A Self-Assessment Study of Competency Levels in the Postgraduate School of Public Health

Summary

The main task of each school of public health is to prepare its graduates to cope with the current and emerging public health problems. Apart from the whole set of educational activities this task requires an examination of learning outcomes of students and teaching abilities of faculty.

An instrument for assessing student outcomes and faculty abilities has been elaborated recently by Gregory P. Loos (School of Public Health, University of Hawaii). The universal competencies applicable to all public health professional and competency levels for public health administration, epidemiology, biostatis-tics, behavioural sciences (also health education and promotion), environmental public health, maternal and child health, and public health nutrition are the elements to be assessed by this instrument, which was disseminated with suggestion to test it in the specific conditions of particular schools of public health. The paper presents effects of the first approach to the application of this tool to assess competencies learned by students and taught by faculty at the School of Public Health functioning within The Nofer Institute of Occupational Medicine in Lodz, Poland. The reflections concerning possibility of application and directions of adaptation and modification of the assessment matrix are described — in connection with the more general concept of competence and competence-based assessment.