E-Modules

For optimum user experience, it is recommended to view the e-modules on your PC or tablet. We do not recommend viewing the e-modules on your smartphone.

Navigating a Foodborne Outbreak: Preparation for Interprofessional Practice E-module

A self-paced, interactive, interprofessional, competency-based, case study teaching module is now ready online for faculty use. The module aims to promote interprofessional practice to improve and protect population health and is targeted for public health (baccalaureate- and master’s-level), medical, and nursing (baccalaureate-, master’s-, and doctoral-level) students. This learning object will assist in fulfilling IPEC’s overall competency, for students to perform  A webinar with early-adopter faculty users will run on Tuesday February 12 from 2:30-3:30 pm EASTERN (registration TBD) to demonstrate use of the module and answer questions. Details below and available here. Access the module directly at https://navigatinganoutbreakmodule.org 

Competency-based Approach
Upon completion, learners will be able to “describe how professionals in health and other fields can collaborate and integrate clinical care and public health interventions to optimize population health" (Interprofessional Education Collaborative Core Competencies for Interprofessional Collaborative Practice, Competency RR-10). Three sub-competencies and 28 learning objectives frame the module content. 

Module Details
The case scenario of the module is a fictional foodborne illness based on the 2015-2016 multi-state outbreak of Salmonella Poona associated with cucumbers. The three settings in the module include:

• Clinical encounters with symptomatic patients
• Local public health department response
• Interprofessional debriefing meeting among the clinicians and public health professionals involved in the outbreak.

The module encourages learners to deepen their knowledge through links to a variety of supplementary resources that extend the learning and length of the module from an estimated base of 90 minutes up to two hours. The module includes: an instructor’s guide, a pre-module assessment, case scenario videos, supporting resources that can be saved to a personal library, a post-module assessment, and a digital certificate of completion.

Background
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) defines a foodborne disease outbreak as “An incident in which two or more persons experience a similar illness after ingestion of a common food, and epidemiologic analysis implicates the food as the source of the illness” (CDC, 2011).  These outbreaks are common but can be underrecognized by clinicians and the public. In 2018 alone, foodborne illness has been associated with raw meats, salads, vegetable trays, melon, cereal, eggs, coconut products, and nutritional supplements. See multistate foodborne outbreak investigations since 2006 in which CDC was the lead public health agency.

Acknowledgements
Navigating a Foodborne Outbreak: Preparation for Interprofessional Practice was developed and launched in July 2018 with funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to the four national associations that comprise CDC’s Academic Partnerships to Improve Health (APIH) initiative:

• American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN)
• Association for Prevention Teaching and Research (APTR)
• Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC)
• Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health (ASPPH)

Subject matter experts from state and local public health departments and Epidemic Intelligence Service officers with the CDC who were involved in the S. Poona outbreak provided expert guidance for the project. Scores of academicians and students at APIH-member institutions participated in a pilot test in the Spring of 2018.