Overview

The Morehouse School of Medicine (MSM) Residency Program in Public Health and General Preventive Medicine was launched in 1986 in the Department of Community Health and Preventive Medicine.  The residency program is co-sponsored by the Georgia Department of Human Resources, Division of Public Health (DHR-DPH).  Both MSM and DHR provide varied training resources focused on public health practice and community-oriented preventive medicine.  The co-sponsors recognize the great need for these skills by physicians who direct state, district, and county health departments and by those who will lead in strengthening prevention-oriented community medicine, particularly among disadvantaged, minority populations in the United States.

Mission

Its mission is to train qualified physicians to promote healthy behavior and prevent disease, injury and premature death. The program teaches residents to understand the health risks associated with social, cultural, and behavioral factors; identify and address health needs in individuals and populations; understand and address the impact of health disparities among racial and ethnic groups; and recognize and eliminate behaviors that lead to injury and death.

Program Structure

The residency program is a two-year program that offers residents the opportunity to integrate a practicum with academic work towards the degree of Master of Public Health.  Residents spend a total of two years completing the intermeshed academic and practicum year requirements at MSM. Both the academic and practicum programs have been designed with enough scheduling flexibility to accommodate dual enrollment of residents.

Among the eight major segments of the residency program, five correspond to the major component areas of preventive medicine:

1. Epidemiology/Biostatistics;
2. Health Administration;
3. Environmental and Occupational Health;
4. Clinical Preventive Medicine; and
5. Social/Cultural/Behavioral aspects of medicine.

The additional three segments are devoted to:

1. a District Health Office rotation;
2. two electives, Special Studies, elective research or an investigative/analytical project; and
3. the Major Area of Concentration. 

During the District Health Office assignment residents spend a rotation working in a district health office under careful supervision.  The Major Area of Concentration and Special Studies electives allow residents to acquire additional knowledge and skills in one of the five component areas of public health.

Special Areas of Training

• Training in public health and preventive medicine with a concentration in cancer control and prevention research. Applicants must express an interest in this concentration upon applying.
• Combined training is available with the Family Practice Residency Program. The combined residency is four-and-a-half years in length and includes the MPH degree. At the completion of training, graduates are board-eligible in both Preventive Medicine and Family Practice. Those interested in combined training must apply separately to each program.

After completing their academic and practicum years, residents can realistically expect to find employment in public health at the federal, state, or county levels. Other feasible career opportunities include serving as a program coordinator or researcher, a medical director of a health center, or an academician or consultant.

General Clinical Competencies

The acquisition of basic clinical competencies will require an ACGME accredited clinical year (12 months) with six (6) months of direct patient care. The following competencies must be obtained . The preventive medicine variation (adapted from is written in brackets(These competencies may also be acquired during academic and practicum training of the residency program and should be incorporated where applicable):

1. Patient care [Population Care]: The residency program must ensure that its residents by the time they graduate, provide appropriate, effective, and compassionate clinical care. Residents will be able to:
   • Perform thorough assessments of patients
   • Perform thorough assessments of population health problems
   • Develop treatment plans using clinical and scientific data and patient preferences
   • Develop intervention plans using clinical and scientific data and patient preferences


2. Medical Knowledge: The residency program must ensure that its residents by the time they graduate possess knowledge in established and evolving biomedical and clinical science domains and apply it to clinical care. Residents will be able to:
   • Use medical knowledge to think through medical problems
   • Use medical knowledge to think through community health problems
   • Stay current with up-to-date medical knowledge


3. Interpersonal skills and communication: The residency program must ensure that its resident by the time they graduate can develop appropriate interpersonal relationships and communicate health information effectively with communities patients, their patients’ families and professional colleagues. Residents will be able to:
   • Collaborate and communicate effectively with patients and their families
   • Collaborate and communicate effectively with patients, families and communities
   • Work effectively with other health care professionals


4. Practice-based learning and improvement: The residency program must ensure that its residents by the time they graduate are able to investigate, evaluate, and improve their patient care practices. Preventive medicine residents will be able to assess a community; design, implement and evaluate a health intervention to improve the health of the community. Attainment of this skill is measured by:
   • Critical appraisal of medical evidence about treatment effectiveness
   • Critically appraise evidence about intervention effectiveness
   • Implement a method to assess the effectiveness of patient care activities
   • Implement a method to assess the effectiveness of community based activities


5. Professionalism: The residency program must ensure that is residents, by the time they graduate, demonstrate the fundamental qualities of professionalism. This is measured by the residents ability to:
   • Apply professional and ethical principles to the practice of medicine
   • Apply professional and ethical principles to the practice of medicine and public health
   • Respond sensitively to individual’s and communities’ culture, age, gender and disabilities


6. Evaluation:
   • Progress in MPH Program
   • Evaluation of Practicum rotations
   • Evaluation of community assignment


7. Systems-based practice; The residency program must ensure that its residents by the time they graduate are aware that health care is provided in the context of a larger system and can effectively call on system resources to support the care of patients. The resident will be able to:
   • Identify ways delivery systems affect care quality and patient safety
   • Use system resources to provide cost-conscious care

The Rotations

Each Preventive Medicine Resident participates in the following rotations. The rotations are structured around competencies and performance indicators.

Epidemiology
Epidemiologic expertise in the Division of Public Health, DHR, is focused in the Office of Epidemiology, which coordinates and offers consultation in epidemiology for most of the operating units of the Division. The office provides guidance and staff resources not only for state-level programs but also for field investigations and consultation at district and local health unit levels. A skilled staff of epidemiologists, biostatisticians, and related experts conduct epidemiologic investigations and the research that accompanies them.

Health Administration & Management
This rotation provides exposure to an array of health administration services required for comprehensive public health programming. These include programs for personal health services, planning, quality assessment, personnel and fiscal management, and management of healthcare institutions. A coordinator experienced in administration with access to these areas directs resident training in health services administration. Morehouse preventive medicine residents contribute their skills in clinical applications of preventive medicine as part of the health administration practicum.

Clinical Preventative Medicine
Because the MSM/DPH program focuses specifically on public health practice and community preventive medicine, the practical application of disease control and prevention strategies is especially important. This rotation addresses community health services, family health services, resources for prevention programs in maternal and child health, nutrition, genetic screening, health risk analysis, non-infectious and infectious disease, dental health, immunization, and rehabilitation. In addition, the Morehouse School of Medicine Department of Community Health and Preventive Medicine collaborates in a variety of family and community-related health care activities. Through these varied county-level and MSM programs, residents have rich opportunities to gain experience in the clinical applications of preventive medicine.

Environmental/Occupational Health
The Environmental Health Section of local health departments is comprised of units dedicated to Environmental Services, Food Services, Occupational Health, Institutional Health, and School Engineering. In addition to inspections, consultations, and investigations, the Environmental Health Section is noted for its training courses, broadly aimed at improving professional and public understanding of important environmental health issues. Moreover, the Environmental Health Section carries out many of the efforts of the Divisions of Public Health for injury control and on behalf of the disabled and the handicapped.

Social/Cultural/Behavioral
The Morehouse School of Medicine Department of Community Health and Preventive Medicine offers comprehensive instruction and experience with the vital elements of behavior, personal and community that influence health, health promotion, and disease prevention.

District Health Office
The MSM/DPH residency program strongly emphasizes application. Residents have an excellent opportunity to participate in "hands-on" health services delivery during their assignment to a district health office. This experience underscores campus learning for many residents.

In theory, the resident may select any of the state's 10 district health offices as the site for this portion of the program. The Residency Director is responsible for ensuring that the resident is assigned to an office in which the district health officer has the time, resources, and skills to provide adequate supervision and guidance. The selected district should also provide the opportunity for the resident to participate in programs suited to his or her educational needs and interests.

Special Project
The Special Studies and Major Area of Concentration rotations are elective rotations designed to provide additional time toward the MPH thesis work and to allow the resident the opportunity to pursue further study beyond the regular rotations. Therefore, objectives for these rotations will be set by the resident with his/her preceptor and advisor, and with the approval of the residency director. A wide variety of resources and facilities at both the sponsoring and collaborating institutions is available for resident research or other special projects.

Major Area of Concentration
The six week rotation devoted to major area of concentration allows the resident to undertake further study in one of the five core areas of public health: epidemiology/biostatistics, health administration and management, clinical preventive medicine, occupational and environmental health, and social/cultural/behavioral aspects of public health.

The Morehouse School of Medicine (MSM) Public Health/Preventive Medicine Residency Program (PH/PMR) collaborates with community-based organizations for the purpose of resident education, community engagement, and service. Residents complete a longitudinal community practicum experience with a faith-based organization over the 2-year training period. The goal of this community-based training has been two-fold: 1) to train residents to establish effective community partnerships, and 2) to impact health outcomes through the related health promotion and education activities. A set of educational objectives drive the methods for the achievement of this project.

Education Objectives

• Establish relationships with community representatives
• Complete a health assessment of the assigned community
• Present the project to a community meeting or community board, justify the assessment and its methods, and obtain community approval
• Design a community intervention in conjunction with the community-based organization
• Carry out the intervention in a culturally sensitive and appropriate fashion
• Manage the project’s budget
• Design and utilize process objectives to assess the extent to which the project is consistent with the health goals
• Analyze the results and prepare a final report to the organization
• Prepare and submit a final report and presentation

Each resident is expected to spend an average of 4 hours per week involved in community-based activities. Please remember to document this time in your duty hours.

 Below is a table that illustrates a typical course of study.

Additional Requirements: All residents are required to complete a minimum of 320 hrs. in clinical activities.