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PRACTICUM MATTERS
The UIC SPH Public Health Practice Newsletter – Spring 2015
Appreciating the Big Picture of
Public Health
Practicum experiences come in all different shapes
and sizes. They can encompass literature
reviews, data analysis, job shadowing, and a
whole host of other tasks that make for a
successful practice-based experience to round out
the public health degree here at UIC. Some of the
tasks can be completely new for the student, while
others may start to feel repetitive or mundane.
Epidemiology student Michael Ray reminds us of
the importance of the practicum experience—not
just on a professional level, but to the ongoing
saga of public health in general. When viewed this
way, no practicum objective can be considered
trivial.
“What drew me to my practicum site was a name:
the Collaborative Research Unit of Cook County
(CRU). I am a person with many academic and
career interests, so I often find it difficult to narrow
down my goals in any discernable way. This is
why the notion of “collaborative research” was so
appealing. Essentially, researchers from a variety
of disciplines spanning public health, medicine,
and information technology have teamed up in
order to process and disseminate public health
information in a useful and meaningful way. I was
eager to meet with the CRU’s director, Dr. William
Trick, to see if there was a potential practicum
opportunity within the organization. Dr. Trick took
the time to sit down with me and discuss all of the
projects that were underway, and we were able to
identify one that best fit my interests and skills.
The CRU recently launched the XDRO Registry,
where healthcare facilities around the state report
occurrences of extremely drug-resistant organisms
(XDROs), which are unfortunately cropping up all
over in health care settings. These organisms
present a major public health problem and building
this registry is a step toward a public health
solution.
“For my practicum, I was presented with the task of
using modern software to make sense of the
XDRO Registry information as I received it. My
learning objectives consisted of learning this new
software, namely Arc-GIS and SaTScan, and then
presenting my findings to both the CRU and the
Illinois Department of Public Health (which also
had a hand in developing the XDRO Registry). I
used Arc-GIS to map out all of the healthcare
facilities in the state and SaTScan, which is
software that detects spatial and temporal
clustering from case information, to determine
where these organisms are cropping up the most.
Our end goal was to create an automated flagging
system so we can detect XDRO clusters earlier.
Michael Ray (r.) reviews data with his preceptor, Dr.
William Trick
“My practicum was not without its frustrations.
Often times you get so wrapped up in your work
that it is easy to forget how it is contributing to
public health. I sometimes felt as if I was staring at
a computer screen all day to no end. However,
when Dr. Trick came to check my progress, he
was so full of enthusiasm that I was reminded to
take a step back and look at the bigger picture.
This was really important work that, to our
knowledge, had not been done before. This could
have major public health implications, which of
course is why I am studying public health in the
first place.
“As I look back at the laundry list of skills I have
acquired in the past year I am amazed. I have
learned many things from my practicum
(cont’d on next page)
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experience that will translate into my career, and
for that I am grateful. I have worked with software
and analytic methods that I never thought I would
learn. I also learned to self-motivate and to always
say “yes” when asked if I want to take a crack at
learning yet another computer program. It was a
great summer practicum experience and I cannot
wait to see how the skills I have learned influence
my career.”
What have you learned about public health that
isn’t a part of your learning objectives?
I learned how to work productively with other
people to develop successful partnerships and
solutions. To understand the organizational,
political, economic, and social contexts that can
promote or constrain public policy interventions.
What have you learned about the internal workings
of your agency?
Balancing Individuality and Teamwork
at Stroeger Hospital
Sonia Guleria, an Epidemiology student, had the
opportunity to carry out her practicum experience
with the Division of Family Planning at Stroeger
Hospital. Over the course of the experience, she
had the chance to work in a supportive
environment that will serve as a springboard to her
professional career in public health. The following
question-and-answer section gave Sonia a chance
to reflect on the key learning objectives that she
cultivated over the course of her practicum.
The agency works as a team and although a
hierarchy exists, the lines of demarcation are not
very rigid. They believe in being constructive in
your career advancement and individuality.
What were the objectives of your practicum?
After completion of the core courses in
epidemiology, I felt the need to apply specific
public health skills, knowledge, and experience to
the real world. Having worked in clinical settings in
the past with an inclination toward women’s health,
the Family Planning department at Stroeger
Hospital seemed the right place to fulfill my
objectives and enhance my skills. In the broader
sense my objective was to learn how clinical
reproductive health intersects with public health
and epidemiology. I was keen to learn how to
build a strong foundation for a research topic by
conducting adequate literature review,
implementing suitable study design, learning data
collection techniques, and applying different data
analytical approaches in a research study.
Did you make progress toward these objectives?
Yes, my project deals with finding rates and factors
of adherence to a vaccination schedule. This is a
small project with a sample size of about 300
subjects. Hence, in spite of time constraints, I
could work on the project from start to finish and
move it through various stages, from conception to
the final written presentation while completing the
purpose of a practicum.
Sonia Guleria (far left) poses with Preceptor Dr.
Aslesha Patel and UIC SPH alumna Lindsay
Zimmerman
What was the favorite part of your practicum?
I have always enjoyed meeting people and hearing
their views. The agency conducts one research
meeting every week, which is attended by the
Principal Investigator and her team, including
students or volunteers working on various projects
and the medical faculty. During these meetings we
discuss the progress of the projects already on the
floor and any suggestions for new topics. I think
this was a melting pot where recommendations
flowed in from all directions, resulting in the
amalgamation of experience/evidence-based and
descriptive/analytical-based knowledge.
What were the challenges?
I thought the plan to carry out a project individually
would be a challenge. However, I had the full
support of the team that guided me through the
whole process. This challenge ended up boosting
my confidence to deal with complex study-related
issues, which will be a useful asset in my
professional career.
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Treatment Meets Prevention at
University Health Services
Many people are aware that the UIC School of
Public Health offers a joint MD/MPH degree
program. The SPH had the somewhat unusual
occasion to have four MD/MPH students complete
their practicum experiences simultaneously at
University Health Services on campus. These
EOHS students, Sonya Meyers, Andrew Gordon,
Sumeet Batra, and Michelle Wueste had the
opportunity to work with Dr. David Marder, Director
of the clinic.
Since the public health practicum is not clinical in
nature, these students explored the area of
occupational health from the public health
perspective. What follows are the reflections from
two of the four students.
Sonya Meyers
“My practicum location was the University Health
Services Clinic, which is the home of UIC
Employee Health and the main clinic for the UIC
Occupational Medicine Residency. I evaluated
and treated musculoskeletal injuries in the
workplace; sutured lacerations; returned people to
work after illness or other medical leaves;
evaluated medical risks for travelers; and educated
workers about the hazards in their workplace and
how to address exposures. The treatment plans
are tailored to each individual’s symptoms and
examination findings with guidance from panels of
experts within the American College of
Occupational and Environmental Medicine.
“I saw people from all age ranges, from university
students going overseas for an exchange program
to septuagenarians who are finally free to travel
abroad, and the workers who injured themselves
while working in physically demanding jobs. I think
this variety is delightful and is one of my favorite
parts of the practicum.
Sumeet Batra, Andrew Gordon, Dr. David Marder,
Sonya Meyers, and Michelle Wueste take a break from
their work at University Health Services
“There were many challenges during the
practicum, ranging from patient approach to
balancing the demands of employers vs. care for
the injured employee. By far, staying neutral was
the most challenging.
“One thing that I learned from my practicum that
was not covered in my MPH course work was
medical surveillance protocols. In the MPH
program, I learned to look up information from
government health Web sites, but updating
protocols for an organization and translating them
into changes for the organization is more of a
communication process. We learned the
theoretical skills for approaching this process in
many classes, but the actual process of doing it
takes place in the practicum.”
Andrew Gordon
“We had four main objectives for our field
practicum here at UIC’s University Health Services
that similarly applied to other rotation sites, namely
(1) providing patient care (e.g., injury
management, return-to-work restrictions, travel
medicine, etc.) (2) improving medical knowledge
(e.g., literature reviews, journal club, board review,
etc.) (3) practice-based learning and improvement,
and (4) interpersonal and communication skills.
Each of these objectives was vital in helping me
continue to provide excellent patient care with the
main goals involving the prevention of injuries or
illness, and the promotion of wellness and health in
our work force. In turn, the field experience
demonstrated the real impact of what workers face
when it comes to disability, work injuries,
exposures, health effects, and preventive
measures.
“I enjoyed the field practicum because as a
resident, this is what I love doing. I enjoy seeing
patients in clinical settings and learning each day.
I have learned that for a clinic facility to be efficient,
it takes a well-motivated staff who are
knowledgeable in their practice and have many
years of experience. It also takes the internal
workings to be an integrated care center, where
there exists good communication amongst different
healthcare providers. Some of the challenges
faced during the field practicum are no different
from what we all face in the healthcare system—
specifically, how do we reach workers who don’t
have access to efficient care and proper followups?”
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Tackling Practicum Challenges
One of the many values of the practicum
experience is that a student can get exposed to the
challenges of working in the field of public health
that he/she would not learn from reading a
textbook. Darci Cabezas, a Master of Health
Administration student, definitely learned this over
the course of her practicum with the Engeye
Health Clinic in Uganda. Darci experienced some
frustrations as well as humbling, eye-opening
moments that taught her much about the field.
“This past summer I had the opportunity to fulfill
my field practicum with the Engeye Health Clinic
located in the Ddegeye village of Uganda, Africa. I
was part of a team of four UIC medical students
and two other public health students. The Engeye
Health Clinic had identified a need to evaluate the
current typhoid diagnosis and antibiotic-prescribing
habits to ensure that antibiotic resistance does not
occur. Since Engeye Health Clinic was
established, it had never conducted typhoid
treatment quality assurance activities and had
expressed a need for the development and
implementation of these types of tools.
Darci Cabezas (standing to the right of the sign) poses
with other UIC students as well as the clinic’s staff
“One thing that I learned from my experience was
different data collection methods. I did not have
much experience with this, and I had to learn
different ways of coding the data and entering it
into Excel so that it would be easily transferred into
programs such as SAS. This was no easy task.
Often times I was learning from my mistakes and
having to go back again and again to “clean up”
the data. Upon my return from Uganda, I also
partnered with a Biostatistics student to help me
organize the data and determine what we wanted
to find. This aspect of my practicum was very
valuable but was an unexpected challenge.
“Typhoid fever is a challenging disease to
diagnose due to the fact that there is no cheap or
non-invasive procedure to confirm if someone is
infected. The laboratory at Engeye does not have
the ability to perform typhoid fever screenings and
even if they could, there is really no test that is
completely accurate. However, what I observed
from the clinic staff is their dedication to the
surrounding community and the patients they see
each day. It is inspiring to see how people who
are challenged with limited resources are able to
overcome these challenges. While performing
interviews with the clinic staff there is no doubt that
they are appreciative for the research I was doing
to help contribute to the improvement of Engeye.
Darci (far right) stands with clinic staff and SPH
student Rachel Yantzi (second from left, seated)
“I feel that my practicum experience helped me
gain incredible insight into the world of global
public health and research. I learned the
challenges of working in policy and administration
in these types of settings and even though I may
have not come up with solutions, I now know what
to prepare for and areas that I can focus on for
improvement, not only internationally but also in
the United States. I feel that I have gained a great
deal of cultural competence and understanding of
the world in which I live. This whole experience
has not only helped me grow and develop
professionally, but has also made an impact on me
personally. I see the world differently and will carry
this experience with me into my future career.”
Future public health professionals? Children from the
community visit with the Engeye staff.
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Learning the Art of Collaboration
It often happens that a student learns a good deal
more during a practicum than just the objectives on
the learning agreement. Frequently, a practicum
involves much in the way of building collaboration
with other public health professionals and learning
how to pull together as a team to achieve a
common goal. This was certainly the case for
Sunny Seto who got the chance to work with a
number of individuals during the course of her
practicum at Presence Health.
“After having taken Dr. Jennifer Hebert-Beirne’s
Community Health Assessment course in the fall, I
was looking forward to working with my preceptor,
Stephanie Ryan, MPH, at Presence Health and
experience how to conduct a Community Health
Needs Assessment (CHNA). The overall goal for a
CHNA is to identify strategies to improve the health
of communities. After the Affordable Care Act was
passed, all tax-exempt hospitals were required to
conduct a CHNA every three years. Presence
Health was planning its second round of CHNA. I
was responsible for developing an original data
collection plan for health indicators, assisting with
analyzing the data, creating maps to visually
display data on health indicators and social
determinants, and evaluating a current communitybased program.
“I had the opportunity to attend CHNA meetings
and attend a class for a community-based
program. These were my most memorable
experiences because I had the opportunity to meet
with dedicated health professionals working
collaboratively from different hospitals to conduct a
CHNA and nurses who were open to improving
their current community-based program to better
the health of women. What I learned from this
experience is the importance of collaboration,
partnerships, and relationship-building. Many
times, we were so busy getting work done that we
forgot the importance of building relationships. In
meetings, I saw individuals slowing down to build
community and share best practices. We are in
this together and it is important we work together
to make this a reality.
“The challenge I encountered with my practicum is
also the challenge for conducting a CHNA, which
is searching for publically available health data at
the community level. Information is more
accessible than ever, however, easy access to
data can be a roadblock. There are plenty of data
at the national, state, and local level, but it is more
difficult to access information specific to Chicago’s
community areas. Despite this, I see the
opportunity for creating a better method to store
and maintain information in one location. Through
my experience at Presence Health, I thoroughly
enjoyed the opportunity and appreciate being a
part of this exciting work.”
Sunny Seto (left) poses with Stephanie Ryan at
Presence Health.
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To post practicum opportunities, please contact:
Annette Clemens, Field Practicum Coordinator
UIC School of Public Health
Office of Student Affairs (MC 923)
1603 West Taylor Street, 175 SPHPI
Chicago, Illinois 60612
312.355.4272 (phone)
312.413.4300 (fax)
[email protected]
You can find more information at:
http://publichealth.uic.edu.
Editor
Annette Clemens
Practicum Matters newsletter is published by the
Office of Student Affairs in the UIC School of Public
Health. The school is dedicated to protecting and
improving the health of people in Chicago, across the
nation, and around the world. To this end, UIC SPH
faculty, staff, students, and alumni are reaching out to
local communities, city and state officials, and
international partners with cutting-edge research,
community-based health services, and
groundbreaking public health policy.