Upcoming HPM Emphasis Area Event: “Designing an Instrument to Measure Hospital Performance”
Thursday, 10/18
5-6PM in CT460
As global health initiatives focus on achieving the Millennium Development Goals it is increasingly evident that strong, functioning health systems are required to sustain long term improvement in population-level health outcomes. While limited resources contribute to low-functioning health systems, poor management at the systemic and individual health facility level often is an underlying factor of under-performance. Without routine performance data, health facility managers are unable to make evidence-based decisions and plan for quality improvement. An appropriate hospital performance measurement tool that could be used to regularly collect performance data would empower frontline health personnel to have the information necessary to provide more efficient and effective care that would in turn contribute to better patient outcomes and population health.
Nine MPH students and an IH instructor spent the summer working on the design phase of an instrument to measure hospital performance. Using participatory action research methods, the team worked in 4 hospitals, observing patient journeys, brainstorming hospital process maps, and consulting with hospital personnel and administrators to select key measurement priorities. Hospitals ranged from an isolated rural hospital with limited resources to large reference hospitals where students scrubbed in to observe surgeries and deliveries, shadowed patients from registration to treatment, and learned firsthand about the complexities of a hospital system. Students will tell about their experiences and demonstrate process mapping techniques as well as presenting next steps in the project.
The Santander Scholarship Application is now open!
The Department of International Health is excited to announce that the application process for the Santander Universities Scholars Program has begun. This is an exciting opportunity to fund an international practicum of 6 weeks or more and I encourage you to consider applying! 10 awards are available for low to moderate income students, and 10 awards are available to students wishing to complete a practicum in Latin America. For both awards, scholarships will we granted on a competitive basis.
Santander Universities Scholars Program
As a practice-based school of public health, the Boston University School of Public Health is committed to promoting experiential learning activities to better prepare its graduates to be successful in the world of work, both domestically and globally. The Santander Universities Scholars Program is a three year agreement between Sovereign Bank and Boston University aimed at contributing to this mission.
To facilitate the School of Public Health’s core commitment to train public health professionals who are adept in a complex, globalizing world, it will utilize the funding received through the Santander Universities Scholars Program to improve and expand several programs within its Field Practice Program in the Department of International Health. The following scholarships are available to all School of Public Health students to facilitate international practica:
- Santander Universities Latin America Scholarship
- Santander Universities Scholarship
- Santander Universities Kenya: Field Practicum Program Scholarship (applications for the Kenya Program will begin in December).
The application deadline for both the Santander Universities Latin America Scholarship and the Santander Universities Scholarship is 5:00pm on November 14, 2012.
Applications submitted after the deadline will be considered for the spring semester application cycle.
For more detailed information, please visit the IH Blast website. To apply, visit the IH Blast https://www.bu.edu/ghblast/gh-practicum/santander/ and fill out the online application form. If you have questions, you may contact Emily Jump at jump@bu.edu.
The Outreach Van at BUMC is looking for clothes Oct. 15-19!
Dear BUMC Community,
Have you any pantaloons lying around? How about any MC Hammer Parachute Pants? (We all know you definitely have at least one 80's Christmas sweater in your closet you do not wear anymore). Want to donate them to a good cause? Now you can!! Please help the Outreach Van Project keep our clients warm this winter!
Donate in the Medical School lobby from October 15-19th!
OVP is always in need of clothing and anything can help (including those tube socks mom got you four years ago). We are especially in need of large men's clothing. Any jackets, blankets, or new socks and underwear would also be greatly appreciated. This is great excuse for students to increase their closet space and make some room for that awesome pair of rain galoshes you just bought.
The Outreach Van is a program operated by students of the BUMC community. Every Thursday night, six students and one physician visit an especially under-served area in East Boston. Volunteers from the Outreach Van provide hot soup, groceries, clothing, and rousing conversation as a means of establishing trusting relationships and encouraging our clients to seek primary care.
Please note that if you cannot donate clothing, but wish to make a financial contribution, your tax-deductible donation will go a long way. If you are interested in donating money to our project, please make out a check to the Outreach Van Project and drop it off to Ana Bediako in the Enrichment Programs office at 72 East Concord St, A building, 2nd floor.
If you have any questions, please contact us at outreach@bu.edu
Thank you very much and have a cocoa-filled winter!
Today’s Environmental Health Seminar: Occupational Heat-Related Illness with Kathleen Fitzsimmons, Epidemiologist. Will be of interest to students with international interests as well!
Environmental Health Seminar
Title: Occupational Heat-Related Illness
Speaker: Kathleen Fitzsimmons, MPH
Epidemiologist, Massachusetts Department of Public Health
Time: Friday, October 12, 2012, 12:00PM - 1:00PM
Place: Boston University Instructional Building Room L214
Contact: jvsevent@bu.edu
Summary: Continuing the Department of Environmental Health’s seminar series, Climate Change: Science, Health, and Policy, Kathleen Fitzsimmons, MPH, will present this week’s seminar titled, Occupational Heat-Related Illness. Workers represent a distinct population at risk for heat-related illness (HRI), considered to be a leading occupational health effect of global climate change. Environmental heat is a potential hazard in a number of industries, including agriculture, yet there is a lack of information on the extent of HRI among US workers. Ms. Fitzsimmons will provide an overview of occupational HRI, summarize California's outdoor workplace HRI prevention regulation, and describe a pilot surveillance project conducted by the California Department of Public Health to assess the statewide burden of occupational HRI.
Dr. Robert Harrison will be joining the seminar online to take part in the discussion. Dr. Harrison founded and directed the University of California San Francisco Occupational Health Services for more than 15 years, and now is a senior attending physician. He also directs the worker tracking investigation program for the California Department of Public Health.
“mHealth and mMcNabb: How Technology Can Enhance International Public Health Programs” a talk by one of our DrPH students
The Doctor of Public Health Program at the Boston University School of Public Health is pleased to announce the following presentation:
mHealth and mMcNabb:
How Technology Can Enhance International Public Health Programs
A Talk by Marion McNabb, MPH
The use of mobile technology for health programs is rapidly increasing in low and middle income countries. In 2011, there were nearly 6 billion cell phone subscribers with more than 80% of new subscriptions from developing countries. (ITU, 2012). Mobile phones are being used for, but not limited to, data collection, decision making, education, diagnostics, surveillance and tele-medicine. This talk will cover the current state of using mobile technology for health programs in low and middle income countries and explore successes, challenges and next steps for implementing mHealth interventions.
Marion McNabb is a DrPH/IH candidate at the Boston University School of Public Health.
Wednesday, October 31 @ 12:00 PM
Crosstown Center, 801 Massachusetts Avenue, Room #460
This event is open to the public.
For more information, please contact Sebastian T. Bach, Doctoral Education Program Manager at (617) 638-4873 or drph@bu.edu.
Oxfam Hunger Banquet Friday, October 19th 5pm in Hiebert
Oxfam America Hunger Banquet
Friday, October 19th from 5:00-6:30pm in Hiebert Lounge
You've got a dinner date on Friday October 19th!
Join the BUSPH Rotaract Club and see hunger and poverty in a whole new way. At this interactive dinner event, the place where you sit, and the meal you eat, are determined by your "luck of the draw"--just as in real life. With Jon Simon as our MC and Jule Meyer from Oxfam America as our VIP speaker, we invite you to experience firsthand how some of our decisions effect others in the world. Tickets are FREE, but we encourage you to bring a canned good to donate to the local food bank or even throw a dollar or two into the donation jar if you're feeling extra generous!
Will you be one of the lucky ones - or will you leave hungry?
Please RSVP via eventbrite: http://busphoxfambanquet.eventbrite.com.
Or visit us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/events/204418553024324/
Health and Human Rights: An NGO’s Contribution to Addressing the Epidemic of Drug Use, HIV and TB in Russia
There will be lunch so please RSVP!
Initiative to End Childhood Malnutrition Volunteer/Intern in Uganda
Initiative to End Childhood Malnutrition Volunteer/Intern
Rukungiri, Uganda
The Initiative to End Childhood Malnutrition (IECM) is seeking one young professional to fill one of two program coordination positions for a six month to one year term at Nyakibale Hospital in southwest rural Uganda, beginning January 2012. IECM is a collaboration between the Harvard College Global Hunger Initiative, Massachusetts General Hospital, and Karoli Lwanga Nyakibale Hospital. The program was created in September 2009 to develop locally sustainable, effective, and replicable malnutrition protocols for developing, rural areas. The position is a voluntary, unpaid internship designed to foster professional growth while fulfilling essential responsibilities in support of this nonprofit program.
In order to support this mission IECM interns will maintain a malnutrition program in Rukungiri, Uganda where an estimated 30% of children under 5 suffer from malnutrition. As an intern you will gain valuable international experience by assisting in the development of a locally sustainable Inpatient Therapeutic Care program, implementation of a microfinance initiative to ensure financial sustainability, development of community gardens to provide nutritional education, and establishment of an Outpatient Therapeutic Care Program to target malnourished children who cannot be treated on an inpatient basis. In addition to working on individual projects, interns will have a unique opportunity to gain practical exposure to the administration of a non-governmental organization.
If you would like to read more about IECM’s efforts, please refer to our abstract from the 2010 Annual American Public Health Association Conference: http://apha.confex.com/apha/138am/webprogram/Paper219359.html and our program website: http://www.massgeneral.org/emergencymedicineglobalhealth/initiatives/Initiative_to_End_Child_Malnutrition.aspx
To apply for this position please send a Resume to liannatabar@gmail.com, with the Subject line of “IECM volunteer application”.
