Host Organization Partnership Proposal
Public Health Foundation

The Public Health Foundation (PHF) (www.phf.org) is a national, non-profit 501(c)3 organization with a clear focus on improving public health infrastructure and the performance of public health agencies and systems. For more than 35 years, PHF has been on the forefront of initiatives designed to strengthen and improve the infrastructure and performance of systems that protect and promote the public’s health. Originally founded as the research and data collection arm of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials, PHF became an independent organization in the early 1990s and expanded its mission to include building the capacity of public health systems at all levels through technical assistance, research, and training. Today, PHF is governed by an 11-member Board of Directors comprised of leaders with expertise in quality and performance improvement, public health, healthcare, homeland security, and business. The diverse PHF Board includes representatives from academic, government, private sector, and nonprofit organizations.

The mission of PHF is: Improving public health infrastructure and performance through innovative solutions and measurable results. This mission aims to help PHF achieve its ultimate vision to create "a high-performing public health system that protects and promotes health in every community."

Because of PHF’s broad perspective and reputation for practical, objective, and evidence-based solutions, hundreds of thousands of organizations and professionals regularly turn to PHF for the latest models, training, guidance, and tools to help them do their jobs more effectively. PHF prides itself on the quality of its products and services as well as the positive outcomes achieved.

PHF’s activities increasingly have focused on public health workforce development and performance improvement. In June 2007 the PHF Board of Directors adopted a five year vision that will continue moving PHF forward to help achieve a high-performing public health system that protects and promotes health in every community. Actions PHF has committed to take over the next five years will: 1) move the field of public health towards the cutting edge of quality and innovation; and 2) address critical and emerging public health workforce needs.

 Description of the facility in which the librarian would be working

The librarian will be working in PHF’s office in downtown Washington, D.C., located at 1300 L Street, N.W. The individual will have access to PHF’s server (includes electronic files, email access, and access to the Internet) through a computer dedicated to the fellow and to all PHF resources, including PHF’s library of public health publications. The fellow will have dedicated office space and will be located in a single office.

Partnership Description

We envision the Learning Partnership resulting in learning taking place by both the fellow and PHF employees. For the fellow, we plan to help the fellow understand the information needs of individuals in community settings with responsibility to preserve and improve the public’s health and build skills/competence on ways to organize and provide access to this information for individuals and organizations with these responsibilities. Specific measurable objectives will be developed with the fellow during the first month at PHF to help enrich the individual’s learning experience. For PHF, we anticipate staff learning from the librarian strategies for accessing, cataloging, and organizing evidence that we can/do use each day in our work. In addition, we anticipate other mutual learning that comes with building professional relationships in a work environment.

Proposed Activities:

Note: this initial list will be refined when a candidate and PHF are evaluating fit. The Librarian will play a leadership role in all activities outlined below.

We have queried all of our unit directors about activities for the fellow that will support PHF’s vision and provide the fellow with a excellent learning experience. These include: 1) Evaluate two of PHF’s existing dynamic online resource centers and recommend strategies for improving the way the information is presented, technology and protocols to eliminate redundancies, and models for improving the organization and structure of the online resource centers; 2) Conduct a literature review to identify tangible benefits associated with applying quality improvement techniques systematically in public health settings and in other industries; 3) Review strategies that public health organizations use for successfully disseminating information on quality improvement and recommend strategies for improving PHF’s approach to effective dissemination; 4) Explore the costs and benefits of using PHF’s learning management system for public health (TRAIN) to deliver health education training to consumers; 5) Research emerging trends and new technologies being successfully used for e-learning; and 6) Assess librarian needs for information/resources PHF develops and distributes and recommend approaches to meet these needs. The precise activities for the fellow to pursue will be dependant upon the fellow’s areas of interest and expertise, expectations for the fellowship, and learning objectives.

Ideal Candidate

We would like the fellow to have some knowledge about and interest in the U.S. public health system. In addition, the fellow should be familiar with strategies to identify and access peer-reviewed and gray literature. Some experience with informatics, assessments and/or evaluations is preferred, but not required.

Anticipated Outcomes 

One of PHF’s major contributions to our nation’s public health system is the collection, translation, organization, and dissemination of information. We anticipate that the Sewell Learning Partnership will help us better understand the science/methods related to our information activities as well as improve the way we currently perform these activities.

Some examples of how operations may be impacted through this fellowship are as follows: 1) improve the way we translate, catalog, and disseminate information through our two online resource centers – may require technological and content changes to these resource centers; 2) develop a better understanding of the impact quality improvement methods/techniques can/do have on public health, healthcare, and industry – will lead to new case examples of effective quality improvement strategies that will be used in future training; 3) improve the way PHF develops, translates, and disseminates evidence-based quality improvement strategies – will lead to new dissemination strategies with the public health community; 4) determine the appropriateness of and potential strategies for reaching consumers with health education information – may lead to an expansion of PHF’s learning management system, TRAIN; and 5) understand librarian needs for PHF resources – will enable PHF to better reach librarians with appropriate and targeted resources.

Many public health professionals lack an understanding of how librarians can/do contribute to public health work and how library sciences can be used by any organization. Through our work with NLM and individual librarians, we have developed a better understanding of the contributions librarians can/do make. However, working alongside a librarian can afford us with the unique opportunity to learn from observation and collaboration. We anticipate that the Learning Partnership will have a lasting impact on PHF by helping us to better understand the library sciences, the methods, and even the thought processes that are part of what a librarian learns and does. PHF is an interdisciplinary organization, comprised of individuals who learn from and teach one another. Having a librarian be part of our team will enrich us individually and organizationally.

 

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