Final Field Site Assessment of MPH Student Practicum by Field Supervisor

Date of Assessment: 08/08/2014

Name of Student: akshit r shah
Practicum Setting: Cindy and Jana Health Resources Co.
Name of Field Supervisor(s): Jana Stockham
Academic Advisor: Dr. M.Szafron
This final evaluation for the MPH practicum is based on the seven domains of the Canadian Public
Health Workforce Draft Core Competencies, which are described in Appendix G. This assessment
consists of a 3-stage process:

Part 1 A signing off of the learning objectives in the Learning Contract

Part 2 An assessment by both the student and Field Supervisor(s) of the students
level of competence against the 7 Core Competency statements for Public Health in
Canada

Part 3 Final Recommendations of Field Supervisor(s)

The student should fill out the self-assessment section for each domain which includes
providing some examples of practicum activities within each of the core competency
domains. While we hope that during the practicum experience, the MPH student will have the
opportunity to practice some of the competencies in all of these domains, we realize that each
practicum is unique and may have a much heavier emphasis on some particular competency areas
and may provide less opportunity to work on other competency areas. The competency document
is simply provided to help the Field Supervisor(s) and student reflect on what skills were
developed during the practicum and where gaps remain.

A meeting between the Field Supervisor(s) and the practicum student should be held to discuss the
students self-assessment and then the Field Supervisor can complete the remainder of the
document. If possible, the Academic Advisor would also participate in this meeting.


PUBH 992 Final Field Site Assessment/Page 2

Part 1: Review of Performance against Learning Contract
Please review the Learning Contract with the student and sign off
as appropriate.


Sign off by:
1) Appending Part 2-Learning Contract (Practicum Learning Objectives) with sign
off of the objectives to this form, or
2) Note in the box below objectives achieved/not achieved

Please enter any specific comments about performance against contract in
the box below:

Field Supervisor(s)s Comments: All of the key deliverables were achieved within the scope of the
practicum.










PUBH 992 Final Field Site Assessment/Page 3

Part 2: Review of Assessment against Public Health Competencies
In determining levels of competence please consider the Core Competency Statements (attached)
and following grading criteria established by the University of Saskatchewan.

Descriptor Description
Exceptional A superior performance with consistent strong evidence of:
- a comprehensive, incisive grasp of subject matter;
- an ability to make insightful critical evaluation of information;
- a exceptional capacity for original, creative and/or logical thinking;
- an exceptional ability to organize, to analyze, to synthesize, to integrate
ideas, and to express thoughts fluently;
- an exceptional ability to analyze and solve difficult problems related to
subject matter.
Excellent An excellent performance with strong evidence of:
- a comprehensive grasp of subject matter;
- an ability to make sound critical evaluation of information;
- an excellent capacity for original, creative and/or logical thinking;
- an excellent ability to organize, to analyze, to synthesize, to integrate
ideas, and to express thoughts fluently;
- an excellent ability to analyze and solve difficult problems related to
subject matter.
Very Good A very good performance with strong evidence of:
- a comprehensive grasp of subject matter;
- an ability to make sound critical evaluation of information;
- a very good capacity for original, creative and/or logical thinking;
- a very good ability to organize, to analyze, to synthesize, to integrate
ideas, and to express thoughts fluently;
- a very good ability to analyze and solve difficult problems related to
subject matter.
Satisfactory to Good A satisfactory to good performance with evidence of:
- a substantial knowledge of subject matter;
- a satisfactory to good understanding of the relevant issues and
satisfactory to good familiarity with the relevant literature and technology;
- a satisfactory to good capacity for logical thinking;
- some capacity for original and creative thinking
- a satisfactory to good ability to organize, to analyze, and to examine the
subject matter in a critical and constructive manner;
- a satisfactory to good ability to analyze and solve moderately difficult
problems related to the subject matter.
Experiencing Difficulties A generally unacceptable performance or a generally weak performance,
but with some evidence of:
- a basic grasp of the subject matter;
- some understanding of the basic issues;
- some familiarity with the relevant literature & techniques;
- some ability to develop solutions to moderately difficult problems related
to the subject matter.
- some ability to examine the material in a critical & analytical manner.


PUBH 992 Final Field Site Assessment/Page 4

1. Public Health Sciences Domain

Students Self Assessment Field Supervisor(s)s Assessment
No opportunity to demonstrate No opportunity to demonstrate
Experiencing Difficulties Experiencing Difficulties
Satisfactory to Good Satisfactory to Good
Very good Very good
Excellent Excellent
Exceptional Exceptional

Examples of Practicum Activities in this Core Competency Domain: the NuuNest application serves new
mothers in upbringing of their neonates. They track baby feeds, profiles the baby and smartly asks for data
time to time, if the data deviates from what is typically observed, the application immediately alerts the
mother. It also gives relevant information for that particular phase. Hence application in itself is highly
systematic and informative. Knowing about new mothers, advantages of several feeding methods , and the
application in itself covered a lot of grounds in the public heath sciences domain.
Field Supervisor(s) Comments: Public Health Sciences domain includes the delivery of evidence based
health information, knowledge of the factors that influence the use of this information, informed decision
making and health promotion. The NuuNest app includes all of these factors. NuuNest was designed to
support breastfeeding as being portrayed as the norm. As quoted from the Public Health Agency of Canada's
website, "For the best possible start in life, the Public Health Agency of Canada supports and promotes
breastfeeding as the normal and unequalled way to provide optimal nutritional, immunological and
emotional nurturing of infants and toddlers." However, if a parent makes an informed decision to feed their
baby formula, NuuNest also supports that parent by providing the required information in order to feed their
baby safely. There was limited exposure to a broader pubic health environment due to the his placement
with Cindy and Jana Health Resource.

2. Assessment and Analysis Domain

Students Self Assessment Field Supervisor(s)s Assessment
No opportunity to demonstrate No opportunity to demonstrate
Experiencing Difficulties Experiencing Difficulties
Satisfactory to Good Satisfactory to Good
Very good Very good
Excellent Excellent
PUBH 992 Final Field Site Assessment/Page 5

Exceptional Exceptional

Examples of Practicum Activities in this Core Competency Domain: There were several opportunities where
analysis of various kind were done, including assesing the efficiencies of the promotional approaches,
assesing the survey feed backs and analysing the demand supply situation for the application. How could it
be enhanced and how to further its awareness and need realization by the target population.
Field Supervisor(s) Comments: We always value feedback from the users of the app. A feedback survey was
designed to help us get qualitative data about the user experience with the app, including what features they
used or did not use, how helpful the app was to them and any suggestions for improvement. Based on the
feedback received, suggestions were made as to how to increase the value of the app. These suggestions will
be considered when we are doing the next update of the app, such as making the "save" button bigger on the
data collection page and increasing awareness of the notification feature.

3. Policy and Program Planning, Implementation and Evaluation Domain

Students Self Assessment Field Supervisor(s)s Assessment
No opportunity to demonstrate No opportunity to demonstrate
Experiencing Difficulties Experiencing Difficulties
Satisfactory to Good Satisfactory to Good
Very good Very good
Excellent Excellent
Exceptional Exceptional

Examples of Practicum Activities in this Core Competency Domain: There were activites involving
planning, and program assesment, including application functionality and its utility prediction. The
practicum also involved promotional planning and figuring out which promotional activites should be
carried out at what stage.
PUBH 992 Final Field Site Assessment/Page 6

Field Supervisor(s) Comments: Research was done in to various marketing strategies. Strategies the most
relevant to our business were presented, including how to implement these strategies into our business plan.
The product, place, price and promotion of our app were highlighted. Time management skills were
analyzed and suggestions were made as to how to spend the right amount of time on the most crucial
activities in order to lead to a faster growth of the company.

4. Partnerships, Collaboration and Advocacy Domain

Students Self Assessment Field Supervisor(s)s Assessment
No opportunity to demonstrate No opportunity to demonstrate
Experiencing Difficulties Experiencing Difficulties
Satisfactory to Good Satisfactory to Good
Very good Very good
Excellent Excellent
Exceptional Exceptional

Examples of Practicum Activities in this Core Competency Domain: In many activites, there was a need to
collaborate and communicate with the owners of the various communication channels (blogs, medias etc)
thus a step wise and organized relationship approach was necessary. Thus these activities help give good
exposure related to partnership and collaboration.
Field Supervisor(s) Comments: The diffusion model was presented as a way to predict interaction with
potential stake holders for our company. The idea of strategic partnerships was discussed as a way to obtain
expertise, save resources and increase production. We have identified that we need to seek out these
partnerships on an ongoing basis. The idea of collaborating with bloggers who had access to our target
market via social media proved to be a great way to increase awareness of our product and to increase sales.




PUBH 992 Final Field Site Assessment/Page 7

5. Diversity and Inclusiveness Domain

Students Self Assessment Field Supervisor(s)s Assessment
No opportunity to demonstrate No opportunity to demonstrate
Experiencing Difficulties Experiencing Difficulties
Satisfactory to Good Satisfactory to Good
Very good Very good
Excellent Excellent
Exceptional Exceptional

Examples of Practicum Activities in this Core Competency Domain: the application in itself is available
online and was thoroughly monitored for its language . Not just for cultural sensitivity but also for being
unbiased towards the target populations opinions and choices. Hence forth there was some amount of
diversity and inclusiveness included in the activities performed during the practicum.
Field Supervisor(s) Comments: It was identified that there is a need to expand the platform of the app so that
it is available to a wider audience. Caution was given as to the timing of this, waiting until enough revenue
is generated. Breastfeeding is recommended as the ideal way to feed infants by many influential sources,
based on research and evidence as to the benefit of breastfeeding. With this in mind, NuuNest was designed
to promote breastfeeding however also including those who made informed decision to feed their baby
formula (for whatever reason). Once offered informed feeding information, families are given the
opportunity to identify their feeding choice so that the information is customized to their feeding plan. It has
been identified that there is a need for a wider variety of culturally diverse pictures of babies and their
families.

6. Communication Domain

Students Self Assessment Field Supervisor(s)s Assessment
No opportunity to demonstrate No opportunity to demonstrate
Experiencing Difficulties Experiencing Difficulties
Satisfactory to Good Satisfactory to Good
Very good Very good
Excellent Excellent
Exceptional Exceptional

PUBH 992 Final Field Site Assessment/Page 8

Examples of Practicum Activities in this Core Competency Domain: All of the promotional activites was
based on communication with different media channels, how to initiate the communication and finally how
to execute the relevant information that would generate maximum awareness and education in the target
population. Hence several opportunities in the practicum helped me improve my communication techniques
and approaches.
Field Supervisor(s) Comments: Various forms of communication were used throughout the practicum
experience. In person exchanges of ideas, opinions and information occurred between the student and
ourselves. Email and texting were also used. Social media was used to recruit potential survey candidates.
Email and online survey tools were used in the design and distribution of the survey. The results of the
survey were interpreted and presented to us electronically. The promotion of the app by bloggers involved
the use of email exchange and social media.

7. Leadership Domain

Students Self Assessment Field Supervisor(s)s Assessment
No opportunity to demonstrate No opportunity to demonstrate
Experiencing Difficulties Experiencing Difficulties
Satisfactory to Good Satisfactory to Good
Very good Very good
Excellent Excellent
Exceptional Exceptional

Examples of Practicum Activities in this Core Competency Domain: There were some occasions where I
had to develop promotional strategies and marketing activites. This required leadership and management
which could have been executed even better , however most of the practicum was a team effort and required
multiple inputs.
PUBH 992 Final Field Site Assessment/Page 9

Field Supervisor(s) Comments: The student showed strong leadership skills in time management and work
ethic. Contribution was made towards the vision of the company and the planning and promotion of various
marketing strategies. Utilizing a way to test the price of the app with the target market was identified and
communicated. The student was able to work independently but did not hesitate to initiate consultation
when needed. There was a demonstrated ability to share knowledge and expertise while at the same, an
openness for further learning .

Additional Comments from Field Supervisor:
Areas of Strength: Work ethic, independent organizational skills, communication, commitment to learning,
strong knowledge of the marketing strtegies necessary for Public Health promotional activities. Pleasant and
approachable.
Suggestions for improvement in students preparation prior to arrival at the practicum setting: It would have
been helpful if he could have his own iOs device, but it was realized that this would be an unrealistic
expectation. We felt that he came very prepared for the practicum experience.
Areas for further development during remaining time in the MPH program: Exposure to a wider range of the
Public Health domain.