December 2009 - Constituent Society and Partnership Corner

Ontario Public Health Libraries Association (OPHLA)

OPHLA held its annual meeting November 4th and 5th, following the OPHA conference in Toronto. At this year’s conference, our group collaborated on a presentation entitled “Literature Searches for the Ontario Public Health Standards: Research Evidence in Context”. This was a workshop on how to effectively use the literature searches developed by the OPHLA group to accompany the new Ontario Public Health Standards. The session was very well attended and participants commented on the relevance of the workshop material.

Six of our OPHLA members served on various committees for the conference and several more attended as delegates. Unfortunately, the H1N1 situation prevented others from attending the conference as well as our meeting following the conference. Despite these setbacks, our meeting was very productive.

The OPHLA meeting began with a Train-the-Trainer workshop for the Cochrane Library. At present, this database is offered free of charge to anyone in Canada. This arrangement expires at the end of the 2009 year and information specialists are lobbying for a permanent extension of the free access. The session consisted of an overview of the content of the database, followed by advanced searching techniques to find relevant public health reviews.

The next day there was a business meeting and a presentation by Meighan Finlay, Executive Director of the Ontario Council on Community Health Accreditation (OCCHA). She gave us an overview of the new processes for accreditation of public health units. Our OPHLA group became a member at large of OCCHA last December and our goal is to have access to an information specialist incorporated into the accreditation standards. A committee was formed to work with Meighan on developing process questions for Standard 11 - Research and Knowledge Exchange.

We also looked at our core competencies developed in December 2006. A committee was formed to look at how we can rewrite these competencies to align more closely with the Public Health Core Competencies.

During the H1N1 crisis, our members from the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long Term Care, Public Health Branch prepared a daily update on news articles related to the H1N1 crisis. The updates were posted on our website. The resources page on our website provides valuable links to other public health information.

 

Thank you from the Pan Canadian Task Force for Public Health Nutrition Practice (the Task Force)

by Cindy Scythes and Tara Brown, Task Force Members, and Jane Bellman, Task Force Chair

La version française suit

To all those OPHA members who participated in the Public Health Nutrition practice consultation last fall:

The Task Force thanks you for your contribution to strengthening public health nutrition practice! The Task Force provides leadership, expertise and strategic counsel to enhance public health nutrition practice in Canada through collaboration, consultation and research.

We listened

As part of the workforce development work by the Public Health Agency of Canada related to the Core Competencies for Public Health, the Task Force invited members of the public health community and dietetic practice to participate in a coast-to-coast consultation to help inform recommendations on a national definition of practice, discipline specific competencies and leadership and organizational structures for public health nutrition practice in Canada. This work was made possible through a partnership with the Public Health Agency of Canada, and through Dietitians of Canada.

The resulting conversations we had were incredibly rich and we are grateful to all who participated.

The results?

We presented our preliminary findings at the 2009 Dietitians of Canada conference and the November 2009 OPHA conference. These newly released documents are available from the DC website:

  1. Technical Report on the Stakeholder Consultation (available in English only)
  2. Recommendations for Action

What next?

Please review these documents with the intention of discovering opportunities to contribute to addressing the recommendations for action.

Please share this document with your colleagues, employers, and others who have an interest in public health nutrition practice and workforce development.

Use the definition of public health nutrition practice and the identified competency areas in your work (e.g., integrate into communication tools, job descriptions, professional development plans, or educational materials).

The Task Force is continuing our efforts to strengthen public health nutrition practice and looks forward to working with other groups who share this interest and can play a role in implementing these recommendations.

Thank you once again for your contribution!

 

Thank you from the Pan Canadian Task Force for Public Health Nutrition Practice (the Task Force)

Tout d’abord, nous désirons vous remercier pour votre contribution à la consolidation de la pratique de la nutrition en santé publique!

Le Groupe de travail pancanadien sur la pratique de nutrition en santé publique (le Groupe de travail) fournit du leadership, de l’expertise et des conseils stratégiques en vue d’améliorer la pratique de la nutrition en santé publique au Canada par l’intermédiaire de la collaboration, de la consultation et de la recherche.

Nous avons écouté

L’automne dernier, nous vous avons invités à participer à une consultation effectuée d'un océan à l'autre et dont le but était d’aider à établir des recommandations pour une définition nationale de la pratique, des compétences et du leadership propres à la discipline, et des structures organisationnelles en lien avec la pratique de la nutrition en santé publique au Canada. Ce travail a été rendu possible grâce à la contribution financière de l’Agence de la santé publique du Canada, par l’entremise des Diététistes du Canada.

Les conversations que nous avons eues dans le cadre de ce travail ont été des plus enrichissantes, et nous sommes reconnaissants envers toutes les personnes qui y ont participé.

Les résultats?

Nous avons présenté nos conclusions préliminaires à l’occasion du congrès 2009 des Diététistes du Canada. Ces documents publiés récemment sont accessibles au website DC:

  1. Rapport d'expertise sur la consultation des intervenants (disponible en anglais seulement)
  2. Recommandations

La suite?

Nous vous invitons à partager ces documents avec vos collègues, vos employeurs et avec toutes les personnes qui s’intéressent à la pratique de la nutrition en santé publique et au perfectionnement de la main-d’œuvre.

Le Groupe de travail poursuit ses efforts visant à consolider la pratique de la nutrition en santé publique et est enchanté de l’idée de travailler avec d’autres groupes qui partagent ce même intérêt et qui peuvent contribuer à l’implantation de ces recommandations.

Nous tenons à vous remercier une fois de plus de votre contribution.

Cindy Scythes and Tara Brown Jane Bellman
Membre du Groupe de travail Présidente du Groupe de travail