Practicum Reflections in Preparation for the Start of Year 2

Posted on by nayavill

It seems crazy to think that we are all signed up for courses and getting ready for the second year to start. My practicum flew by and I am excited to have the opportunity to stay involved with the work as we start next semester. I am working with Kybele on a project called MEBCI 2.0 (Making Every Baby Count Initiative) which aims to improve quality of newborn care by using quality improvement, systems thinking/strengthening, and leadership trainings. Check out this paper to learn more about the first iteration of MEBCI! For my deliverables I am creating PowerPoint presentations and training manuals for (1) Models for Improvement and (2) PDSA (plan, do, study, act) for clinical providers in Ghana.

We were told from the start of practicum searching that there is no such thing as a “perfect practicum,” so I definitely feel like I lucked out. My work with Kybele, using quality improvement (QI) and systems thinking to improve neonatal and maternal outcomes, is exactly what I want to do in the future and gave me irreplaceable insights on the field. The best thing that came out of the practicum was being able to see the program design process from early on, from brainstorming competencies and training topics to drafting training materials. I’ll be working over the next few weeks to finalize these materials. Throughout, I have used materials from the Ghana Health Service and the National Healthcare Quality Strategy along with information from our project partners, mostly the American Academy of Pediatrics, in order to make sure that our trainings are the most relevant, usable, and built upon previous training experiences opposed to being redundant. I also spent a lot of time making sure that language was appropriate and consistent with materials that were already in circulation throughout the tertiary hospitals that Kybele is working within.

Although I was a little intimidated at the start of the practicum and felt like there was so much literature I needed to read in order to get myself speaking the same language as the team, I learn best by actively doing things and am grateful that the team allowed me to jump right into this project, consistently providing me with critical feedback along the way. It was also great to meet the team that I have been working with (in person!) before the practicum officially began and to have another Global Health student, Erin, working on the same MEBCI project. I’m excited to start next semester with this new perspective on program design and material development and look forward to continuing to work on similar projects in the Fall!

the best thing about practicums being remote? Getting to check off some major bucket list hikes/climbs, this is peak three of Olomana in Oahu!
The best thing about practicums being remote? Getting to check off some major bucket list hikes/climbs, this is peak three of Olomana in Oahu!

Hope everyone has a good rest of the summer!

– Sydney

Key Lessons

Posted on by nayavill

Like many others who have contributed to this blog, my practicum experience has been fundamentally altered by the pandemic. It’s been great to read about others’ experiences and know that the separation from the communities we’re working with has affected everyone. For me, that community is nearly 8,000 miles away – in Lusaka, Zambia.

A little bit of background on my practicum: Zambia has one comprehensive cancer center, the Cancer Diseases Hospital (CDH), which serves the country’s population of over 17 million people. Since 2006, when the CDH was established, they have treated over 20,000 new cancer cases. The most common cancers seen at the CDH are cervical, breast, and prostate cancers. In recent years, in an effort to better understand determinants and outcomes of these cancers, doctors and researchers at CDH have prioritized data collection and exploration. They’ve developed a retrospective-prospective database to capture data on the cases of breast and cervical cancer at CDH. As part of my practicum, I am helping one of the data teams with data cleaning and validation, and conducting some research using the information in the database.

The distance to Lusaka fortunately hasn’t prevented me from being able to develop and practice data management skills. In my practicum search, I knew I wanted to get experience working with data, and the work I’ve been able to do this summer has been incredible for giving me opportunities to expand on concepts and techniques we’ve learned across in our first two semesters of coursework.

But the distance has also created challenges – divorcing the content of my work from the community I am meant to be working in. Our instructors at Gillings this past year have repeatedly emphasized that humans aren’t data points. A person’s story cannot be fully understood when it is distilled into a series of responses across a set of variables. But the separation from Zambia has left me feeling the absence of community interaction and the context of the of the data I work with day-to-day. I’d love to have been able to be safely face-to-face with researchers, co-workers, and patients at the CDH.

Other posts on this blog have wisely extoled the power of gratitude and searching for silver linings during these unconventional times. And I have a lot to be thankful for! I’m glad I’ve gotten to spend (virtual) time with the CDH data team over Zoom, learning snippets here and there about them – their academic and career interests, their thoughts about certain health topics, what sports they follow. Being remote also means that I’ve been able to see my family and friends and get to know Chapel Hill/Carrboro better! And, finally, this experience has instilled in me a key lesson I intend to carry throughout my career: some public health work can be done extremely effectively remotely, but the quality and value of this work can always be made better through connection with the community.

– Emma

A global practicum in times of COVID-19 doesn’t feel as new as expected

Posted on by nayavill

Hi! My name is Keely and I’m an MPH candidate at Gillings School of Global Public health with a concentration in nutrition. This summer, I’m working with the London-based Institute of Alcohol Studies (IAS) to develop reports which will be used to help guide future alcohol research and inform evidence-based alcohol policy in the UK.

Prior to my studies at Gillings, I received my bachelors in German studies and taught English with Fulbright Austria before working for a short time with a major health insurance company as a health advocate—I’ve jumped around a bit in fairly different areas, but the accumulation of all of these experiences is what led me to pursue public health nutrition. This past year has taken a slight turn, however, as my interest in nutrition education and community involvement has shifted to one of bringing change through policy advocacy. I’ve also grown more interested in alcohol consumption and misuse as a public health issue—two of my major projects last year focused on alcohol misuse. As a result, I’ve reflected a lot on alcohol’s role in my life and in my surrounding community, and on the social responsibility of the alcohol industry. When it came time to search for a practicum, I fortuitously stumbled upon my current position with the IAS and knew that it was the perfect fit for my developing interests.

Over the past three weeks, I worked on a briefing for alcohol use and harms among UK-based LGBTQ+ people, intended to identify gaps in knowledge (spoiler, there are a lot), and guide future research. Ultimately, this should help tailor health messaging and provide evidence behind advocacy for safer, more inclusive spaces for queer people within healthcare and alcohol treatment services. I had a slower start than I’d planned for—my job is fully remote, and I meet with my team for only one hour per week. Because of this, I found it really difficult to feel like a part of the organization and find the momentum to start during my first week (luckily that didn’t last long!). Aside from a slow start, my practicum hasn’t felt so out of the ordinary as I was expecting; I’m learning new things and my work is meant to contribute to more than a grade on my transcript, but I feel comfortable and confident working from my living room. Now that I’ve settled in and finished up my first product, my attention has turned to my second project, which will be a rapid review on the calorie labeling of alcoholic beverages.

Currently, the alcohol industry is not required to label beverages with nutritional information; UK government has announced a consultation to consider requirement of calorie labeling on alcoholic beverages as part of their new Obesity Strategy. The review that I’m putting together will be used to guide IAS’s work on the consultation. I thoroughly enjoyed my areas of research in alcohol use for last year’s academic, skill-building projects, but it is such a different (read: more enjoyable) feeling to begin work on something that will hopefully help create real societal impact. It’s somewhat intimidating, but in a good way that also makes me incredibly excited to begin a career in less than one short year.

For both projects, my days have consisted of and will continue to consist of literature reviews and writing. I’m excited to continue learning about this topic and the alcohol industry, and how the UK parliamentary system works. I’m considering pursuing a career in alcohol research/policy following graduation, so it’ll be interesting to build this base of knowledge and identify potential areas for alcohol research and policy advocacy within the US. I’m very grateful for the opportunity to improve upon my research and writing skills and work within a small, female-run research organization that has significant influence in the UK policy sector.

The rest of this summer will be quite busy, as I’m working a second job atop my practicum, but it’s already shaping up to be one of the best I’ve had— from the meaningful work and connections I’m building, to making the most of my free time and weekends. I’m looking forward to what’s to come!

– Keely