California Department of Public Health
Introduction to Legal Epidemiology, an online course
Why does the life expectancy in two neighboring counties differ? How does raising the minimum wage affect health? How do you assess the effectiveness of a newly adopted law aimed at preventing traumatic brain injury in youth? Is there an approach that answers all of these questions? Yes – It’s called legal epidemiology!
Legal epidemiology provides a scientific approach to studying the impact and effectiveness of laws on health. This class, offered by the Public Health Law Academy, introduces the basics of this important discipline. It is intended for public health practitioners, public health lawyers, policy analysts, and epidemiologists.
After this training, you will be able to
* explain how law affects health
* define and describe basic legal epidemiology principles
* apply legal epidemiology in practice
The Public Health Law Academy, supported by the CDC, promises a deeper understanding of the use of law and policy to improve population health outcomes. The Public Health Law Academy offers other classes as well.
Social Media Analysis During Disasters!
Would you like to learn how to monitor social media such as Facebook and Twitter for information during disasters? Want to learn how to filter it for the valid and actionable items? Then this free online course by the Disaster Information Management Research Center of the National Library of Medicine may be for you!
Social media, with trending stories at our fingertips, can provide vital and timely information during emergency situations. But for emergency managers, information specialists, and other decision makers responding to these large-scale disasters, it is challenging to filter through the volume of noise on social media to identify valid, actionable information.
The purpose of this course is to help you develop and implement a plan that will help you effectively monitor and analyze the disaster information appearing on social media.
After completing this course, you will be able to:
* Develop a plan for monitoring social media for disaster information
* Monitor social media for actionable information during disasters
* Choose reliable social media sources and use a checklist to verify content
* Practice techniques to lessen uncertainty and information overload
Best Babies Zone Basics: A Step-by-Step Guide
Are you interested in eliminating racial inequities in birth outcomes? Would you like to see how one initiative tackled this issue? Then read on!
BBZ Basics is a step-by-step guide to implementing the Best Babies Zone (BBZ) approach. It is intended for both public health and non-public health organizations looking to start or build upon a place-based, multi-sector, community-driven initiative to reduce racial inequities in infant mortality.
The guide moves through six steps of a BBZ, including how to select a small, geographically defined Zone within a community; how to collaborate with residents and build resident leadership; and how to plan for evaluation. The guide also includes a number of tools and resources to help you in the planning process, such as a listing of online resources for health and social determinants data, a 2×2 priorities matrix, and more.
The BBZ Initiative began in March 2012 with funding from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. This guide was released December 2017 by the Best Babies Zone Technical Assistance Center at the UC Berkeley School of Public Health.
New Books!
The Public Health Library has the following new books available in print:
1. Landesman’s public health management of disasters: the practice guide. By Linda Young Landesman and Rita V. Burke. Washington, DC: American Public Health Association, 2017.
Call number: RA645.9 .L36 2017
See the table of contents at the publisher’s website.
2. Public health preparedness: case studies in policy and management. Edited by Arnold Howitt, Herman Leonard and David Giles. Washington, DC: American
Public Health Association, 2017.
Call number: RA645.9 .P83 2017
Read a Q & A with the editors at Public Health Newswire.
and here are some new titles available online from the National Academies Press of the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.
3. Examining Challenges and Possible Strategies to Strengthen U.S. Health Security, 2018.
4. Environmental Chemicals, the Human Microbiome, and Health Risk, 2018.
5. Integrating Social and Behavioral Sciences Within the Weather Enterprise, 2018.
6. Strategies to Limit Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Consumption in Young Children, 2017.
Please note that these books are only a small selection of what is newly available. If you are interested in checking out any book(s), submit a request using our online form and we will mail the book(s) to you.
You may also log into your web portal account to request book(s).
If you do not currently possess a UC Berkeley library card, you will need to apply for one before we can check out a book to you.
CDPH In The News, February 2018
CDPH in the News
How California plans to track commercial cannabis
from Bakersfield Noq
The California Department of Food and Agriculture, Bureau of Cannabis Control, and the California Department of Public Health offered a workshop Monday in Bakersfield about how commercial marijuana will be tracked. The state is using a track-and-trace system called Metrc. It’s a large database that will be used to record the inventory and movement of cannabis from cultivation to sale. All state cannabis licensees will need to use Metrc to be in compliance with state regulations.
Local company launches device to protect kids from cell phone radiation
from WZZM13
The potential dangers of cell phone use is making headlines these days. A West Michigan company has created a device, it says will block harmful radiation. The company is called Kids Armour. President and CEO, Ross Pope, believes the microchip technology is a must have, especially for parents. “Cell phones collect a signal from a cell tower. The energy that it generates, creates radiation similar to that of radiation from transformers in neighborhoods, that we know cause cancer,” said Pope. “This is the same type of radiation that is affecting your body or children’s bodies.”
It has been debated, for years, whether or not that radiation poses any real health risks. Pope says research suggests it does. Just last month, The California Department of Public Health cautioned people to decrease their exposure to cell phones of possible cancer risks and other health issues.
Fighting SCV’s opioid crisis one step at a time
from The Signal
About 60 people showed up Thursday night to hear about the opioid crisis and, specifically, about “seeking solutions for pain relief.” While they didn’t find the solution Thursday to the national crisis, the panel took steps in that direction simply by talking about it. The opportunity to address both the nationwide opioid epidemic and pain management was afforded by the people who held the workshop, those at the Valencia Public Library who offered a place to meet and those with Quest Toastmasters who sparked the discussion.
The nationwide opioid crisis became a local issue in April 2017, when at least seven people showed up in the emergency room of Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital with overdoses of opiates. The latest statistics released by the California Department of Public Health show a sharp upturn in the number of heroin overdose deaths across the state since 2012.
Cactus Pads With High Pesticide Levels Removed From San Francisco Grocery Store
from NBC Bay Area
Cactus pads imported from Mexico may contain pesticides that pose a health risk to consumers, the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) warned Wednesday. Samples of the vegetable, known as nopales, contained high levels of some pesticides that have been banned in the United States for many years.
Program Evaluation Resources class
Richmond Instruction
Wednesday, February 14, 2018, 10-11am
Room C-140
850 Marina Bay Parkway, Richmond, CA
————————-
RSVP by Tuesday, February 13th to Michael Sholinbeck at
msholinb@library.berkeley.edu or (510) 642-2510.
Please obtain your supervisor’s approval before you RSVP.
————————-
Supervisors: Please encourage your staff to attend if appropriate.
* Do you need to do an evaluation of the programs you offer?
* Are you interested in learning about free online toolkits and other resources that will help you develop a program evaluation?
* Want to learn how to find an online class on program evaluation?
* Want to find resources with examples of other people’s program evaluations?
If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, then please come to the Sheldon Margen Public Health Library’s Program Evaluation class!
Topics covered will include:
1. Resource Toolkits for program evaluation
2. “Best Practices” in program evaluation
3. Finding program evaluation literature
4. Professional tools for program evaluation
Class Objective:
To introduce CDPH staff to quality program evaluation tools and resources that are freely available online. Use of these resources will assist with developing
effective program evaluations.
Please note: This class is NOT a how-to-do program evaluation class, but rather will show resources devoted to program evaluation to help with your work. Health promotion, health communication, and health education resources were covered in the Health Promotion/Health Education Resources class on January 10th and so will not be covered here.
These training sessions are free to CDPH staff. A certificate of completion will be available for those who attend the class.
A schedule of other upcoming training sessions is available online here for you.
Literature Searching: Beyond PubMed & More, a Hands-On class
Sacramento Instruction
Wednesday, February 28, 10:30am-12:00pm
Room 74.164 Vault
1616 Capitol Ave, Sacramento
————————-
RSVP by Tuesday, February 27th to Michael Sholinbeck at
msholinb@library.berkeley.edu or (510) 642-2510.
Please obtain your supervisor’s approval before you RSVP.
————————-
PLEASE NOTE: This class is limited to 16 participants. A few seats may be available on the day of the class so if you don’t register in advance, you can just show up to see if there is availability.
New: In the vault you will need to log in to the computer with your CDPH logon.
Supervisors: Please encourage your staff to attend if appropriate.
* Are you interested in learning about databases besides PubMed where you can find articles and more?
* Want to know about sources of systematic reviews and grey literature?
* Want to practice using these databases with some hands-on, in-class exercises?
* Do you want to know how to search for articles more effectively by using index terms (aka subject terms, thesaurus terms, descriptors)?
If you’ve answered “Yes” to any of these questions, then please come to the Sheldon Margen Public Health Library’s Literature Searching: Beyond PubMed & More, a Hands-on class!
Topics covered will include:
1. How to think about your topic to improve your literature search
2. The basics of indexing
3. Databases beyond PubMed, including sources for systematic reviews and grey literature
4. Critically evaluating what you find
It is recommended, but not required, that you already have some experience or familiarity with searching PubMed.
Class Objective:
In this class you will learn effective techniques for searching the scientific literature, including tips on search topic formulation, and how a database index (a set of subject terms, such as PubMed’s MeSH) works. You will also learn about – and explore – databases to search other than PubMed, including sources of systematic reviews and “grey literature.” Also covered will be how to critically evaluate what you find from your searches.
These training sessions are free to CDPH staff. A certificate of completion will be available for those who attend the class.
A schedule of other upcoming training sessions is available online for you.
Professional Development: Performance Management Series
Do you want to learn more about performance management? Are you interested in quality improvement for you and your team? Then this might be of interest to you. As part of the National Public Health Improvement Initiative funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the New York State Department of Health Office of Public Health Practice has collaborated with the Empire State Public Health Training Center (ESPHTC) to create and make available the Performance Management Training Series.
Courses in the series:
– Introduction to Performance Management
– Basics of Quality Improvement for Public Health Practitioners
– Performance Measurement
– Quality Improvement Team Development
– Targeting Improvement with AIM Statements
Time involved: about an hour per module
Price: Free
NACCHO Policy statement on Cannabis
The National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) has published a policy statement, Medical and Recreational Cannabis and Cannabinoids, to assist health departments considering approaches to medical and recreational cannabis within their communities. The policy statement was proposed by NACCHO’s Public Health Law Workgroup and approved by the NACCHO Board of Directors.
Smoke is Smoke: The Effects of Marijuana Legalization in the Workplace
The legalization of marijuana has the potential to disrupt California’s tobacco control successes. In this COEH continuing education webinar you will learn about workplace policies relating to marijuana smoke exposure, and the key ways the marijuana industry may impact California’s tobacco control successes. You will also learn about California’s landscape of marijuana use and how the convergence and co-use of tobacco products with marijuana affects public health.
Learning Objectives
At the completion of this activity, the learner will be able to:
– Compare the health effects of secondhand exposure from tobacco smoke and marijuana smoke
– Analyze key ways the marijuana industry may disrupt California’s tobacco control successes
– Summarize California’s landscape of marijuana smoking use and describe how the convergence of tobacco products with marijuana affect the smoking landscape
– Describe workplace policies regarding marijuana smoke exposure
Date: Wednesday February 7th, 2018
Time: 10:30am PST
Host: COEH
Cost: Free, with CE credit available for $30
Speakers: CDPH’s own Merril Lavezzo and and Mayra Miranda of the California Tobacco Control Program (CTCP)