🗞️ Special Edition: 📗 Master-Reach-Teach

Snapshot

Master-Reach-Teach was a big hit. Given this was our pilot, we started with a relatively small group of 14 graduates, all from PNG. Master-Reach-Teach, or MRT for short, is a professional development and networking opportunity for graduates and faculty of FETPs that are supported by FEiA. The objective is simple; dedicate a week focused on one topic that graduates and faculty have identified as a priority for them to master. We then repeat that for a second topic. The participants focus on mastering the topic so they fully utilise their skills in their workplace. We also introduced some more advanced elements, encouraging them to reach a little higher and push themselves in applying that particular skill. With increased competence and confidence, the participants graduate with a commitment to apply and teach these skills to their colleagues.

The networking is an added bonus. Bringing together graduates from across the country was enormously beneficial, not only in strengthening personal connections but also in sharing best practices in the application of field epi skills in the field. While all the graduates are very active in online FETP networks, for some, it was the first time meeting in person.

We are looking forward to developing, expanding, and scaling MRT, involving more countries, and offering a wider selection of courses. We would love to hear from you if you would like to partner with us on MRT.

Master-Reach-Teach Wrap-up

The Field Epidemiology in Action team recently welcomed 14 graduates from Papua New Guinea’s FETP to the University of Newcastle for the inaugural Master-Reach-Teach course, supported by DFAT (Centre for Health Security and Australia Awards). Despite the cool weather, the PNG graduates enthusiastically participated in the training, selecting two out of three courses offered.

Participants on day one of the workshop at the University of Newcastle.

The workshop commenced with a Welcome to Country by Emily Heath, followed by David Crisante’s sessions on non-verbal and status-based communication. On the second day, participants began their technical training. One group focused on refreshing their Excel skills by analysing surveillance and outbreak data, as well as using Excel to evaluate a public health intervention. The other group concentrated on data management, analysis, and interpretation, revisiting some FETP skills while learning new analyses such as inter-quartile range and standard deviation. They also delved into calculating and interpreting odds ratios and relative risk ratios.

Top left: the welcome packs provided by Australia Awards to the participants. Top right: Welcome to Awabakal Country. Bottom Left: David Crisante session on non-verbal and status-based communication. Bottom right: Prof. David Durrheim led the group through an update on routine immunisation in Papua New Guinea.

In the second week, those who completed the Excel course advanced to the data management, analysis, and interpretation course, further refining their Excel skills and applying them to manage and analyse data. They departed with a solid action plan for using Excel in their future work. Meanwhile, the other group concentrated on questionnaire design, practicing the creation of outbreak and surveillance evaluation questionnaires and providing each other with constructive feedback. They also explored the process of designing a template to enter questionnaire data, coding data and analysing the responses from a questionnaire using Excel. Trainees then practiced using Google Forms.

Participants taking part in their chosen courses.

Overall, participants expressed satisfaction with their learning experience and appreciated the Master-Reach-Teach course. We will continue to follow up with them to ensure they receive the support needed to apply their skills at work.