News Releases

Grant Funding Acquired to Help Match Students with Public Health Practicums and Capstone Experiences

The need for public health practicums and capstone experiences is continuously growing in Ohio and throughout the country. In order to support the increased demand for available experiences, grant-funding has been acquired to develop a new online technology tool, prep2practice™. This tool, developed by The Center for Health Affairs, will be used by public health education organizations, their students, and the public health facilities where they receive their public health practicums and capstone experiences. 

Public health practicums and capstone experiences are designed to move students beyond the walls of academia. During these experiences, students have the opportunity to apply their knowledge and skills in a public health agency under the supervision of a preceptor who is qualified to evaluate the professional competence of the student. 

The current system for matching graduate students with public health practicums and capstone experiences is haphazard and lacks standardization. Students simply reach out to organizations with which they may be familiar, creating a burden for the very agencies they seek to involve. 

prep2practice™ will ultimately better meet the public health needs of the community, both by helping to support the development of a strong public health workforce, and by matching their skills and experience with organizations in need. With grant-funding from the Greater Cleveland Healthcare Association, prep2practice™ will have the ability to:

• Enable public health graduate education programs and their students to much more efficiently and effectively schedule public health practicum experiences, thereby satisfying graduation and accreditation requirements.
• Meet currently unmet needs in the public health field by matching graduate students with experiences in organizations and facets of the field that are lesser known to students.
• Support the needs of small and under-staffed organizations that can benefit from the work and expertise that public health graduate students contribute through practicums and capstones.
• Connect students with potential career opportunities in public health organizations statewide. 

The project, from design through beta testing and final rollout, is expected to take approximately 12 months. 

If you have questions about this grant project and matching student with public health practicums and capstone experiences, contact Sandy Vince, CPLP, project manager, via email or at 216.255.3653.