| Objectives
The broad objectives of the Victorian Public Health Training Scheme (VPHTS) are:
- to facilitate the development, knowledge, skills and competencies required of a public health practitioner in each VPHTS fellow
- to contribute to public health through the work undertaken during placements
- to contribute to collaboration and shared knowledge between public health organisations
- to ensure graduates of the Scheme can accept positions of responsibility within the public health field.
The fieldwork-based experiential training of the VPHTS complements the knowledge and skills that participants acquire through postgraduate public health education and specific training courses. The VPHTS contributes to the development of a trained public health workforce and builds collaborations within the public health sector.
A position on the scheme has been specifically identified for a person from an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander background.
The VPHTS provides participants with fieldwork-based experience and training through four-month placements in a wide range of public health settings: in the Department of Human Services, public health agencies, research institutions, non-government service providers and academic research institutions. Participants gain hands-on experience in:
- the use of epidemiological and statistical tools
- population-based health assessment
- accessing existing information systems and
- the development of new or alternate systems to address public health problems and improve health outcomes.
During placements, participants are required to complete various administrative aspects of organisational work.
While the VPHTS does not guarantee employment at the end of the program, the range of placements provides participants with exposure to a diversity of potential areas of employment and assists in the development of professional networks. Participation in the Scheme makes graduates very marketable as experienced public health professionals capable of managing in a field of public health. On completion of the Scheme, it is expected that participants will have competencies in the areas of:
- biostatistics
- epidemiology
- computing and data base manipulation
- communicable and non communicable disease control
- health policy and management
- health protection
- health services research and evaluation
- health enhancement and promotion
- health economics
These competencies and skills have been defined more specifically, to guide fellows, supervisors and VPHTS management in choosing and structuring placements. Skills and competencies.
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