Educational Strategies
Presented by:
Christina Worrall
Vice President, The Lewin Group, Inc.
2004 PHDSC Annual Meeting
March 18, 2004
Education has always been a primary role of
the PHDSC.


In 1999, the PHDSC’s Education Work Group oversaw
the development of an education strategy
Goals included:

Make the case for data standards in public health

Identify audiences for educational outreach
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Identify partners to develop content and implement plan
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Identify relevant state level databases and applicable standards
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Identify and prioritize types of educational products needed
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Formulate a plan for developing and implementing the
education strategy
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Serve as a vehicle to attract funding
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Its strategy consists of progressive phases
that can occur simultaneously
Build
Partnerships/
Educate
Constituencies
Support
Implementation
Participate in
Standards
Development
2
In the last 3 years, progress has been made
on building partnerships…

Phase I: Build Partnerships/Educate Constituencies

Developing and strengthening educational partnerships
– e.g., ASTHO, CSTE,* APHL,* NAHDO,* NACCHO,* NALBOH,
AcademyHealth and the Public Health Informatics Institute*

Coordinating educational activities with CDC,* PHIN

Securing funding
– e.g., HRSA interagency agreement

Reaching out to other members and partners to build upon,
complement, or showcase on-going educational activities
– e.g., AMIA
* PHDSC Member
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…as well as supporting standards
development and implementation.

Phases II and III: Participate in Standards Development
and Support Implementation

Developed and maintain a Web-based Resource Center (WRC)

Posting brief summaries for public health staff, health services
researchers and the public on what they need to know about
national standards development efforts
– e.g., Public Health Data Standards Tutorial, privacy case studies

Engaging the public health community around particular data
system
– e.g., hospital discharge data, injury data

Created an implementation guide for selected standards
– e.g., Health Care Services: Data Reporting guide
4
Educational activities to pursue in the future
may include the following.

Phase I: Build Partnerships/Educate Constituencies

Launch a campaign to raise awareness and motivate
participation

Make a personal appeal to key audiences, e.g., State Health
Officers

Continue to leverage partnerships
– e.g., NLM,* APHA , ASPH, eHealth Initiative,* Massachusetts
Health Data Consortium*

Phase II: Participate in Standards Development


Recruit and train public health representatives to serve on SDOs
Phase III: Support Implementation

Create an implementation toolbox
5
The WRC is a primary way to meet public
health’s data standards education needs
Web-based Resource Center
First Generation
Web-based Resource Center
Second Generation
6
Educating PHDSC stakeholders about the
importance of data standards is not easy

Broad target audience with varying needs

Lack of funding

Competing priorities

Complex topic
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New content and marketing have been the
foci of the 2nd generation site


1st generation development was informed by a survey of
data standards educational needs
2nd generation development involves:

Limited discussions with users about current and future needs
– Users included local public health staff, leaders of state
associations, vendor

New content
–
–
–
–
–

Migration of content from Web sites hosted by NCHS & NAHDO
Updated tutorials and Web sites
New papers, presentations, privacy and other case studies
New SDO content
Online form to assess needs and satisfaction
Marketing plan
8
The mission of the WRC is to be a hub for
important and timely information exchange
To create a Web-based tool and hub used by federal, state, and
local policymakers, researchers, and other stakeholders to
exchange educational materials and to share ideas relating to
public health data standards development and implementation
over the course of two years.
To create a “buzz” regarding the Public Health Data Standards
Consortium (PHDSC) Web-based Resource Center (WRC) as an
important and timely source of critical information throughout
the data standards community and as a means to highlight the
work of individuals and organizational PHDSC members working
to facilitate and promote the use of data standards to further
public health goals.
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Marketing goals for the next two years are
to raise awareness and use of the site

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Increase in awareness and first-time use of the Webbased Resource Center
Increase in use of the Web-based Resource Center by
new and returning users
Solicitation of contributions and feedback from Webbased Resource Center users
Expansion of PHDSC membership through the Webbased Resource Center
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Specific activities are planned or underway

Examples of short-term (within two months) activities

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
Encourage meeting participants to include a link to the WRC on
their organization’s Web site
Conduct routine maintenance
Demonstrate benefits of membership
Examples of long-term (within two years) activities

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Have PHDSC members or prominent stakeholders advertise the
site at major conferences
Hire a Web Master
Scan environment regularly via Committees or other means to
identify gaps in content and fill them
Establish infrastructure to allow users to submit content
Provide users with a way to participate in PHDSC activities via
the site
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PHDSC Committees and members should
use the WRC to showcase and share results
Health Care Service:
Data Reporting guide
Committee
http://www.nahdo.org
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