Posted: May 13th, 2015

Public Health – Practicum experience

Public Health – Practicum experience

The final practicum paper will be a more extensive and cumulative report of the entire practicum experience.  It will utilize the Core and Concentration Competencies from your practicum plan as anchors for discussion about your contribution to the larger organization in which your practicum experience was nested. You are encouraged to draw on your weekly reports to stimulate your memory about what you’ve learned, what skills you’ve gained, challenges, etc. The overall goal of the Practicum Paper is to reflect on your contribution to the agency in which you worked, its contribution to your overall experience with competencies, and your professional development. In so doing, address the following areas with appropriate headings:
o    Setting
o    Overall Project(s)
o    Tasks/Experiences
o    Contributions/Major impacts of your work
o    Conclusion/ Take home message
o    Future implications
o    Acknowledgements
o    Works Cited
o    Appendices

1.    Summary of the organization in which you worked (Setting)
a.    Description of your understanding of the organization, functioning and interrelationships of health agencies in the community, both public and private.
b.    Description of your understanding of the organization, administration, and program activities of your health agency.
c.    Description of the public health activities of your agency and the relationship of those activities to the functioning of the agency.
d.    Description of the health education opportunities available to the agency staff and your participation, if any.

2.    Overall projects, Tasks/experiences, Contributions/major impacts
a.    Description of the history of the project/initiative, including how it came into being, its purpose, and any challenges or triumphs inherent to the project or initiative before you joined.
i.    A literature review may be applicable here. Provide the context of why this project existed in the first place, and why it was important to work on.
b.    Include the Core and Concentration Competencies in bold that can be linked to the project/initiative that you contributed to (draw on your practicum plan for clarity on these categories).
i.    Use each competency as a header/section to describe the responsibilities you fulfilled within the project and how.
ii.    Describe any challenges and explain why these challenges existed. Then provide insight on what you did to address or work through the challenges.
iii.    Based on your experience, what skills did you develop or refine? How?
c.    Summary of your responsibilities for the projects(s) to which you were assigned.  Summary of your activities within the program.  Your evaluation of the adequacy of the program.

3.    Conclusion & Future Implications
a.    How did the project end and why? What was achieved overall, and what work is left to do?
i.    How does this fit into the larger context of public health?
b.    Describe the lessons learned. These might include insight and observations about employee relations, public health systems, evaluations, conceptualization/implementation of initiatives, etc.
i.    How do these lessons impact your professional identity as a public health professional leader? Your expectations of public health? Your professional development path and/or next steps?
ii.    Tips for the other side: after having completed your practicum experience, what tips/insight might you offer to other students who will take a similar journey?