1
Accomplishments, challenges and shortcomings are part of any learning experience, my practicum included. In fact, I quickly learned that few things are as easy as they seem. Even my preceptor choice served as a reminder of this and asked me to once more explore my choice and role in public health and my personal goals.
Initially devastated when I learned that the preceptor I selected was unavailable, I discovered the value of patience. Despite the stressful nature of the situation, I tried to remain calm. Reassured by the agency’s willingness to locate another preceptor to assist me with my practicum, I later realized that this experience mirrored that of many agency members seeking assistance with unique health situations. They, too, have a sense of urgency, depend on agency or professional assistance and seek ways to live their lives and reach their goals. Therefore, this difficulty proved important.
Nevertheless, other challenges lay in wait. Unable to attend employee-only meetings due to agency policy and unable to present solutions and plans directly to the client for the same reason was disheartening, at first. After all, my duties and responsibilities within the agency placed me within the intersection of several departments including health program planning for individuals and employer members, within health communications and informatics, event planning and coordination and the research-based aspects of individual health record analysis, best practices analysis and related brainstorming sessions. Therefore, the agency meeting exclusion seemed contrary to the nature of my work within the agency and sometimes inspired feelings of isolation.
However, this marginalization and the agency’s adherence to associative member privacy policies were mandated by the agency’s ethical and legal responsibilities. Upon reflection, this became imminently clear. After all, these principles were explicated during PUBH 6175 - Health Policy and Management and PUBH 6227 - Health Informatics.
Despite this perceived setback, the aforementioned duties deepened my knowledge relative to chronic conditions such as diabetes, CAD, Asthma, COPD, and obesity, and the need for better prevention. They also encouraged better understanding of the affectations they induce for individuals afflicted with any of these conditions and for communities burdened by such. Not surprisingly then, PUBH 6235 - Program Design, Planning, and Evaluation and PUBH 6115 - Social, Behavioral, and Cultural Factors in Public Health proved beneficial. They informed my case exploration, evaluation and analysis.
Even in uncertainty, when challenged by my leadership role in several annual prevention outreach campaigns, I drew upon PUBH 6235 - Program Design, Planning, and Evaluation, and consulted my preceptor as needed. After all, this role necessitated health communication message development, health education research, cultural competence and social considerations as well as agency approval. Sometimes feeling less capable of the tasks at hand than I should have been, I reminded myself of the leadership lessons learned by so many of the authors of the reading materials for PUBH 6135 - Leadership, Professionalism and Ethics in Public Health Practice and often took a step back and re-evaluated the situations at hand.
Ultimately, the practicum developed my skillset and deepened my knowledge. It promoted professional growth through applied lessons within a working public health environment. Accordingly, it extended the lessons learned and applied within the classroom and verified my skills in communication, my ability to work in stressful environments and situations and remain focused and to seek assistance from the right persons or materials when challenged by some deficiency or lack of experience. Because of all these aspects, I am better prepared to work in the public health sector of my choosing and more capable to do so, even within the business sectors that once terrified me. For all of these reasons, the practicum mirrored everyday applications of life and leadership lessons within public health.