A wide range of practicum placements are utilized for the undergraduate public health degree based on students’ career goals, learning needs and course work. While we have categorized the public health degree as a non-clinical program, some of our students have gone on to clinical placements due to their particular combination of course work and areas of interest. Our students in practicum placements may have contact with the public (usually not patients) in some placements and not in others. Students often work on collaborative teams with a range of disciplines both within organizations and within communities. Here is a brief overview of the types of placements and projects our students have completed and a few examples of upcoming placements:
1. Health Promotion, & Prevention of Chronic Disease & Injury & Community Development
Alberta Health Services (AHS) South Zone, Population Health Promotion (Medicine Hat, Lethbridge, Grand Prairie & Airdrie)
Health Promotion Facilitation role
1. Project on food security– developed a proposal for a community garden in conjunction with Lethbridge Interfaith Foodbank (project was later funded) - Lethbridge
2. Projects on injury prevention—collaborated with community groups to write two proposals for outdoor gyms for community parks) – (2 projects were later funded) and developed a background paper on unintentional injury prevention and strategies for action - Lethbridge
3. Project – completed a review of the literature on farm safety and the effectiveness of health fairs for rural farm safety and injury prevention – Medicine Hat
4. Project - developed a low-literacy culturally sensitive nutrition presentation for Low German Mennonite women and families to support nurses in educating pregnant women about healthy eating during pregnancy - Lethbridge
5. Project – developed a summary report on best practices in workplace health promotion - Grand Prairie
6. Project – developed a summary, presentation and resource guide on the importance of and effective use of behaviour change theories in the development and evaluation of health promotion projects (fall 2014) - Lethbridge
7. Project - assessed the effectiveness of the Hunger Count and made recommendations to address food insecurity in Medicine Hat in conjunction with a local food security coalition (fall 2014) – Medicine Hat
Health Promotion Facilitator & Newcomer Inclusion roles (Brooks)
8. Project – surveyed local agencies and developed a community asset map to describe resources in Brooks – to address SDOH referrals from primary care. Coordination of a community mentorship celebration. (Spring 2015) - Brooks
Alberta Health Services (AHS) Calgary Zone, Public Health, Healthy Communities initiative
Healthy community facilitator, Community development facilitator, or Wellness coordinator roles
9. Project – developed a summary report and a collaborative community development plan to address community identified issues in a small town – Airdrie
Healthy Communities initiative - ½ time & Primary Care Network wellness initiative ½ time. Healthy communities facilitator and inclusion facilitator roles
10. Project - developed a project funding proposal for early childhood development and early detection of developmental delays in primary care settings (fall 2014) – Airdrie
Healthy Weights Team (Lethbridge, Edmonton, Calgary)
Health promotion coordinator role
11. Project - developed an interactive resource guide for teachers to promote Daily Physical Activity in schools - electronic links to games and activities at each level for students K - 12 Edmonton
12. Project - developed a kit to integrate pedometers into school programs - Edmonton
Healthy Weights Team ½ time (Lethbridge) & Be Fit For Life Centre, Lethbridge College ½ time (Lethbridge)
Health promotion coordinator role
13. Project - developed a curriculum and an activity plan for a summer camp to promote healthy eating and physical activity for young children.
Healthy Children & Youth Team (Edmonton, Lethbridge, Medicine Hat, Elnora, Sylvan Lake)
Health promotion coordinator role
14. Project - developed a web-based discovery guide to improve utilization of the Alberta Comprehensive School Health Approach resources (fall 2014) – Edmonton
15. Project - developed a Wellness Resource Training Kit and video for teachers (spring 2015) – Lethbridge
16. Project - developed Wellness Resources & Lesson Plans – based on teacher identified strategies to integrate wellness into other subjects (spring 2015) – Medicine Hat
17. Project to create and compile a wellness survey for staff in two school divisions covering rural communities (Spring 2015) ½ time Elnora & ½ time Sylvan Lake
City of Lethbridge Community & Social Development
Social inclusion & Community development facilitator roles
1. Project – coordinated Project Connect and the Homeless Census
2. Project - updated the city of Lethbridge poverty report and assisted with Project Connect coordination
3. Project – collated and summarized evaluation feedback from the CMARD Social Inclusion Conference in Lethbridge, and prepared plain language summaries on local issues.
4. Project on asset mapping—conducted an email and telephone survey of agencies addressing racism and discrimination in Lethbridge, and prepared an asset map for CMARD & the City of Lethbridge.
Community & Social Development
Social inclusion & Community development facilitator roles (continued)
5. Project on social inclusion – Beyond your front door project – Muslims Next Door project and helped to coordinate a community presentation (fall 2014)
Covenant Health: St Michael’s Health Care Centre (Lethbridge)
Community development facilitator role
1. Project – community asset-mapping–compiled resources, and completed a survey (by phone and email) of community organizations providing bereavement support/grief recovery support and spiritual direction/support for families, developed fridge magnets and asset maps to link families to local resources (in collaboration with the Palliative Care unit and St Theresa’s Villa) - Lethbridge
Lethbridge Family Services: Immigrant Services (Lethbridge)
Community support worker & Settlement worker roles
1. Project: Seniors mental health promotion and wellness project—developed a seniors’ yoga class with a community volunteer to engage isolated seniors with limited spoken English, provided intake and support services for new immigrants, and conducted a focus group with translators and a summary report on the health of Bhutanese seniors (Nepali refugees from Bhutan) - Lethbridge
2. Project: Looked at the five SDOH that relate to newly arriving immigrant and refugee groups to Canada. The project described what services are available to clients in an understandable fashion using pictures to make communication easier. (Fall 2015)
Saskatoon Health Region: Community Development (Saskatoon)
Community development facilitator role
1. Project - summary report on a community development initiative in a school –collaborative development of a survey of the developmental assets of students in a high school in a low-income neighbourhood - Saskatoon
Vibrant Calgary & Communities (Calgary)
Community development facilitator role
1. Project - coordinated a community-based project (Pechu Kucha) with vulnerable populations for International Poverty Awareness Day event (fall 2014) - Calgary
2. Health Assessment, Surveillance, Health Policy Analysis, Evaluation & Research (Lethbridge, Calgary, Edmonton)
Alberta Health Services (AHS) South Zone Medical Officer of Health, Health Protection (Lethbridge), - ½ time, & Lethbridge Family Services, Immigrant Services ½ time
Health information analyst role
1. Project - document review and data collection for AHS and IS, developed a database and a summary report—health profile of new Immigrants in Lethbridge – to support joint funding proposals. This report continues to be used by both agencies.
Oral Public Health Office & the Chief Dental Officer of Health (Calgary)
Health information analyst role
1. Project report to profile: (a) the history of oral public health in Alberta, (b) development of a survey, interviews and a summary of current regional projects addressing SDOH & oral health services, and (c) a summary of government funded dental care services in Alberta (spring 2015) – Calgary (virtual preceptor in Edmonton)
2. Project: Provide information on the importance of oral health, fluoride and the AHS fluoride varnish program. Provided recommendations based on global literature review on how to increase enrolment rates into the program. (Fall 2015)
Public Health Innovation & Decision Support, (Calgary), Epidemiologist
Health information analyst, Research assistant roles
1. Project focused on data entry, data cleaning and descriptive analysis for a research study—initial descriptive summary report on evaluation of a checklist for parents. Additionally this student conducted interviews with parents in a number of community health sites in Calgary
Sexual & Reproductive Health (Calgary)
Evaluation assistant and community development facilitation roles
1. Project: data collection on the STI Alberta Improvement Way, and development of a presentation and a report on community engagement to help direct efforts to improve the effectiveness of services and to address wait times in STI clinics (fall 2014) - Calgary
Survey & Evaluations Services (Edmonton)
Evaluation assistant role
1. Project focus on collaboration with a primary care setting and the evaluation team for the evaluation of a new Primary Health Care site in Edmonton – participated in site visits with the primary care team, assisted with data collection (focus groups) and developed a summary report of key findings.
2. Project focused on evaluating the effectiveness of Restorative Care Units and the use of participant observation in evaluation (fall 2014)
Evaluation Services – Assessment and Analysis (Edmonton)
Policy Analyst
1. Project: Literature review on Network Analysis and Interventions, with handout made on key points from literature review to pass along to other members of the Evaluation Services team (RPI). (Fall 2014)
Canadian Cancer Society (Vancouver, Calgary)
Health policy analyst role
1. Project - review of policies to prevent exposure to radon gas in relation to homes and other settings and development of a policy position for CCS advocacy in the province of BC; presented policy brief to representatives of BC health authorities and provincial government at a meeting in Interior Health.
2. Project: review strategies for youth engagement in policy advocacy, support policy advocacy campaign on banning tanning beds for youth (fall 2014)
Covenant Health: St. Michaels Health Care Centre – (Lethbridge)
Health information analyst role
1. Project to develop an overview of best practices in bariatric care and health promotion of obese seniors in institutional settings or day care settings and a summary report was developed to support the development of organizational policies.
Health Canada, First Nations Inuit Health (Edmonton)
Health information analyst role
1. Project to develop a descriptive summary surveillance report (administrative data analysis) on the use of contraceptives among First Nations women in Alberta - initial summary report and presentation to Health Assessment and Surveillance (HAS) team.
Government of Alberta, Alberta Health Epidemiologist, (Edmonton)
Health information analyst role
1. Project under an epidemiologist to develop a descriptive summary report on HIV & AIDS among Aboriginal populations in Alberta - Edmonton
Public Health Agency of Canada - Public Policy division (Edmonton)
Health policy analyst role
1. Project provided an overview of best practices in food security promotion (among funded PHAC projects) - summary report and a presentation to the policy team - Edmonton
Siksika Health Services – Health Center (Siksika)
Health policy analyst role
1. Project: Presented an overview of what public health is and intertwined introducing Health Promotion and Healthy Public Policy with a focus on Aboriginal Health. (Fall 2015)
3. Communicable Disease Control/Infection Control; Health Protection & Environmental Health (Lethbridge, Edmonton, Winnipeg), Communicable disease/Infection control (CDC), Health information analyst, and Evaluation assistant roles
Alberta Health Services (AHS) South Zone MOH & Health Protection (Lethbridge)
CDC assistant & health information analyst roles
1. Project - quality monitoring and observational study on hand washing and cleaning practices on several wards in a hospital –a summary report highlighted opportunities for quality improvement and identified policy recommendations. This report has since been presented provincially and nationally.
2. Project on outbreak management (infectious disease) activities - monitored the outbreak and provided guidance to manage an institutional outbreak of disease (in a long term care facility).
3. Project - developed a QA survey, summary report and presentation on foot care practitioners’ practices in relation to Infection Control Guidelines in Continuing Care settings in southern Alberta.
4. Project - developed a QA survey, summary report and presentation on the utility/satisfaction with the health promotion and education materials (newsletter) provided to food handlers and food service sites in southern Alberta.
5. Project – developed a survey and compiled data to monitor infection control practices in ambulatory care clinic in Lethbridge, and made recommendations to address identified risks (fall 2014).
First Nations Inuit Health, Health Canada (Edmonton)
Communicable disease control (CDC) /Health protection project assistant, & health information analyst roles
FNIHB, MOH for Alberta/NWT and/or Infection Control Coordinator
CDC/HP project Assistant
1. Project - developed plain language resources and case examples (in conjunction with the Infection Control Nurse, Zone Nursing Managers) to support the use of new infection control guidelines for home care nursing in rural First Nations communities and isolate or remote practice settings.
MOH for Alberta/NWT, TB Coordinator
Health information analyst role
1. Project - developed case examples and educational materials to support the implementation of infection control guidelines for home care nurses working on reserves in Alberta and plain language materials (handouts)
2. Project - developed community profiles and compared the epidemiological, demographic and social determinants of health in selected First Nations communities with high and low rates of TB in Alberta (spring 2015)
Government of Manitoba Agriculture, Food & Rural Development, Veterinary Epidemiology & Food Inspection
Food safety assistant/inspector roles
1. Project collecting samples/new inspection protocol, and/or preparing plain language documents to support the development of regulations for a new food safety act (fall 2014) – Winnipeg
4. Project Management, Administrative Leadership
- None to date,
- Two placements requested for Spring 2016 for combined degree students
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5. Work Experience/Paid Summer Positions (not practicum placements)
Alberta Health Services (AHS), Infection Control (Lethbridge)
Hand hygiene and Infection control assistant roles
Canada Food Inspection Agency, Food Inspection (Brandon, Lethbridge)
Food inspector role (no contracts are accepted for unpaid work experience or practicum placements)
Public Health Agency of Canada, Immunization Program (Ottawa)
Data entry assistant role