0050 Injury-free NC academy: enhancing the prevention workforce in north carolina. A collaboration between the NC division of public health’s injury and violence prevention branch and the UNC injury prevention research centre
Statement of purpose There is untapped potential among public health professionals and public health practitioners without formal public health training to prevent injury sing the National Training Initiative’s Core Competencies in Injury Prevention. This presentation will describe North Carolina’s approach to enhancing the statewide multi-disciplinary injury prevention workforce, the Injury-Free NC Academy. The Academy was developed in response to the NC State Advisory Council’s Strategic Plan for Preventing Injury and Violence recommendation that the state “Develop a statewide injury and violence prevention workforce that meets core injury and violence prevention competencies.” Methods/Approach The results of a survey, the NTI Competencies, and the PREVENT Institute informed the development of the Academy. Trainees are multi-disciplinary, multi-organisational county-based teams who bring a project to work on throughout the Academy. Two in-person training sessions are held six months apart. Coaching is provided throughout the Academy, including during the six month interim period in which teams are working on their project. Second session topics are determined by the evaluation results of session one. All instructional sessions are immediately applied to team projects using activities and coaching. Team interaction, peer learning, and networking are emphasised. Results The three Academies held to date have focused on teen driver safety, overdose prevention, and the prevention of child sexual abuse and sexual violence respectively. The Academy has trained 20 teams working in over 30 of NC’s 100 counties. Teams have included social workers, substance abuse, mental health professionals, community advocates, law enforcement personnel, members of the faith community, school personnel, and others. Training, which is always at full capacity, requires at least four days, more if travel is required. While the training is free, participants pay for their own travel and hotel. Conclusions Academy experience attests to the perceived need for public health training, and that this training appears complementary to and easily integrated into other disciplines. Significance and contribution to the field The Academy provides a low-cost method of enhancing the capacity of the NC multi-disciplinary injury prevention workforce with training in core public health competencies which could be replicated in other states.