Deck 32: The Future of Public Health Practice

Question 1

Discuss specifically how social media and informatics has had an impact on public health practice.

Answer 1

The social media and informatics landscape would include discussion of one of the following:
a. Twitter
b. Facebook
c. Smartphones
d. Yelp
e. Automated surveillance systems

Question 2

The authors state that although debates about the causes of climate change will continue with the increasingly polarized politicization of the issue, the fact of climate change as a real, experienced phenomenon is clearly established. Discuss one of the five ways in which climate change will impact public health practice.

Answer 2

The five impacts noted include the following:
a. Unpredictable and often catastrophic weather or weather-related events - flooding, tornadoes, drought, and heat waves - will require greater emergency preparedness by governmental health agencies.
b. Climate change will impact the ecology and evolution of infectious diseases, including vector-borne and zoonotic diseases, by increasing the range or abundance of animal reservoirs or insect vectors, and by prolonging transmission cycles.
c. Rising sea levels and the movement of populations through "forcible displacement by climate impacts, resettlement schemes, and migration as an adaptive response."
d. Weather extremes - particularly drought and flooding - will impact food production, security, and costs.
e. Direct effects of temperature extremes (both cold- and heat-related morbidity and mortality), health promotion, and disease prevention efforts will require new knowledge and skill sets in public health practice.

Question 3

Choose one of the five critical capacities and capabilities and discuss how it will impact your work as a health practitioner.
The authors state that they believe there are five critical capacities that public health practitioners can build upon to successfully prepare for and respond to forces of change.

Answer 3

The five choices are:
a. Systems thinking
b. Strategic thinking
c. Communication capacities and capabilities
d. Entrepreneurial orientation
e. Transformational ethics