Collaboration between a health department and a school of public health to overcome staffing deficiencies

In spring 2013, the New York State Department of Health (DOH) experienced staffing reductions in their HIV/AIDS Epidemiology and Surveillance Program (ESP) and were unable to fill vacancies due to fiscal constraints. They requested an MPH student from the University at Buffalo School of Public Health and Health Professions (SPHHP) to fill this deficiency. Between spring 2013 and fall 2015, students in their field training semester were placed on a rotation basis to support the DOH's ESP under supervision of the DOH’s senior surveillance officer. Four students over a 2.5 year period contributed 1,900 hours of work (11 semesters) to the DOH’s ESP; saving the DOH costs equivalent to one year of a full-time employee. Two students were ultimately hired by the DOH under a grant. Due the success of this rotation model in the state’s Western regional office, DOH is planning to implement it statewide.

Students placed at the DOH were able to master public health skills in a health department setting, and gained experience that lead to subsequent employment. From the student’s perspective, a field training with the DOH ESP was tremendously beneficial. The experience fostered an appreciation of the need for both active and passive surveillance measures to minimize, mitigate and prevent disease transmission. The experience has imparted more than a basic understanding of how targeting specific high risk behaviors affects rates of disease. Students were able to observe for themselves that epidemiology is more than just an occupation of numbers; they saw that in practice, it is an intersection of disease, health care, statistics, political policy, and resources. Students gained valuable skills applied to the public health field: broadened knowledge of relevant laws, technological skills pertaining to medical records, and epidemiology and networking skills that emphasize community and provider connections within public health.