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Program Overview

Curriculum | Cycle IX Program Highlights

Curriculum

The Ecological Model has been chosen as the framework to build the curriculum for the Kansas Public Health Leadership Institute (KPHLI). The 2002 Institute of Medicine report “Who Will Keep the Public Healthy?” describes this model as “a model of health that emphasizes the linkages and relationships among multiple determinants affecting health.” Specific curriculum modules are based on competencies developed by the National Public Health Leadership Development Network.

Program Goals and Objectives

The KPHLI was designed to increase practitioners’ transformational and transactional leadership knowledge, skills, and competencies in areas that are vital to the development of their public health organizations/institutions in order to impact Kansas’s state and local health departments and public health infrastructure directly. Other goals of the program include:

  1. Providing a collaborative sequential leadership development model that supports the application of new knowledge and skills in the practice setting;
  2. Enhancing the leadership competencies that are vital to strengthening the public health system in Kansas; and
  3. Strengthening linkages among public health practitioners and developing collaborative networks with public health academicians.

In addition, the KPHLI curriculum acknowledges the importance of eight content areas recommended by the Council on Linkages Between Academia and Public Health Practice. The council comprises leaders from national organizations who represent both public health practice and academic communities, including the National Public Health Leadership Development Network. These leadership competencies represent a set of skills, knowledge, and attitudes necessary for the broad practice of public health. They transcend the boundaries of the specific disciplines within public health and help to unify the profession. These content areas stress leadership that:

  1. Creates a culture of ethical standards within organizations and communities
  2. Helps create key values and shared vision and uses these principles to guide action
  3. Identifies internal and external issues that may impact delivery of essential public health services (i.e., strategic planning)
  4. Facilitates collaboration with internal and external groups to ensure participation of key stakeholders
  5. Promotes team and organizational learning
  6. Contributes to development, implementation, and monitoring of organizational performance standards
  7. Uses the legal and political system to effect change
  8. Applies theory of organizational structures to professional practice

The primary goal for each KPHLI fellow is to enhance and develop transactional and transformational knowledge, skills, and competencies that are vital in developing change strategies to impact the public’s health through 3 core functions. Within these core functions, the CDC has also identified 10 basic public health practices that are integral to the operation of state and local health agencies:

  1. Assessment:
    1. Assess health needs effectively
    2. Investigate the occurrence of health effects and health hazards
    3. Analyze the determinants of identified health needs
  2. Policy development:
    1. Advocate for public health, build constituencies, and identify resources
    2. Set priorities among health needs
    3. Develop plans and policies to address priority health needs
  3. Assurance:
    1. Manage resources and develop organizational structures
    2. Implement programs
    3. Evaluate programs and provide quality assurance
    4. Inform and educate

The purpose of these functions is to impact the local public health infrastructure and meet the national objectives for the year 2010. Upon completion of the program, a scholar should have developed the knowledge, skills, and competencies to be able to:

  1. Describe the meaning, value, and functions of leadership in public health practice
  2. Describe the mission, vision, values, goals, and objectives of their organization as a system
  3. Describe their own and other team members’ unique gifts and value to their organization/team
  4. Identify their personality styles and behavior patterns in regard to leadership practice strengths and areas for improvement
  5. Describe the purpose and methods for improving communication and teamwork in order to implement change strategies within their organization
  6. Describe the value of leadership competencies in their job and their impact on leading teams
  7. Select and define variables relevant to a problem requiring solution within their team and identify how the solution will contribute to the team’s vision of the future
  8. Develop and complete written documentation (as specified in course materials) of a case study addressing a problem in their work setting which seeks to enhance one or more of the three core functions of public health practice and meet specific national Year 2010 Objectives
  9. Describe how the five leadership practices of challenging, encouraging, inspiring, modeling, and enabling (according to Kouzes and Posner/Leadership Practices Inventory) are critical to most successful and productive leaders.

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Cycle IX Program Highlights

Cycle IX of the Kansas Public Health Leadership Institute began on July 27, 2011, at the Spiritual Life Center in Wichita, KS. Twenty-nine new scholars gathered to meet their cohorts and start the leadership training. Jeff King of Next Element kicked off the session with a variety of interactive and reflective activities. His activities center around team-building, but also include discussions on communication. To close out Day 1, KPHLI Co-director Suzanne Hawley reviewed the scholars’ results of their pre-assessment assignments. Scholars learned how to better interact with others with different personality types and leadership styles.

On Day Two, Cycle IX scholars were joined by the Kansas Core Public Health Program (CPH) participants to listen in on KPHLI Cycle VIII capstone projects. These presentations gave the audience an opportunity to learn about applied public health work being completed throughout the state. KPHLI Cycle IX Scholars and current CPH students will present their own capstone projects in April 2012 at the Governor’s Public Health Conference. Cycle VIII projects included “Kansans with Disabilities Sharing their Voices and Creating a Vision for Decreasing Healthcare Barriers,” “Advocating and Promoting Water Fluoridation in Wichita,” and “EFNEP Food and Nutrition Bytes: An Online Nutrition Education Program.” Congratulations to the graduates of the Cycle VIII class!






Day Three was also a joint session with the Cycle IX scholars and the CPH participants. The group heard from a panel of One Health Kansas speakers. The One Health Kansas initiative organizes community outreach and education programs to share their passion for “connecting animals, people, and their environment through education.” Topics included Human-Animal Bond, Companion Animal Zoonotic Diseases, Emergency Response and Preparedness, and Wildlife Ecology.

Session 2 for the KPHLI scholars will be August 24-26, 2011, in Wichita, KS. Kansas scholars will be joined by scholars in leadership institutes from Missouri and Oklahoma for the 4th annual regional session of the Kansas Missouri Oklahoma Leadership Institute (KMOLI).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Scholars from public health leadership institutes in Kansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma met in Wichita, KS, on August 24-26, 2011, for the fourth annual session of the Kansas Missouri Oklahoma Regional Leadership Institute (KMOLI). The three-day session included interactive speakers and group activities to help the scholars from the three states learn from each other.

To start the session, Sherry Immediato of Heaven and Earth, Inc., developed systems thinking concepts that had been introduced in a webinar prior to the session. Systems thinking helps scholars think globally and act locally to impact public health and avoid creating “accidental adversaries” when scarce resources must be shared. Scholars from the three states compared and contrasted local issues to help each other think of ways to collaborate more efficiently.

Scholars also heard from Gary Eagleton of aha! Process. Mr. Eagleton has a diverse background working with families and individuals in generational and situational poverty. He discussed potential barriers these families and individuals face as they attempt to get out of poverty, and how public health workers can be of effective assistance. He showed different mental models for the wealthy, the middle class, and the poor. Scholars learned how each class approaches conflict, health and financial issues, and day-to-day life.

Jeff Lanza closed out the session by discussing crisis communication and media relations. As a former FBI Special Agent, Mr. Lanza worked with the media as a regional spokesman for the FBI for more than 20 years. He gave the scholars tips on how to relate to the media during crisis situations. These skills are imperative for public health leaders, who must communicate with the media during health crises such as flu outbreaks. Scholars were able to hone their new skills as they performed mock interviews. The interviews were recorded and played back in front of the group for feedback.

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