Learning global public health through international practice: Role of #DMUglobal mass trips

Abstract

Global public health knowledge is critical to provide healthcare professionals with the necessary skills to respond to outbreaks of infection. To facilitate the acquisition of global public health skills in healthcare students at De Montfort University (DMU, UK), we designed a practical strategy to monitor emerging zoonotic human parasites in New York (NYC, USA) and tailoring interventions to protect the public using the novel programme to promote internationalisation named #DMUglobal. Thus, fifty final year students from three different programmes at DMU travelled to NYC early in 2019 to monitor in situ the presence of Cryptosporidium parvum and Giardia intestinalis in animal faecal samples found in Central Park using portable immunoassay cards. On return to DMU, students completed, in groups, a scientific poster with applicable public health interventions (protection and decontamination options) selected using the innovative methodology available at the UK Recovery Handbook for Biological Incidents (Public Health England, 2015). Students presented and discussed their posters in an open voluntary session celebrated at DMU, showing high levels of understanding. Participants completed a questionnaire: 87% enjoyed the practical performed, and 78% producing and defending the poster. All considered that the skills gained will help with their studies and future careers. In conclusion, despite the need for more comprehensive studies to ascertain the degree of knowledge acquisition, the results collected suggest that internationalisation facilitates the learning of global health. Participants were able to acquire soft and transversal competences during this innovative experience, including mobility, critical thinking and research skills.