typically requires us to write papers and such in scientific or academic voices, which certainly aligns with the audience they’re meant for. The NARAL NC report, on the other hand, is being created for a non-scientific audience, which has been an amazing challenge for me and my writing skills. I have enjoyed this type of writing more than I expected to. The unique combination of abilities it requires has exercised so many different tools from my toolbox, from data translation and choosing relevant statistics to creative writing and narrative formatting.

This report has really driven home the idea that our job as public health professionals is not just to partake in research and the scientific process, but to make sure our findings are accessible to the world. COVID has been a great example of this, especially now with the concerning Delta variant. The research is somewhat unclear, and while that is to be expected this early in the process, I do not feel that it has been communicated to the world in an organized manner. This, plus government mandates and the loss of progress on “opening back up” adds to confusion and alarm. I’m sure we would agree that the United States could have done many things differently throughout this pandemic, but communication would be towards the top of the list in my opinion.

While my practicum is wrapping up and COVID is picking back up, I will always remember the lessons learned at NARAL Pro-Choice NC.

Stay safe,

Abby