This course, based on a video tape and workbook, was developed to improve the
ability of public health professionals to understand and use data in their jobs. The video
tape portrays three situational case studies that call for the use of public health data. Module 1--Leading
Causes of Death illustrates how a State health department responded to the Board of
Health's concerns about teen violence by using information available from death
certificates. This module utilizes counts of deaths by cause to identify leading causes of
death for teens and uses rates to compare the risk of death between males and females and
changes in risk over time. Module 2--Teen
Pregnancy focuses on a local health department's experience with an erroneous newspaper
article about teen pregnancy. This module uses information from birth certificates, fetal
death reports, and abortion reports to emphasize the difference between pregnancies and
live births. The last section of this module introduces the concept of variability in
numbers and rates and confidence intervals. Module 3--Smoking
and Health teams a local health department with a managed care organization to estimate
the impact of smoking in their service area. The team utilizes data on smoking from the
Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) to develop a campaign to reduce
smoking. This module introduces the concepts of prevalence, relative risk, and
attributable risk.
Developed By
The Division of Health Promotion Statistics, National Center for Health Statistics; The
Division of Media and Training Services, Public Health Practice Program Office; and public
health professionals from the following States: Iowa, Kansas, Maine, North Carolina, Ohio,
Oregon, Texas, and Utah.
Prerequisites
Some simple calculation skills are needed; public health background is desired.
Target Audience
The intended audience is primarily personnel involved in planning and providing public
health services in State and local health departments or community-based health agencies.
The course is designed to illustrate how data can be used in public health and to provide
participants with an introduction to some basic health statistics and the skills needed to
use these statistics in their jobs.
Instructional Medium/Course
Materials
Video tape and workbook.
Continuing Education Credit
Information
Public Health Data: Our Silent Partner,
course number VC0024, is accredited as a self-study course.
Continuing Medical Education (CME) The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is accredited by the
Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to provide continuing
medical education for physicians. CDC designates this educational activity for a maximum
of 7 hours in category 1 credit toward the AMA Physicians Recognition Award.
Each physician should claim only those hours of credit that he/she actually spent in the
educational activity.
Continuing Nursing Education (CNE) A maximum of 8.4 contact hours is provided by CDC for this activity. CDC is
accredited as a provider of continuing education in nursing by the American Nurses
Credentialing Centers Commission on Accreditation.
Continuing Education Unit (CEU) CDC is approved as an Authorized Provider of continuing education and training
programs by the International Association for Continuing Education and Training and awards
.7 CEUs.
How to Register for Continuing
Education Credit
Request a Registration and Evaluation
packet for course number VC0024. This can be done by:
Email: CE@cdc.gov.
Be sure to provide your name, address, daytime phone number, and the course number.
Fax: Place a toll-free call from a touch tone
phone to 1-888-CDC-FAXX (1-888-232-3299). When prompted, enter document number 564007 and
a request form will be sent to your 10-digit fax number. Complete the request form and
return it by fax to 1-404-639-0800.
Phone: Call 1-800-41-TRAIN, follow the prompts,
and state your request for a continuing education packet.
You should receive your CE registration
packet in 2 to 3 weeks.
CDCs on-line registration will be
available in the near future. Once the on-line system is active, its availability will be
announced on the PHTN web site: http://www.cdc.gov/phtn.
You can then complete your registration and evaluation for the course on-line.
For More Information
The video tape for Public Health Data: Our Silent Partner (1 tape, 76 minutes)
will be made available to State health departments.
The video tape can be ordered through
the Government Printing Office (GPO) and the National Technical Information Service
(NTIS):
Superintendent of Documents
U.S. Government Printing Office
Washington, DC 20402-9325
(202) 512-1800
GPO Stock Number 017-022-01478-5, Price $23.00
National Technical Information Service
5285 Port Royal Road
Springfield, VA 22161
(703) 487-4650
NTIS Stock Number AVA20835VNB1, Price $70.00
The complete set of materials video
tape, workbook, Facilitator's Guide, and Student Guide can be ordered for $28.00 plus
shipping and handling from the Public Health Foundation (PHS) Training Resource Center at http://bookstore.phf.org/prod100.htm
or by calling 1-877-252-1200.
The workbook for Public Health
Data: Our Silent Partner can be downloaded as follows.
Public Health Data: Our Silent Partner
Self Study
Instructor/Facilitator
If
you plan to take this course by self study you should download the
Student Guide and the four workbook files below.
If
you will be an instructor or a facilitator for this
course you should download the Facilitator Guide as well as the Student Guide and the four
workbook files below.