Montana Public Health Workforce Development Survey - Additional Comments
Montana Public Health Summer Institute
I attended the Public Health Institute last year for the first time...it won't be the last. It was EXCELLENT!
I attended an Epi 101 course and all we talked about was food born illness. There is so much more to Epidemiology.
Courses should be rated for student's knowledge - such as beginner, intermediate, advanced.
Great training opportunity for Montana public health workers. I attended the U of Washington Summer Institute in 1993.
Top-notch presenters, excellent information that I could use (PIO related).
We need to have college credit available.
I know this training is a great opportunity and I look forward to participating in the future. Work obligations have prevented my attendance. You also offered to pay which is greatly appreciated.
I hope the courses change periodically. Would be good to mix it up.
I have been on the faculty and have not been able to take other courses.
The classes I have attended have been first rate, with very knowledgeable and very good speakers (which really makes all the difference in the world.) While some training sounds good but ends up being a waste of time, I have never experienced that at the summer institute. I highly recommend it to all my colleagues and hope more of them will be able to attend in the future.
It was great! Best training available to me.
Presenters at Summer Institute 2002 were excellent and opportunities for networking and learning from my Montana PH colleagues were invaluable.
Even though I did not attend, I did send another staff person. We have applied specific information learned from the Institute in 2003 and 2004.
Heard positive comments
I plan to go this year. Personal emergency preempted my attendance last year.
I personally like courses that help me to meet my deliverables and give me the information I need to do the work necessary for completion of those deliverables. I am also interested in the more efficient use of computers.
The main problem with the earliest June time is that it interferes with end of school activities, so the next week would be better.
Continuing Education Credits for Summer Institute
PACE
It would be ideal if the summer public health institute could somehow apply to obtaining an MPH/MPA. Not sure how to work that out.
Public Health Administrators
Veterinary
Computer Courses
Would like networking related programs
I wouldn't take computer classes.
Page Maker
Have had these classes at local UM College of Technology .
We have other computer training courses available to us, so I'm not sure I would take any.
Hot Topics in Preparedness Web Forums
Didn't know it existed. You need to supply this information to Sanitarians. So we know they exist and participate
Not directly related to my job description
TRAIN (Learning Management System)
TRAIN needs to be revamped. None of the webcasts or satellite broadcasts I view seem to be on the lists.
Train has many interesting classes. However, some are quite expensive and this is a barrier to taking the classes.
Question 42--Would you like to be a TRAIN course provider? I said no, but it is really "I don't know." I will need to check out the site. It may be useful to my program and the agencies we contract with for local services.
Question 42: I would like to have answered "maybe." Don't know enough about TRAIN to answer yes or no.
I have registered on the TRAIN network, but I haven't investigated the training opportunities yet, so I can't really answer the questions you asked.
TRAIN is hard to use. Can't easily tell how much each course costs. Often won't let you register. Needs to have cost info readily apparent so courses can be budgeted.
Strongest Motivators to Attend Training
Not allowed any training
Training was paid for by DPHHS grant
There are no workplace incentives to receiving training. I could spend a lot of money on training and would receive no increase in compensation at my current job.
The majority of the training is geared towards state, county and local jurisdictions. States and counties have no jurisdiction over trust status lands located on Indian reservations and Montana has 7 reservations, where 1 reservation borders Canada and 2 are located only about 30 miles from the border. The training is not geared towards Federal and Tribal governments.
Other comments
Thank you!
It is difficult to find time for training. Our health department actively serves our population and we have no relief for positions. To go to training, we neglect our local duties.
The changing field of public health in the "new age" of terrorism requires all of us to update our skills and information on public health response(s). Is the learning curve the responsibility and cost up to the individual professional or the Agency they work for? I would suggest it is the Agency's, as a poor or failed response to an act of terrorism would not be viewed as an individual's response, but the Agency's.
Since I am a one-person office, webcast has been the most convenient training for me as far as scheduling goes.
The training opportunities I have participated in have been very beneficial.
I would like to see the "reach" network utilized for meetings and classes to minimize travel.
It would be nice if everyone could receive the same training at the same time because they need to in order for it to work. Many resist change or ignore it.
The state and counties need to work more closely with Tribes. If in the event of a, God forbid, national health disaster or emergency, involving a terrorist act, such as germ warfare, the disease is not going to stop at the reservation border, it will affect everyone. Case and point, the West Nile virus didn't stop at the reservation border, some of the first reported infected horses in Blaine County were on the Ft. Belknap Indian Reservation. I know, they were reported to me because I was the Tribal Health Director at that time. We need to work together.
My computer skills, or lack of, hold me back. I feel as if the computer went right past me, and left me scratching my head.
