#71
Date: Fri, 25 Jan 2002 09:23:34 +0200
From: Ansa Ojanlatva <ansoja@UTU.FI>
Subject: Re: HEDIR-L Digest - 22 Jan 2002 to 23 Jan 2002 (#2002-15)
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David,
in response to your comment (thank you), one professor suggested that American
medical scientists do write dissertations but the title of the degree "takes" it
to another academic unit (Doctor of Philosophy) or that they are performed in
public health units with DrPH titles. Perhaps it might not hurt to bring up a
few indepth facts. (This is long, yet may be still too short...)
As a sideline of this discussion and a comparison--until this past fall, there
was practically no health education degree without a dental, nursing or medical
degree first, and it is almost impossible to gain employment as a health
educator without such background. Health education within health care is in the
hands of medical personnel who have done a good job in selected areas, practice
by nurses, administration by physicians. Health education was once at school,
got discontinued and phased out for 10 years, and is returning now this coming
fall. The world forgets in 10 years.
The problem with the titles is that they continue to "live" or evolve and
change. So that e.g. doctor of surgery and science of medicine was changed to
doctor of science of medicine as I remember it from some years back. Surgical
scientists of course continue to write but the new ones will have two words less
to write about once they finish. The letters should actually spell MScD but most
of them shorten it to PhD in order to be understood by the rest of the world.
Right or wrong, correct or incorrect...
Another point (which probably was not mentioned in my previous remark) should be
that dissertations in medicine used to be monographs from which a paper was
written for a journal. Now, dissertations are written so that they start with a
committee and a proposal but the requirement has been reversed so that first
come articles, not only in any paper but impact factor journals, there need to
be four of them as I had mentioned previously. One reason for the change may be
that data are available from large projects with no one to analyze it, without
having the students. While Master's students in the US use collected data and
those
around me in the PhD programs in the US collected their own, students here are
able to utilize ready-made data banks often with a statistician available for
the study. A few exceptions exist --and some continue to write monographs-- but
criticism could be directed to discussion about what is and should be.
As far as I have been able to gather during the past decade, the most
substantial reason for all this change has to do with economic facts. Some
(=substantial) research monies in medical research have been factored based on
those mentioned impact factors and the monies are divided via univeristy
hospitals, district hospitals as well as local hospitals and health centers.
Staff and faculty who write papers bring in the monies which are then available
for further research and writing through grant applications within their own
units.
The issue of journals and many papers is not simple either since the many
journals will not allow for comprehensive findings to be adequately explained on
16 pages or less. Education has journals which facilitate elaboration of
dissertation work in volumes. Does any other?
Educationwise, this means that if there is a student out there who plans to work
for a Finnish medical research unit, there is no point about writing just for
any journal. Start with Cancer Research, Lancet, New England Journal of Medicine
etc. if you plan to be working in the future for salary.
American MS and PhD degrees are not valued around me although research and
education in America is. It is impossible for me to hold a tenured position here
with an American degree without another, preferably a medical one. Culturally,
companies bring their people back before 3 yrs are up for this culture does not
value "different" people. There is a common word for a person who is different,
"village madperson or folly", one word which probably best describes one of is a
"thorn" on the side and does not fit in. Understandably, no one wants to be one
and bullying is common, although there now is talk about, a movement to outlaw
bullying.Meanshile an estimated 100 000 people go though it daily.
Ansa Ojanlatva
"Dr. David F. Duncan" wrote:
> **
> ** AAHE--Official Sponsor of the HEDIR
> ** www.aahperd.org/aahe
> **
>
> Re: Ansa Ojanlatva's comments on dissertatiuon requirement.
>
> It is always interesting to learn how analogous processes are performed
differently in other countries.
>
> In America, of course, there is no research doctorate in medicine and hence no
dissertations in medicine. I believe Rockefeller University used to offer a
Doctor of Medical Science degree that was similar to the British M.D. but I
don't know of any such degree available today in the U.S..
>
> A requirement of multiple publications from a dissertation study would run up
against editorial policy of most medical and scientific journals in the U.S.
which hold that all results of a study should be reported in a single paper.
Obviously exceptions are made for huge multi-site studies such as MRFIT, Project
Match, or the Epidemiologic Catchment Area Study, but not for dissertations.
Editors have railed against the practice of breaking a study down into "least
publishable units" in order to milk the maximum number of publications out of
it. Requiring at least the submission of one paper, however, seems like a good
idea to me.
>
> David F. Duncan, DrPH, CAS, FAAHB
> Clinical Associate Professor
> School of Medicine
> Brown University
> Providence, Rhode Island
>
> ** Advertise Jobs On The HEDIR
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> **
> ** Check Your HEDIR Info...
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> **
--
dos. Ansa Ojanlatva
Dept Public Health
Lemminkaisenkatu 1
20014 University of Turku/Finland
tel. +358-2-333-8513
fax +358-2-333-8439
------------------------------
#72
Date: Fri, 25 Jan 2002 08:49:06 -0500
From: nfb <nfb@GWU.EDU>
Subject: CHHCS News Alerts: Report Notes Many Schools Are Near Toxic Chemical
Sites/Health of Racial/Ethnic Groups Improved in 1990s
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** AAHE--Official Sponsor of the HEDIR
** www.aahperd.org/aahe
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CHHCS News Alerts 01/24/02
Report Notes Many Schools Are Near Toxic Chemical Sites:
In a report released January 21, the Center for Health, Environment and
Justice charges that an estimated 622,301 students in five states--California,
assachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, and New York--are attending 1,195 schools
located within half a mile of a Superfund toxic chemical site.
Go to http://www.healthinschools.org/jan_alerts.asp#24 to read more.
Health of Racial/Ethnic Groups Improved in 1990s But Disparities Remain:
The health of all racial and ethnic groups improved during the 1990s on 10 of
17 indicators set by the federal government’s Healthy People 2000 initiative,
but on some indicators disparities in health between different populations
remained the same or even increased.
Go to http://www.healthinschools.org/jan_alerts.asp#24b to read more.
Web Manager
The Center for Health and Health Care in Schools (CHHCS)
http://www.healthinschools.org/
------------------------------
#73
Date: Fri, 25 Jan 2002 10:46:36 -0600
From: "Wheeler, Kelly (PHES)" <kwheeler@HD.CO.HARRIS.TX.US>
Subject: CHES study groups - Houston area?
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** AAHE--Official Sponsor of the HEDIR
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Good Morning to All -
Does anyone have knowledge of study groups in the Houston area who are
preparing for the April CHES exam? If anyone receiving this message is in
the Houston area and plans to take the test, then please contact me
directly. Thank you!
Kelly
_____
Kelly Wheeler, CHES
School Health Specialist
Harris County Public Health & Environmental Services
Health Education Division
2223 West Loop South
Houston, Texas 77027
Phone: (713) 439-6297
Fax: (713) 439-6319
Email: < mailto:kwheeler@hd.co.harris.tx.us
<mailto:kwheeler@hd.co.harris.tx.us> >
------------------------------
#74
Date: Sat, 26 Jan 2002 13:14:34 +0900
From: "CASEY, Kevin M. JO1 (AFN Sasebo)" <afn-casey@CFAS.NAVY.MIL>
Subject: Re: Text Book
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** AAHE--Official Sponsor of the HEDIR
** www.aahperd.org/aahe
**
Jim:
This isn't a textbook per se, but it is a free hypertext novel/game your
health teacher friend can have his/her kids read on the net. It's called THE
RUNAWAY GAME, at www.therunawaygame.org.
It's a make-your-own-adventure type book where the reader becomes a teen
male who runs from home in the first chapter. At the end of each chapter the
reader chooses what to do next and clicks on that option, taking them
forward through various permutations of the story. Kids have to make the
survival decisions that a runaway faces every day: prostitution, survival
sex, drug use, etc. While the book is sanitized of graphic sex and foul
language, the descriptions of the psychological (anger, depression, suicidal
feelings) and physical (AIDS/STDs, addiction) health consequences of street
life are compelling.
There are 20 different endings depending on the choices the reader makes:
from returning safely home to becoming a strung out, HIV-positive prostitute
or a skid row addict.
Teachers can assign the kids to read through one path and then in a
subsequent class everyone can discuss the decisions they made and share what
the consequences were. The best part is that, unlike kids who really run
away, kids who read the book can go back and see what might have happened if
they'd made different choices.
The project was my master's thesis in education at the University of
California Santa Barbara. I wrote it after working as a street outreach
counselor in Hollywood, California. I spent six years working at a teen
homeless shelter there. The different tracks the game takes are all
representative of the lives the kids I worked with actually led. Every
chapter really happened to someone.
THE RUNAWAY GAME really gets kids thinking about the consequences of their
actions. Best of all, it's free on the web, so have your friend check it out
to see if it's worth devoting a class period to.
Good luck,
Kevin Casey
Broadcast Operations Manager
American Forces Network, Sasebo, Japan
-----Original Message-----
From: Jim Ginder [mailto:jginder@IQUEST.NET]
Sent: Friday, January 25, 2002 12:06 AM
To: HEDIR-L@SIU.EDU
Subject: Text Book
**
** AAHE--Official Sponsor of the HEDIR
** www.aahperd.org/aahe
**
I am working with a health teacher who is teaching an advanced health class.
At this time he is not using a textbook, but he would like to for next year.
Does anyone have any ideas? This is a high school class for junior and
seniors.
Thanks
Jim Ginder, EMT,PI, MS, CHES
Education & Training Specialist
Hamilton County Health Department
One Hamilton County Square, Suite 30\
Noblesville, IN 46060
(317) 776-8500 Phone
(317) 776-5806 Fax
jrg@co.hamilton.in.us
Jim
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------------------------------