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Writing for a Healthier America: A Web Page Promoting
Health Professions Student Participation in the DHHS
Secretary's Award and Hill's Writing Competitions
Health Professions Student Participation in the DHHS
Secretary's Award and Hill's Writing Competitions
Charles M. Hendrix, DVM, PhD, Isabelle Thompson, EdD, John L. Pitts, DVM, Catherine L. McClelland, DVM, and Paige A. Pence, BA
Charles M. Hendrix is a Professor in the Department of Pathobiology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Auburn University, AL 36849-5519.
Isabelle Thompson is a Professor in the Department of English and Coordinator of the English Center, Department of English, College of Liberal Arts, Auburn University, AL 36849-5203.
John L. Pitts is Program Coordinator, the Pet Care Trust, 3951 Leland Valley Road West, Quilcene, WA 98376.
Catherine L. McClelland is Veterinary Affairs Manager, Southeast Region, Hill's Pet Nutrition, Inc., Topeka, KS.
Paige A. Pence is Assistant Executive Director, Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges, 1101 Vermont Avenue NW, Suite 710, Washington, D.C., 20005-3521.
Writing for a Healthier America: A Web Page Promoting Health Professions Student Participation in the DHHS Secretary's Award and Hill's Writing Competitions
Abstract
Since 1982, the United States Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), Health Resources Administration, in collaboration with the Federation of Associations of Schools of the Health Professions, has sponsored a writing competition known as the Secretary's Award for Innovations in Health Promotion and Disease Prevention (Secretary's Award). This writing competition was established to illustrate the DHHS's dedication to health promotion and disease prevention initiatives, by encouraging new ideas among students of the health professions across the United States. The Secretary's Award encourages health professions students to propose and/or implement innovative single discipline proposals and interdisciplinary proposals for projects stressing either health promotion or disease prevention. Health promotion emphasizes individual responsibility for one's personal health and community efforts to maintain and enhance well being through lifestyle changes. Disease prevention emphasizes development of individual and community measures to protect against disease or environmental hazards and their harmful consequences. The purpose of this article is to inform health professions students and their academic advisors of the existence of a web page promoting single discipline and interdisciplinary participation in two writing competitions that stress health promotion and disease prevention in the citizens of 21st century America. This article aims to promote the incorporation of technical writing projects into the health professions curricula across the U.S.
Writing for a Healthier America: A Web Page Promoting Health Professions Student Participation in the DHHS Secretary's Award and Hill's Writing Competitions
Since 1982, the United States Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), Health Resources Administration, in collaboration with the Federation of Associations of Schools of the Health Professions (FASHP), has sponsored a writing competition known as the Secretary's Award for Innovations in Health Promotion and Disease Prevention (Secretary's Award). This writing competition was established to illustrate the DHHS's dedication to health promotion and disease prevention initiatives, by encouraging new ideas among students of the health professions across the United States (U.S.). The Secretary's Award encourages health professions students to propose and/or implement innovative single discipline proposals and interdisciplinary proposals for projects stressing either health promotion or disease prevention. Health promotion emphasizes individual responsibility for one's personal health and community efforts to maintain and enhance well-being through lifestyle changes. Disease prevention emphasizes development of individual and community measures to protect against disease or environmental hazards and their harmful consequences. The purpose of this article is to inform health professions students and their academic advisors of the existence of a web page promoting single discipline and interdisciplinary participation in two writing competitions that stress health promotion and disease prevention in the citizens of 21st century America. We also hope to incorporate technical writing projects into the curricula of health professions programs across the U.S.
During the 1998-1999 academic year, the logistics of administering the Secretary's Award were placed under the auspices of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN). For the past 19 years, students enrolled in U.S. health professions schools affiliated with FASHP have been invited to participate.
Since the inception of the Secretary's Award, single discipline student-initiated proposals had been the primary objective of the competition. However, in recognition of health care delivery systems moving toward integrative, collaborative, team approaches, the Secretary's Award writing competition has also begun to encourage submission of proposals by interdisciplinary teams of health professions students. Interdisciplinary is defined as an approach in which students from two or more disciplines collaborate. The goal of the interdisciplinary category is to foster more effective interventions for health promotion and disease prevention by blending the skills of students from different health professions. The resulting interprofessional interactions ultimately enhance the practice of each discipline and improve the health of the individual patient or community. Interdisciplinary collaborations may take place between/among students matriculating in the following curricula: nursing; osteopathic medicine; pharmacy, podiatric medicine; dentistry; academic health; medicine; veterinary medicine; chiropractic medicine; allied health; optometry; public health; and health administration.
Secretary's Award Guidelines -- A health professions student is eligible to enter the Secretary's Award competition, if he or she is a resident of the U.S. and is either a citizen or national of the U.S., an alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence in the U.S., a citizen of the Republic of Palau, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, or the Federated States of Micronesia. Health professions students are informed of details of the competitions by flyers posted by the dean's offices of each participating academic program and by notices placed on the AACN website (http://www.aacn.nche.edu). Each entry must reflect an original, student-initiated idea that addresses goals and focus areas stated in Healthy People 2010: Understanding and Improving Health,1 an encyclopedic compilation of our nation's health promotion and disease prevention opportunities for the next decade.
The document's two overarching goals reflect our nation's changing demographics. These overarching goals of Healthy People 2010 are 1) to increase quality and years of healthy life -- help individuals of all ages increase life expectancy and improve their quality of life; and 2) eliminate health disparities -- including differences that occur by gender, race or ethnicity, education or income, disability, living in rural localities or sexual orientation. Healthy People 2010 is further divided into twenty-eight focus areas or chapters.1,2 See Table 1 for the 28 focus areas highlighted in Healthy People 2010. These 28 focus areas are further broken down into 467 detailed objectives. See Table 2 for an example of a Healthy People 2010 goal, focus area, and objective that was addressed by a student-initiated project, The Chiron Project: A Community Effort to Educate Adolescents on the Adverse Effects of Anabolic Steroid Abuse.3
Students may submit proposals describing both new projects and completed or currently implemented projects; however, basic or clinical research proposals are not eligible. Single discipline papers are submitted to the local faculty advisor or a designated faculty member of the health professions school for review and selection. Each health professions school can select one, best, single discipline paper. Each school's paper is then forwarded to the parent health professions' organization at its national headquarters.
In addition, each health professions school may submit one, best, interdisciplinary paper. In the case of the interdisciplinary papers, participating students are required to submit the paper to a faculty advisor from each discipline. These interdisciplinary papers are forwarded to the Association of Academic Health Centers (AAHC).
Papers in both divisions must meet standard format requirements as stated in the FASHP flyer and on the AACN web page. A one-page, double-spaced typed abstract describing the innovative proposal must accompany each entry. The narrative of the proposal must include clearly stated information under each of the following headings: 1) Statement of the Problem; 2) Literature Summary; 3) Project Objectives; 4) Implementation Plan; 5) Significance of the Project; 6) Ways in Which the Project is Innovative; 7) Summary of Evaluation Methods; and 8) Brief Budget Estimate/Explanation and Justification. The narrative and the one-page abstract may not exceed the lesser of 2,500 words or ten pages in length. A list of references follows the body of each narrative, but is not be tabulated in the word count or page limitations. Students have the option of including an appendix, a photocopy, photograph, or description of (a) product(s) or (a) mock-up(s) of planned product(s) that result from the project. The inclusion of actual products in the proposal is discouraged.
Two or more students attending the same health professions school are allowed to submit a single discipline proposal together; however, a student may not submit more than one entry. Papers failing to meet all of the criteria described above would be disqualified.
For the Secretary's Award, each health professions FASHP member organization is allowed to forward to the AACN as many as ten single discipline papers for judging for the Secretary's Award. Interdisciplinary papers are forwarded to and evaluated by the AAHC; qualifying interdisciplinary papers are then forwarded to the AACN for judging.
A committee made up of representatives from the FASHP member organizations reviews and selects the top ten entries for the single discipline award and the top ten for the interdisciplinary award. These papers were then forwarded to the DHHS for the final ranking. An interdisciplinary panel consisting of senior DHHS staff selects the first-, second-, and third-place winners in each division. Entries were judged on the following criteria: 1) technical merit relative to clarity of the problem statement, objectives, implementation plan, project significance, soundness of evaluation plan, and reasonableness of budget; 2) innovation in approach to health promotion or disease prevention; 3) feasibility of approach with regard to the implementation of the project; and 4) the potential impact on a community or target population. Single discipline awards are $3500 for first-place, $2500 for second-place, and $1500 for third-place; interdisciplinary awards are $7500 for first-place, $5000 for second-place, and $3000 for third-place. With multiple authors (as would occur in the interdisciplinary competition), prize monies are divided equally. Student winners and their faculty advisors are invited by the Secretary of DHHS at government expense to attend a special awards ceremony in Washington, D.C. At this reception, winning health professions students receive their respective honoraria and appropriately inscribed plaques.
Hill's Public Health Award Guidelines -- To encourage papers/projects with a veterinary accentuation, additional prize monies are offered by Hill's Pet Nutrition, Inc. of Topeka, KS, for the three best veterinary/veterinary-related papers in the combined single discipline and interdisciplinary divisions. This related competition parallels the Secretary's Award and is called the Hill's Public Health Award (Hill's Award). The competitions are similar in that the rules for entries for the Hill's Award are based on those for the Secretary's Award. However, five major differences do exist between these two competitions.
First, the key qualifier for the Hill's Public Health Award competition is the fact that the discipline of veterinary medicine must be represented by one or more students matriculating in veterinary medicine. This strategy was designed to encourage health promotion and disease prevention proposals with a veterinary emphasis; however if that participation demonstrates interdisciplinary collaboration with other "non-veterinary" health professions, that participation is also encouraged. Second, in the Secretary's Award competition, each health professions program is allowed to submit only one single discipline and one interdisciplinary paper; the Hill's Award competition will accept as many single and interdisciplinary proposals papers as meet the guidelines for authors. Third, only U.S. citizens are eligible to enter the Secretary's Award competition; the Hill's Award program will accept papers from students matriculating at Canadian schools of veterinary medicine and from veterinary curricula located in the Caribbean (e.g., Ross University and Saint George's University). Fourth, the awards monies differ. For the Hill's Award, the student(s) writing the first-place proposal receive(s) a certificate and a check for $1,000, the student(s) writing the second-place paper receive(s) a certificate and a check for $750, and the third-place winner(s) receive(s) a certificate and a check for $500. In the case of interdisciplinary winners, monetary awards are divided. Finally, for the judging for the Hill's Award, copies of veterinary-related interdisciplinary papers must be forwarded to the Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges (AAVMC). All single discipline papers from U.S. veterinary students entered for the Secretary's Award are automatically entered in the Hill's Award competition. A panel of judges selected by the AAVMC reads and evaluates the combined single and interdisciplinary papers, ranking the top three submissions in the combined category.
Style manual information - Using the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 4 we produced style manuals specific for both the Secretary's Award (Guide to Composing a Proposal for The Secretary's Award for Innovations in Health Promotion and Disease Prevention) and the Hill's Public Health Award (Guide to Composing a Proposal for the Hill's Public Health Award). Both guides were designed according to the criteria for each competition and were developed so that student submitters and their faculty sponsors could have advice about style and organization for the prospective proposals. For both style manuals, a previous DHHS Secretary's Award winning interdisciplinary paper, "The Chiron Project: A Community Effort to Educate Adolescents on the Adverse Effects of Anabolic Steroid Abuse," 2 was used as a model proposal. These manuals are available on the following websites: for the Secretary's Award
Award-winning proposals - Three health professions students participating in this workshop went on to submit proposals to the Secretary's Award and the Hill's Award writing competitions. All three attending students ranked in the top three in the nation in either the Secretary's Award or the Hill's Public Health Award. The winning proposals were as follows:
In the Secretary's Award, Single Discipline category, Dr. Barbara Kelly, Class of 2001, Tuskegee University School of Veterinary Medicine, Nursing, and Allied Health (TUSVM) received third-place honors, receiving $1,500 for her proposal entitled, "Animal Education for Natural Disasters: Ignorance is Not Bliss." Violent acts of nature force hundreds of Americans to evacuate their homes every year. Unfortunately, many people will not evacuate if it means leaving pets or livestock behind due to lack of containers, multiple animals, or unknown destinations. Numerous cases of evacuees prematurely reentering disaster sites to care for pets and livestock have increased the likelihood of risk to human safety. These actions jeopardize not only the evacuees, but also the rescue personnel. Stresses created by the disaster itself are compounded by the fact that pet/livestock owners leave their animals behind. By disseminating information and educating residents regarding care and transportation of pets/livestock and starting grassroots efforts at organizing and planning for pets/livestock during and after disasters, injuries and mental anguish can be reduced or eliminated. Sponsorship of a lecture series, establishment of TUSVM as a regional contact site for disaster relief, and the creation of two brochures: "Preparing You and Your Pet for a Disaster" and "Preparing You and Your Livestock for a Disaster" are proposed. The guest lecturers will address veterinary students, faculty, and community members on disaster preparedness and what needs to be done for the city, county and state. The brochures will be designed to facilitate movements at the county level by showing pet owners how to prepare and by stressing responsible pet ownership. This proposed educational program has important public health significance because individuals often suffer depression following disasters. Through education, stress can be reduced, depression moderated, and zoonotic disease (e.g., rabies) exposure minimized.
In the Secretary's Award, Interdisciplinary category, Tiffany J. Cal, Class of 2002, AUCVM, and Tiffany N. Stewart, Class of 2001, Auburn University School of Nursing received the Secretary's Award, received third-place honors, receiving an award of $3,000 for their proposal entitled, "A Rainbow of Health Careers: An Activity Book Designed to Increase the Interest in Health Professions among African-American Children." This proposal has previously appeared in this journal.5 African-American students show the least representation in the study of all health-related fields. Many minority students are unaware of the various career opportunities available to them in the health professions. Minority role models are needed early in students' lives to provide encouragement and motivation. Minority role models are also needed to inspire students to learn about different health careers and to succeed academically in school. Consequently, with good academic standing, students are able to qualify for, apply to, and be successful in health professions schools. These students developed an activity book, A Rainbow of Health Careers, (ARHC) focuses on exposing young African-American students to careers in health professions early in their lives. The book contains pictures of prominent African-American health care professionals as well as puzzles and activities that highlight their prominent roles in society. The health professional portrayed in the activity book will serve as role models, making the students aware of the various health professions and helping to clarify their roles. Before the introduction of ARHC, there were no activity books available that educate children about minorities currently serving in the health professions. ARHC solves this problem. These students propose to have ARHC distributed free of charge to children across Alabama and the U.S. The project received $1500 funding from the Office of Service Learning, Auburn University's Partners in Community Service. Currently, the activity book is being utilized as part of the University of Alabama-Birmingham School of Medicine's HPPI Bridge to Health Care Program, sponsored by the Robert Woods Johnson Foundation (Shirley Ginwright, personal communication).
In the Hill's Public Health Award, Lionell Smith, Class of 2003, AUCVM, and Katherine Bauer, Class of 2002, Auburn University College of Education received first-place honors, receiving an award of $1,000 for their proposal entitled, "Me, You and Rover, Too!: An Educational Program for Teachers about Child and Animal Abuse and the Relevance to the Human-Animal Bond." The "Me, You, and Rover, Too Project!" (MY&R2) is an educational program to raise awareness among educators about family violence, specifically child and animal abuse, and to increase knowledge about the human animal bond and the benefits of animals and nature in the classroom for all children, but especially for victims of cruelty and violence. MY&R2 will provide information for teachers on the interconnectedness of violence, the human animal bond and animals and nature in the classroom through presentations and a pamphlet given to teachers. The pilot project will be implemented in Lee County, Alabama including the city schools of Auburn and Opelika, Alabama. Presentations will be given at each elementary, middle, and high school in the district. The project will be directed at teachers, but information will also be made available to other school personnel. MY&R2 emphasizes multidisciplinary and collaborative efforts needed to stop all forms of abuse. It demonstrates interdisciplinary collaboration by using student volunteers from AUCVM and the College of Education as moderators for the presentations. The effectiveness of the project will be assessed using a pre-presentation questionnaire and a post-presentation comment card. The questionnaire and the comment card will assess the knowledge of animal abuse and the benefits of animals to human health and well-being.
Karen Lisa Kahn, Class of 2003, AUCVM received second-place honors in the Hill's Public Health Award, receiving an award of $750 for her proposal entitled, "Cold Noses Warm Hearts: A Proposal to Include Human-Animal Bond in the Education of Future Veterinarians." "Cold Noses, Warm Hearts" is a request for the veterinary profession to include the human-animal bond in veterinary students' educational experience. It requests that AUCVM include an elective course on the human-animal bond in its curriculum and to eventually add this subject as a required course. The project also provides service learning for students by designing an opportunity to talk to elementary school children and distributing pamphlets designed to educate the public on the beneficial effects of owning a pet. Finally, the proposal asks the veterinary profession to consider changing the Veterinarian's Oath, to include, "the promotion of . . . the human-animal bond."
Finally, Elizabeth Embree, Scott Gustin, and Jared Taylor, Class of 2002, Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine received third-place honors in the Hill's Public Health Award, receiving an award of $500 for their proposal entitled, "Healthy Hands, Healthy People." Infectious diseases continue to be a considerable threat to the health of all Americans. Certain key pathogens pose a significant risk, not only because of their virulence, but also because of their ubiquity and ease of transmission. While many of these organisms are associated with food-borne illnesses, disease transmission can readily occur from many sources and activities of everyday life. Children are particularly susceptible to infectious diseases, due to incomplete development and maturation of the immune system. This leads not only to more illness, but also increase absence from school, which directly correlates with academic performance. Hand washing is widely recognized as a simple hygienic practice that is key in reducing illness. The "Healthy Hands, Healthy People" project presents an interactive learning session where the children can individually learn about the role of hand washing and germs in disease transmission. Through the use of a novel hand-washing product, Glo GermTM , students will learn how disease-causing germs can be readily acquired from the environment. They will then be instructed in the proper practices of hand washing, and how effective hand washing is in reducing germ load.
Conclusions -- This web page project was unique in that it demonstrates interdisciplinary collaboration between academicians in veterinary medicine and technical writing. The web pages' primary focus was a competition (the Secretary's Award) sponsored by a governmental agency (DHHS); however, corporate America (Hill's Pet Nutrition) and a nonprofit agency (The Pet Care Trust) have provided significant financial impetus to encourage student participation.
The initial purposes of the web page were to increase veterinary student participation in the Secretary's Award writing competition and to promote the incorporation of technical writing projects into the health professions curricula across the U.S., especially those health professions schools associated with FASHP. Without a doubt, single discipline proposals (e.g., nursing; osteopathic medicine; pharmacy, podiatric medicine; dentistry; academic health; medicine; veterinary medicine; chiropractic medicine; allied health; optometry; public health; and health administration) are encouraged, but interdisciplinary collaborations between and among these disciplines are essential. Lewis has stated that, "those of us involved in educating our successors . . . have the opportunity to encourage interdisciplinary thinking at a time when the students' disciplinary identities are in the formative stage, before individuals have the opportunity to develop stereotypical images of professionals in other disciplines, and while collaboration, rather than competition, may be beneficial."6
References
Shirley Ginwright, HPPI Bridge to Health Care Program, 1825 University Boulevard, MJH - 107, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama 35294-2010
Charles M. Hendrix is a Professor in the Department of Pathobiology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Auburn University, AL 36849-5519.
Isabelle Thompson is a Professor in the Department of English and Coordinator of the English Center, Department of English, College of Liberal Arts, Auburn University, AL 36849-5203.
John L. Pitts is Program Coordinator, the Pet Care Trust, 3951 Leland Valley Road West, Quilcene, WA 98376.
Catherine L. McClelland is Veterinary Affairs Manager, Southeast Region, Hill's Pet Nutrition, Inc., Topeka, KS.
Paige A. Pence is Assistant Executive Director, Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges, 1101 Vermont Avenue NW, Suite 710, Washington, D.C., 20005-3521.
Writing for a Healthier America: A Web Page Promoting Health Professions Student Participation in the DHHS Secretary's Award and Hill's Writing Competitions
Abstract
Since 1982, the United States Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), Health Resources Administration, in collaboration with the Federation of Associations of Schools of the Health Professions, has sponsored a writing competition known as the Secretary's Award for Innovations in Health Promotion and Disease Prevention (Secretary's Award). This writing competition was established to illustrate the DHHS's dedication to health promotion and disease prevention initiatives, by encouraging new ideas among students of the health professions across the United States. The Secretary's Award encourages health professions students to propose and/or implement innovative single discipline proposals and interdisciplinary proposals for projects stressing either health promotion or disease prevention. Health promotion emphasizes individual responsibility for one's personal health and community efforts to maintain and enhance well being through lifestyle changes. Disease prevention emphasizes development of individual and community measures to protect against disease or environmental hazards and their harmful consequences. The purpose of this article is to inform health professions students and their academic advisors of the existence of a web page promoting single discipline and interdisciplinary participation in two writing competitions that stress health promotion and disease prevention in the citizens of 21st century America. This article aims to promote the incorporation of technical writing projects into the health professions curricula across the U.S.
Writing for a Healthier America: A Web Page Promoting Health Professions Student Participation in the DHHS Secretary's Award and Hill's Writing Competitions
Since 1982, the United States Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), Health Resources Administration, in collaboration with the Federation of Associations of Schools of the Health Professions (FASHP), has sponsored a writing competition known as the Secretary's Award for Innovations in Health Promotion and Disease Prevention (Secretary's Award). This writing competition was established to illustrate the DHHS's dedication to health promotion and disease prevention initiatives, by encouraging new ideas among students of the health professions across the United States (U.S.). The Secretary's Award encourages health professions students to propose and/or implement innovative single discipline proposals and interdisciplinary proposals for projects stressing either health promotion or disease prevention. Health promotion emphasizes individual responsibility for one's personal health and community efforts to maintain and enhance well-being through lifestyle changes. Disease prevention emphasizes development of individual and community measures to protect against disease or environmental hazards and their harmful consequences. The purpose of this article is to inform health professions students and their academic advisors of the existence of a web page promoting single discipline and interdisciplinary participation in two writing competitions that stress health promotion and disease prevention in the citizens of 21st century America. We also hope to incorporate technical writing projects into the curricula of health professions programs across the U.S.
During the 1998-1999 academic year, the logistics of administering the Secretary's Award were placed under the auspices of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN). For the past 19 years, students enrolled in U.S. health professions schools affiliated with FASHP have been invited to participate.
Since the inception of the Secretary's Award, single discipline student-initiated proposals had been the primary objective of the competition. However, in recognition of health care delivery systems moving toward integrative, collaborative, team approaches, the Secretary's Award writing competition has also begun to encourage submission of proposals by interdisciplinary teams of health professions students. Interdisciplinary is defined as an approach in which students from two or more disciplines collaborate. The goal of the interdisciplinary category is to foster more effective interventions for health promotion and disease prevention by blending the skills of students from different health professions. The resulting interprofessional interactions ultimately enhance the practice of each discipline and improve the health of the individual patient or community. Interdisciplinary collaborations may take place between/among students matriculating in the following curricula: nursing; osteopathic medicine; pharmacy, podiatric medicine; dentistry; academic health; medicine; veterinary medicine; chiropractic medicine; allied health; optometry; public health; and health administration.
Secretary's Award Guidelines -- A health professions student is eligible to enter the Secretary's Award competition, if he or she is a resident of the U.S. and is either a citizen or national of the U.S., an alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence in the U.S., a citizen of the Republic of Palau, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, or the Federated States of Micronesia. Health professions students are informed of details of the competitions by flyers posted by the dean's offices of each participating academic program and by notices placed on the AACN website (http://www.aacn.nche.edu). Each entry must reflect an original, student-initiated idea that addresses goals and focus areas stated in Healthy People 2010: Understanding and Improving Health,1 an encyclopedic compilation of our nation's health promotion and disease prevention opportunities for the next decade.
The document's two overarching goals reflect our nation's changing demographics. These overarching goals of Healthy People 2010 are 1) to increase quality and years of healthy life -- help individuals of all ages increase life expectancy and improve their quality of life; and 2) eliminate health disparities -- including differences that occur by gender, race or ethnicity, education or income, disability, living in rural localities or sexual orientation. Healthy People 2010 is further divided into twenty-eight focus areas or chapters.1,2 See Table 1 for the 28 focus areas highlighted in Healthy People 2010. These 28 focus areas are further broken down into 467 detailed objectives. See Table 2 for an example of a Healthy People 2010 goal, focus area, and objective that was addressed by a student-initiated project, The Chiron Project: A Community Effort to Educate Adolescents on the Adverse Effects of Anabolic Steroid Abuse.3
Students may submit proposals describing both new projects and completed or currently implemented projects; however, basic or clinical research proposals are not eligible. Single discipline papers are submitted to the local faculty advisor or a designated faculty member of the health professions school for review and selection. Each health professions school can select one, best, single discipline paper. Each school's paper is then forwarded to the parent health professions' organization at its national headquarters.
In addition, each health professions school may submit one, best, interdisciplinary paper. In the case of the interdisciplinary papers, participating students are required to submit the paper to a faculty advisor from each discipline. These interdisciplinary papers are forwarded to the Association of Academic Health Centers (AAHC).
Papers in both divisions must meet standard format requirements as stated in the FASHP flyer and on the AACN web page. A one-page, double-spaced typed abstract describing the innovative proposal must accompany each entry. The narrative of the proposal must include clearly stated information under each of the following headings: 1) Statement of the Problem; 2) Literature Summary; 3) Project Objectives; 4) Implementation Plan; 5) Significance of the Project; 6) Ways in Which the Project is Innovative; 7) Summary of Evaluation Methods; and 8) Brief Budget Estimate/Explanation and Justification. The narrative and the one-page abstract may not exceed the lesser of 2,500 words or ten pages in length. A list of references follows the body of each narrative, but is not be tabulated in the word count or page limitations. Students have the option of including an appendix, a photocopy, photograph, or description of (a) product(s) or (a) mock-up(s) of planned product(s) that result from the project. The inclusion of actual products in the proposal is discouraged.
Two or more students attending the same health professions school are allowed to submit a single discipline proposal together; however, a student may not submit more than one entry. Papers failing to meet all of the criteria described above would be disqualified.
For the Secretary's Award, each health professions FASHP member organization is allowed to forward to the AACN as many as ten single discipline papers for judging for the Secretary's Award. Interdisciplinary papers are forwarded to and evaluated by the AAHC; qualifying interdisciplinary papers are then forwarded to the AACN for judging.
A committee made up of representatives from the FASHP member organizations reviews and selects the top ten entries for the single discipline award and the top ten for the interdisciplinary award. These papers were then forwarded to the DHHS for the final ranking. An interdisciplinary panel consisting of senior DHHS staff selects the first-, second-, and third-place winners in each division. Entries were judged on the following criteria: 1) technical merit relative to clarity of the problem statement, objectives, implementation plan, project significance, soundness of evaluation plan, and reasonableness of budget; 2) innovation in approach to health promotion or disease prevention; 3) feasibility of approach with regard to the implementation of the project; and 4) the potential impact on a community or target population. Single discipline awards are $3500 for first-place, $2500 for second-place, and $1500 for third-place; interdisciplinary awards are $7500 for first-place, $5000 for second-place, and $3000 for third-place. With multiple authors (as would occur in the interdisciplinary competition), prize monies are divided equally. Student winners and their faculty advisors are invited by the Secretary of DHHS at government expense to attend a special awards ceremony in Washington, D.C. At this reception, winning health professions students receive their respective honoraria and appropriately inscribed plaques.
Hill's Public Health Award Guidelines -- To encourage papers/projects with a veterinary accentuation, additional prize monies are offered by Hill's Pet Nutrition, Inc. of Topeka, KS, for the three best veterinary/veterinary-related papers in the combined single discipline and interdisciplinary divisions. This related competition parallels the Secretary's Award and is called the Hill's Public Health Award (Hill's Award). The competitions are similar in that the rules for entries for the Hill's Award are based on those for the Secretary's Award. However, five major differences do exist between these two competitions.
First, the key qualifier for the Hill's Public Health Award competition is the fact that the discipline of veterinary medicine must be represented by one or more students matriculating in veterinary medicine. This strategy was designed to encourage health promotion and disease prevention proposals with a veterinary emphasis; however if that participation demonstrates interdisciplinary collaboration with other "non-veterinary" health professions, that participation is also encouraged. Second, in the Secretary's Award competition, each health professions program is allowed to submit only one single discipline and one interdisciplinary paper; the Hill's Award competition will accept as many single and interdisciplinary proposals papers as meet the guidelines for authors. Third, only U.S. citizens are eligible to enter the Secretary's Award competition; the Hill's Award program will accept papers from students matriculating at Canadian schools of veterinary medicine and from veterinary curricula located in the Caribbean (e.g., Ross University and Saint George's University). Fourth, the awards monies differ. For the Hill's Award, the student(s) writing the first-place proposal receive(s) a certificate and a check for $1,000, the student(s) writing the second-place paper receive(s) a certificate and a check for $750, and the third-place winner(s) receive(s) a certificate and a check for $500. In the case of interdisciplinary winners, monetary awards are divided. Finally, for the judging for the Hill's Award, copies of veterinary-related interdisciplinary papers must be forwarded to the Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges (AAVMC). All single discipline papers from U.S. veterinary students entered for the Secretary's Award are automatically entered in the Hill's Award competition. A panel of judges selected by the AAVMC reads and evaluates the combined single and interdisciplinary papers, ranking the top three submissions in the combined category.
Style manual information - Using the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 4 we produced style manuals specific for both the Secretary's Award (Guide to Composing a Proposal for The Secretary's Award for Innovations in Health Promotion and Disease Prevention) and the Hill's Public Health Award (Guide to Composing a Proposal for the Hill's Public Health Award). Both guides were designed according to the criteria for each competition and were developed so that student submitters and their faculty sponsors could have advice about style and organization for the prospective proposals. For both style manuals, a previous DHHS Secretary's Award winning interdisciplinary paper, "The Chiron Project: A Community Effort to Educate Adolescents on the Adverse Effects of Anabolic Steroid Abuse," 2 was used as a model proposal. These manuals are available on the following websites: for the Secretary's Award
(http://www.auburn.edu/event/veterinary_writing/secaward.htm); and for the Hill's Public Health Award (http://www.auburn.edu/event/veterinary_writing/hill1.htm).
Writing Workshop -- A proposal writing workshop for health professions faculty advisors and their student advisees was held at Auburn University's College of Veterinary Medicine (AUCVM) on August 7, 2000. This one-day writing workshop, with lectures and hands-on instruction was designed for faculty sponsors of students participating in the Secretary's Award. Each faculty sponsor was allowed to bring at least one student participant, however, no potential student participants were barred from attending. Techniques discussed included brainstorming for ideas and tips on manuscript preparation. The DHHS's document, Healthy People 2010, and its effects on training health professions students were discussed. It was anticipated that participants would leave the writing workshop with a greater knowledge of how to compose winning proposals for the Secretary's Award and Hill's writing competitions. The web pages detailing the style manuals were launched at this time.Award-winning proposals - Three health professions students participating in this workshop went on to submit proposals to the Secretary's Award and the Hill's Award writing competitions. All three attending students ranked in the top three in the nation in either the Secretary's Award or the Hill's Public Health Award. The winning proposals were as follows:
In the Secretary's Award, Single Discipline category, Dr. Barbara Kelly, Class of 2001, Tuskegee University School of Veterinary Medicine, Nursing, and Allied Health (TUSVM) received third-place honors, receiving $1,500 for her proposal entitled, "Animal Education for Natural Disasters: Ignorance is Not Bliss." Violent acts of nature force hundreds of Americans to evacuate their homes every year. Unfortunately, many people will not evacuate if it means leaving pets or livestock behind due to lack of containers, multiple animals, or unknown destinations. Numerous cases of evacuees prematurely reentering disaster sites to care for pets and livestock have increased the likelihood of risk to human safety. These actions jeopardize not only the evacuees, but also the rescue personnel. Stresses created by the disaster itself are compounded by the fact that pet/livestock owners leave their animals behind. By disseminating information and educating residents regarding care and transportation of pets/livestock and starting grassroots efforts at organizing and planning for pets/livestock during and after disasters, injuries and mental anguish can be reduced or eliminated. Sponsorship of a lecture series, establishment of TUSVM as a regional contact site for disaster relief, and the creation of two brochures: "Preparing You and Your Pet for a Disaster" and "Preparing You and Your Livestock for a Disaster" are proposed. The guest lecturers will address veterinary students, faculty, and community members on disaster preparedness and what needs to be done for the city, county and state. The brochures will be designed to facilitate movements at the county level by showing pet owners how to prepare and by stressing responsible pet ownership. This proposed educational program has important public health significance because individuals often suffer depression following disasters. Through education, stress can be reduced, depression moderated, and zoonotic disease (e.g., rabies) exposure minimized.
In the Secretary's Award, Interdisciplinary category, Tiffany J. Cal, Class of 2002, AUCVM, and Tiffany N. Stewart, Class of 2001, Auburn University School of Nursing received the Secretary's Award, received third-place honors, receiving an award of $3,000 for their proposal entitled, "A Rainbow of Health Careers: An Activity Book Designed to Increase the Interest in Health Professions among African-American Children." This proposal has previously appeared in this journal.5 African-American students show the least representation in the study of all health-related fields. Many minority students are unaware of the various career opportunities available to them in the health professions. Minority role models are needed early in students' lives to provide encouragement and motivation. Minority role models are also needed to inspire students to learn about different health careers and to succeed academically in school. Consequently, with good academic standing, students are able to qualify for, apply to, and be successful in health professions schools. These students developed an activity book, A Rainbow of Health Careers, (ARHC) focuses on exposing young African-American students to careers in health professions early in their lives. The book contains pictures of prominent African-American health care professionals as well as puzzles and activities that highlight their prominent roles in society. The health professional portrayed in the activity book will serve as role models, making the students aware of the various health professions and helping to clarify their roles. Before the introduction of ARHC, there were no activity books available that educate children about minorities currently serving in the health professions. ARHC solves this problem. These students propose to have ARHC distributed free of charge to children across Alabama and the U.S. The project received $1500 funding from the Office of Service Learning, Auburn University's Partners in Community Service. Currently, the activity book is being utilized as part of the University of Alabama-Birmingham School of Medicine's HPPI Bridge to Health Care Program, sponsored by the Robert Woods Johnson Foundation (Shirley Ginwright, personal communication).
In the Hill's Public Health Award, Lionell Smith, Class of 2003, AUCVM, and Katherine Bauer, Class of 2002, Auburn University College of Education received first-place honors, receiving an award of $1,000 for their proposal entitled, "Me, You and Rover, Too!: An Educational Program for Teachers about Child and Animal Abuse and the Relevance to the Human-Animal Bond." The "Me, You, and Rover, Too Project!" (MY&R2) is an educational program to raise awareness among educators about family violence, specifically child and animal abuse, and to increase knowledge about the human animal bond and the benefits of animals and nature in the classroom for all children, but especially for victims of cruelty and violence. MY&R2 will provide information for teachers on the interconnectedness of violence, the human animal bond and animals and nature in the classroom through presentations and a pamphlet given to teachers. The pilot project will be implemented in Lee County, Alabama including the city schools of Auburn and Opelika, Alabama. Presentations will be given at each elementary, middle, and high school in the district. The project will be directed at teachers, but information will also be made available to other school personnel. MY&R2 emphasizes multidisciplinary and collaborative efforts needed to stop all forms of abuse. It demonstrates interdisciplinary collaboration by using student volunteers from AUCVM and the College of Education as moderators for the presentations. The effectiveness of the project will be assessed using a pre-presentation questionnaire and a post-presentation comment card. The questionnaire and the comment card will assess the knowledge of animal abuse and the benefits of animals to human health and well-being.
Karen Lisa Kahn, Class of 2003, AUCVM received second-place honors in the Hill's Public Health Award, receiving an award of $750 for her proposal entitled, "Cold Noses Warm Hearts: A Proposal to Include Human-Animal Bond in the Education of Future Veterinarians." "Cold Noses, Warm Hearts" is a request for the veterinary profession to include the human-animal bond in veterinary students' educational experience. It requests that AUCVM include an elective course on the human-animal bond in its curriculum and to eventually add this subject as a required course. The project also provides service learning for students by designing an opportunity to talk to elementary school children and distributing pamphlets designed to educate the public on the beneficial effects of owning a pet. Finally, the proposal asks the veterinary profession to consider changing the Veterinarian's Oath, to include, "the promotion of . . . the human-animal bond."
Finally, Elizabeth Embree, Scott Gustin, and Jared Taylor, Class of 2002, Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine received third-place honors in the Hill's Public Health Award, receiving an award of $500 for their proposal entitled, "Healthy Hands, Healthy People." Infectious diseases continue to be a considerable threat to the health of all Americans. Certain key pathogens pose a significant risk, not only because of their virulence, but also because of their ubiquity and ease of transmission. While many of these organisms are associated with food-borne illnesses, disease transmission can readily occur from many sources and activities of everyday life. Children are particularly susceptible to infectious diseases, due to incomplete development and maturation of the immune system. This leads not only to more illness, but also increase absence from school, which directly correlates with academic performance. Hand washing is widely recognized as a simple hygienic practice that is key in reducing illness. The "Healthy Hands, Healthy People" project presents an interactive learning session where the children can individually learn about the role of hand washing and germs in disease transmission. Through the use of a novel hand-washing product, Glo GermTM , students will learn how disease-causing germs can be readily acquired from the environment. They will then be instructed in the proper practices of hand washing, and how effective hand washing is in reducing germ load.
Conclusions -- This web page project was unique in that it demonstrates interdisciplinary collaboration between academicians in veterinary medicine and technical writing. The web pages' primary focus was a competition (the Secretary's Award) sponsored by a governmental agency (DHHS); however, corporate America (Hill's Pet Nutrition) and a nonprofit agency (The Pet Care Trust) have provided significant financial impetus to encourage student participation.
The initial purposes of the web page were to increase veterinary student participation in the Secretary's Award writing competition and to promote the incorporation of technical writing projects into the health professions curricula across the U.S., especially those health professions schools associated with FASHP. Without a doubt, single discipline proposals (e.g., nursing; osteopathic medicine; pharmacy, podiatric medicine; dentistry; academic health; medicine; veterinary medicine; chiropractic medicine; allied health; optometry; public health; and health administration) are encouraged, but interdisciplinary collaborations between and among these disciplines are essential. Lewis has stated that, "those of us involved in educating our successors . . . have the opportunity to encourage interdisciplinary thinking at a time when the students' disciplinary identities are in the formative stage, before individuals have the opportunity to develop stereotypical images of professionals in other disciplines, and while collaboration, rather than competition, may be beneficial."6
References
- Healthy People 2010: Understanding and Improving Health. US Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Washington, DC, 2000.
- Bowyer NK. Healthy People 2010: The nation's health agenda. National Academies of Practice Forum. 2001;3(3):207-211.
- Roberts ED, Shores MA, Mullins IC, and Hendrix CM. The Chiron Project: A community effort to educate adolescents on the adverse effects of anabolic steroid abuse. National Academies of Practice Forum. 2000;2(2):145-149.
- American Psychological Association. 4th edition. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association;1994.
- Gray A, Cal TJ, Norris B, and Hendrix CM. A Rainbow of Health Careers: An activity book designed to increase the interest in health professions among minority children. National Academies of Practice Forum. 2000;2(4):289-294.
- Lewis JA. Creating the future. National Academies of Practice Forum. 2000;(2):93.
Shirley Ginwright, HPPI Bridge to Health Care Program, 1825 University Boulevard, MJH - 107, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama 35294-2010
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