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Literature Review on the school of Public Health of the University of Texas at El PasoMaribel DominguezUniversity of Texas at El PasoAbstractThe field of public health is a ramification of science, in which the main focus is to protect and improve the health of entire populations. The promoting and prolongation of health is achieved through many incentives including community and worldwide organizations. Public health professionals seek to prevent health predicaments, through the conduction of specified research, educational programs, the avocation and retention of fundamental health policies. The field of public health being an essential field for the protection of humanity, is a vital career choice for any individual. Even though the importance of a career in public health is evidential, the field itself has not been widely recognized. The University of Texas at El Paso has a young yet compelling public health program that includes an extensive variety of careers. The purpose of this literature review is to inform about the programs that help set a foundation for the career development of UTEP students through academic opportunities. Additionally, this literature review will define the remarkable events of the school of public health, the effects of a shortage in public health experts and the comparison between UTEP and other Universities of the state of Texas.Public Health: A literature review of the UTEP school of Public HealthPublic health is the science of prolonging life, preventing disease and promoting health through an organized effort to sanitize the environment, control contagious diseases and health educate the community. Public health has prevented the spread of epidemics that had the capacity to wipe out entire populations. Public health has become fundamental in the present time, as it maintains health stability by preventing world chaos. Yet the field of public health had a very indirect and slow beginning, which has created a base for debate on whether the field is thriving of remaining still. Some experts claim that the field of public health is poorly defined and abstract. Other experts believe that the public health field has been blossoming throughout the world. The enigmatic predicament can be examined by investigating the position of the public health field in the knowledge of the young generation of the time. The University of Texas at El Paso educationally prepare the students from the entire south border. However, it has been observed that the UTEP School of public health has not been implemented to flourish successfully. The indispensable position of this field that protects entire populations sets an alarming position for the El Paso residents. For these reasons, the uncertainty about the promoting of the public health field has continued. As a consequence, these four questions must be considered:What programs has UTEP constructed to help professionally prepare its public health students?What effect does the absence of UTEP public health professionals have in the El Paso community in comparison to other communities?What have been the most remarkable events for the school of public health in the history of UTEP?How does the UTEP School of public health compare to other schools of public health of other Universities in the state of Texas?The field of public health is a necessary career field, it is of extreme importance that this career field is being properly educated to students, who are the future of the nation. This literature review will provide the necessary information in regards of the school of public health in the University of Texas at El Paso. What programs has UTEP constructed to help professionally prepare its public health students?The University of Texas at El Paso has a young school of public health, thus making its programs relatively new. Despite the youthfulness of the school of public health, UTEP has already created several programs to help prepare its students. Experts have a divided view on the improvement of the school of public health in the University. The office of disease prevention and health promotion government department associated with UTEP to create the Healthy People 2020 partnership to identify nationwide health improvement priorities. The healthy people 2020 is a nationwide incentive striving to increase the understanding of health disease, disability and the opportunities possible to students as a form of fieldwork experience. The standard way of thinking of the incentive Healthy people 2020 is that is an identical replica of the Health 2000, the original incentive created in the year 2000. Since both initiatives are government campaigns seeking to motivate a new generation of community minded health professionals, often people think of the two as one incentive rather than two separate ones. These two initiatives are ramifications of each other, which may create the misconception that they represent the exact equal ideology. Yet, Healthy people 2000, indirectly opposes to the central idea of the Healthy people 2020 initiative, as the initiative healthy people initiative, indicated that UTEP was not part of the initiative, even though their school of public health had several years in action. Thus enfacing on the fact that UTEP was not properly involved in the student professional preparation. The Community Health in the 21st century book, focuses on several nationwide movements and one of them being the Healthy people 2000. Community Health in the 21st century states that the educational initiatives taken, “The National Health Education Standards were adopted to help students achieve education goal set in… Healthy people 2000.” (Turnock, pg. 400). These renewable nationwide incentives placed a target on the development of UTEP undergraduates which allowed them to increase their knowledge on the field of public health. Although UTEP did not immediately created public health preparation programs, it must be pointed out that UTEP created a community based program associated with Del Sol and Las Palmas medical center. The UTEP News (2014) addressed that the program that allowed the developed of creative new models of university-corporate health care collaborations focused on the preparation of competent health care professionals (pa. 3). UTEP expanded the opportunities of its public health students by providing access to real life professional experience. By focusing on the importance of fieldwork experience, UTEP concentrated on the deeper problem of the absence of student opportunity. A plan was implemented to better the professional preparation of its public health students. In 2008 however, UTEP created the Strategic Plan that covered the years of 2008 until 2015, this plan as described by the article is “Committed to providing access and educational opportunity” (pg. 2). Additionally, the president of UT El Paso Diana Natalicio (2013), stated “We are committed to raising the aspirations and educational attainment…we serve and engaging in a highly respected program of advanced research and scholarship that creates active learning environments for our students.” (pg.1). The Strategic Plan, seeks to maintain the educational growth of UTEP through student career development, similarly the hospital and university collaboration created new career opportunities for the students. Unfortunately, these plans are not enough for many University experts as well as UTEP students. The University of Texas at El Paso is right in that the new affiliations created will greatly benefit UTEP students because of the growing need of public health professionals, yet the University may not be aware in the fact that recent surveys indicate that UTEP students do not feel fully prepared. Although none of them have ever said so directly, students have often given the impression that the school of public health at UTEP is a field that is not as praised as the other schools. The survey created for the purpose of this review found that student’s career preparation is significantly low, indicating that 11 out of 30 students, feel professionally ignored and unappreciated. Additionally, 46 % of the public health undergraduate students feel uninformed of public health organizations. This primary research survey demonstrates that even UTEP has created various career enhancing programs to help prepare its students, public health students do not feel at their highest potential. This particular students and expert survey, completely contradict the basic ideas of the programs mentioned above. Experts claim that the lack of UTEP interaction with public health students have created a new alarming factor that is the absence of public health professionals which is a current reality that affects the El Paso community. What effect does the absence of UTEP public health professionals have in the El Paso community in comparison to other communities?The El Paso community has experienced the reduction of UTEP graduate public health professionals. The city of El Paso’s Department of Public Health PHD, annual Health assessment article identified an inverse relationship between the population growths of the El Paso County with the number of UTEP public health professionals. The health assessment article (2013) reports that the estimated health care providers only served population of 2.6 million, while the El Paso County has a growing population, of 18% (Pa. 4). Additionally, the city of El Paso has a younger population than Texas and the United States, making the absence of public health professionals even more extreme. The absence of public health professionals, according to some experts is a matter to be worried about as in the long run, it could cause irreversible problems that would be very much difficult to control. This particular health article stresses the absence of public health professionals through the use census reports, using these reports as evidence of the current situation, stressing the negative impact that the lack of UTEP graduates has had on the community. When it comes to the source of information, the PHD and the CIHRE agree that census reports are the best source of evidence. Where these sources agreements usually end, however, is on the question of the disturbing realities of the El Paso County and the main cause of the absence of public health professionals. Each source has the same mode of evidence but different conclusions. According to the CIHRE (2013), the absence of local public health professionals affect the health conditions in the El Paso area, stating “El Paso County, are among the poorest in the United States and have numerous barriers to health education and health care access. This may be due to lack of access to health care in the border region and the need for culturally sensitive preventive health care.” (pa. 5). The economic position, according to the CIHRE is the main cause of lack of public health professionals, and at the same time it is also the main cause for the poor health conditions. The following image, extracted from City of El Paso’s Department of Public Health Assessment, supports the previous evidence. Figure 1. The current shortage of Public Health ProfessionalsSource: (2013) Community Health Assessment (CHA), 1-117. Retrieved October 18, 201414, 2014, from The image presented above, indicate the large vacancy of public health providers, yet it does not concede with the views of the CIHRE and the PHD organizations. Additionally, the CIHRE’s view that the main cause of the absence of UTEP’s public health alumni flawed, as recent research has shown that the main cause of the expert shortage is that of the geographic location of El Paso. The academic article, “Globalization and Health at the United States – Mexico Border” believes that the lack of public health professionals, decreases the integration of international health markets thus contradicting the views of the CIHRE and the PHD organizations. The Mexico border journal states, “The presence of expertise would be a better integration of the health care markets so the population on either side of the border could take advantage of the health services offered.”(Mexico Border, 16). The scholarly article attempted to present the idea that if public health experts were present in the community, it would signify a cultural, economic and geographical convenience to promote healthy lifestyles in the region. The Mexico’s border journal article position that the international markets are severely affected by the absence of public health professionals was valid, the academic article, “Achieving academic excellence at UTEP and economic opportunity for El Paso” arguments that the absence public health professionals directly affects the economic standing of the El Paso community. Eliot Shapleigh, senator and author of this academic article strongly believes that the main impact, is the economic downfall that the community has been experiencing. The academic article mentions above states, “The study which measured the academic success for Hispanic and economically disadvantaged students across Texas, UTEP's students outperform students in other major cities and border communities across the state.” (Eliot Shapleigh, pg.10). Shapleigh, presents the idea that UTEP graduates are qualified individuals that choose to radiate in another community than that one of El Paso. The same qualification and the perseverant character of UTEP students has also been reflected on the most remarkable events on the history of UTEP. What have been the most remarkable events for the school of public health in the history of UTEP?The University of Texas at El Paso was ranked number twelve of the entire nation by the Washington Monthly magazine’s annual university rankings. Despite the Universities nationwide ranking, some experts argue that UTEPS history has had only few remarkable events for the school of Public Health while other experts argue that UTEP has had an acceptable historical events. The University newspaper special edition “Transforming Higher Education” presents several historical highlights for the University, including two of which pertain to the school of Public Health. UTEP faculty and students are actively engaged in the full spectrum of research in health their work has enabled the National Science Foundation (NSF) to fund UTEP research (Transforming Higher education pg. 6). According to the Centennial Magazine (2013), “Research expenditures have risen steadily over the past decade, reaching nearly $80 million annually and ranking UTEP fourth in the state and 72nd in the country among universities without a medical school.” (pg.7). Additionally, UTEP proudly helped assist the national research of Syphilis, being selected among the top Universities of the nation. In a completely different affair, UTEP has contributed to other nationwide public health programs, such as “Nuestra Casa” a nationwide initiative, dedicated on increasing the public health state of in need individuals including the migrants from the Mexico-border. Nuestra Casa was created as an advocacy tool that through communication and social action the disease of Tuberculosis was going to be better controlled as it will help reduce the number of cases and deaths caused by it. (US-Mexico Border Health Association 2008) The director of this incentive Nora Gallegos (2012) states that UTEP was the first university to unite to this incentive, alongside other national organizations, “University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP), the Mexican Consulate, the City of El Paso Health Department, the Alliance of Border Collaborative (ABC)…with funding from Project Concern International (PCI) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)” (pg.1). UTEP remarks this partnership as remark, as not only was it the first border University to follow this cause but also because it helped the students gain the knowledge on this national issue. UTEP, proudly participated as one of the few selected institutions in the global research on Syphilis. This year of 2014 The City of El Paso Department of Public Health’s Laboratory Program was selected to assist the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) research by providing blood samples that have tested positive for Syphilis. (EP Health, Newspaper tree, N/A). The University was greatly honored to assist with CDC alongside other Universities across the nation. Due to the fact that it is a very competitive selection, this selection placed a prestigious remark on the history of UTEP. However, according to the visitors Guide, the most fruitful year for UTEP was the year of 2011. Kathleen Curtis, Ph.D., dean of the college states, “Professional education program enrollment had a major increase in UTEP ’capacity to meet the health-related workforce needs of our region…On top of that, five of the college’s programs moved into a new 130,000-square-foot campus facility in 2011.” (Curtis, 2014). The major improvement of the school of public health, stated by Kathleen Curtis, has been an important factor to place UTEP among the top Universities. The standard way of thinking of the dean of the school of public health Kathleen Curtis is comparable to the standard knowledge of the public health students. UTEP has a blossoming public health program, and its students are aware of it, yet they do not express entire confidence in their University in comparison to others. The students agreed in that, the University has not really had ground breaking research or remarks to place the University among the historical national events. In the survey called “Historical Events” more than 60 % of the selected students answered “no”, to the question, “Do you feel that UTEP has found ground breaking research.” More dramatically, about 80% of the surveyed students, answered “Not aware” to the question, “Can you recall the main remarkable historical events, of the school of Public Health in UT El Paso?” Unfortunately, students are not aware nor enthusiastic about the historical public health remarks, the majority marked the “School of Business”, as the “Successful College of UTEP”, meaning that the school of public health, to the eyes of the students is “Relatively standard or Average”. Consequently, the low outlook of public health students in UTEP, is becomes a main cause of the idea that UTEP is not as highly accomplished as other Universities in the state of Texas. How does the UTEP School of public health compare to other schools of public health of other Universities in the state of Texas?The University of Texas at El Paso has a relatively new school of public health being incorporated barely 18 years ago in the year of 1992. The University of Texas Health Sciences Center (2013) compares UTEP to top Texas Universities, focusing on the sister cities of the El Paso County, and how they form a population of over two million, making it the largest intentional metroplex in the world (pa.1). The health sciences center emphasizes the fact that even though UTEP does not provide a medical school it does provide other high level degrees. The public health college of UTEP, offers all levels of graduate from certificate programs to masters and doctoral degree programs.” (Texas Health Sciences Center, 2012, Pa. 2). UTEP alumni, also created the duty on representing their University, but exemplify it in comparison to other Texas Universities. The Texas Health Science Center thesis about the professional offerings of UTEP was extremely useful to the academic article, “Experience Preferred: Insights from Our Newest Public Health Professionals on How Internships/ Practicums Promote Career Development” because it shed insight on the importance of fieldwork experience. Written by UTEP alumni the academic article acknowledged that “This article provides perspectives from four public designated minority-serving institutions and highlights the ways fieldwork experiences have contributed to their career development.” (Experience Preferred, 2013, pg. 12). In other words, the article believes that minority serving institutions in Texas are the best choice as they provide a more meaningful journey. Similarly the academic article “How Texas Will Celebrate National Public Health Week April 4-8, 2011”, is too written by University Alumni, but exemplifying the University of Texas at Galveston as the best public health school in Texas. The Texas Public Health Association TPHA journal, recognizes the University of Texas at Galveston as the most qualified Texas University. The Public Health association journal states, “The school's Public Health Student Association (PHSA) also plans to recognize National Public Health Week as University of Galveston has implemented the most innovative program of the state of Texas” (TPHA, pg. 22). However, there following academic article, does not in any way view UTEP as a better choice in comparison to other Texas Universities.Whereas the previous academic articles have provided ample evidence that Texas Universities have the capacity to complete amongst each other, the academic article “Training Primary Care Physicians for Local Health Authority Duties in Texas” targets the fact that very few Universities in the State of Texas provide an inexperienced public health performance. According to doctor James Mobley, public health director and collaborator of is article states, “Public health inequities may occur in Texas counties where there are no appointed career LHA. No citizen from any community… should be without identifiable and realistic access to the benefits of public health” (Training Primary Physicians, pg.5). While some experts have classified the aptitude of the Texas Universities, other such as Bernard J. Turnock have argued that there is no best University, as the field of public health is not being properly presented. In the book, “Career Choices that make a difference, Turnock stated, “Yet public health is not among the best known or most highly respected careers, in part because when public health efforts are successful, nothing happens.” (Turnock pg1). Due to the fact that public health is not a recognized field in the nation, Bernock believes that no University has the sufficient knowledge to take public health to its highest level.ConclusionThe field of public health plays a fundamental role in the health stability of the entire nation, and in the El Paso community. The University of Texas at El Paso is a nationwide recognized institution, yet the progress of its school of public health was questioned by local experts and students. The alarming absence of UTEP public health graduates and the lack of publicity towards public health enhancing programs challenged the ability of UTEP in comparison to other Universities in the state of Texas, thus affecting the El Paso community. The research presented in this literature review presents an opportunity to create knowledge on the field of public health. With the knowledge gained from this literature review, one will be capable to develop an opinion based solemnly of knowledge. 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