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Kimberly Gehle, MD, MPH, Division of Health Education and Promotion, Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, 1600 Clifton Road NE, Mailstop E-33, Atlanta, GA 30333, 404-498-0289, ebk2@cdc.gov
Patients with illness related to occupational and environmental factors are likely to present to primary care health workers, including public health professionals, who, as a group, are under-educated on environmental health topics. Therefore, attempts to educate health workers, including public health professions, on environmental health topics would be a prudent first step toward building environmental health capacity in the public health professional workforce. In examining the evidence base on best practices for effective environmental health educational interventions for health professionals, there is a paucity of information. Prior to the age of evidence-based medicine, decisions as to how to design materials and programs for medical education were based on tradition and possibly experience in medical education, at best. In the framework of evidence-based medicine, there would ideally exist a body of data on the efficacy of interventions aimed at educating various groups of healthcare workers and public health professionals on environmental health topics. This data could then be used to design environmental health education interventions most likely to result in favorable public health outcomes and/or behavior change among public health professionals that serve communities at risk for exposure to hazardous substances in the environment. A comparison of conventional medical education interventions versus internet-based medical education interventions for health professionals in environmental health is explored and preliminary results from a systematic literature review for evidence based best practices and recommendations for future research in this area is presented for discussion.
Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, the particpant (learner) in this session will be able to
Keywords: Environmental Health, Education
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.