Perth Public Health Officer Training Program
The Perth Public Health Officer Training Program (PPHOTP) is a series of interactive small-group workshops for select staff employed in North Metropolitan Health Service (NMHS) public health teams*.
The program provides practical teaching in public health to compliment the day-to-day work of public health staff. A total of twenty half-day workshops are delivered over each two-year cycle of the program.
Guest speakers deliver presentations on a broad range of public health topics. Scenario-based training is used to provide trainees with the opportunity to apply their newly acquired skills in simulated public health responses.
PPHOTP brings together staff from different professional backgrounds to learn as a team. Participants include doctors, nurses, project officers, epidemiologists and other staff from NMHS public health teams.
Content
PPHOTP workshops aim to cover a range of public health topics and skills:
- communicable disease
- environmental health
- emergency management
- policy and legislation
- health promotion and prevention
- evaluation and evidence
- cultural competence and Aboriginal health
- professional practice
- management and leadership
- health system financing and economics
- epidemiology and data science
Frequently Asked Questions
Who can participate in PPHOTP?
PPHOTP participants must be employees of NMHS Public Health.
To ensure a high level of engagement, PPHOTP limits the number of participants to between 8 and 12 staff at any time. New staff join PPHOTP each year and participate for a two-year period.
Most participants are existing employees of NMHS who apply for PPHOTP via an internal expression of interest.
Boorloo Public Health Unit also offers a PPHOTP-associated two-year clinical nurse (CN) position, where nurses are given the opportunity to go on secondment to other public health teams in NMHS. All staff employed in this associated position are given the opportunity to participate in PPHOTP.
Recruitment to this position is through a formal NMHS Boorloo Public Health Unit recruitment process and will be advertised on:
Public Health Registrars (Public Health Medicine Trainees) undertaking their training through the Boorloo Public Health Unit are given the opportunity to participate in PPHOTP. Recruitment to the public health registrar positions is through a formal NMHS Boorloo Public Health Unit recruitment process and will be advertised on:
What is the duration of the program?
PPHOTP is a two-year program, with a new intake of participants at the beginning of each year. It is only for employees of North Metropolitan Health Service public health teams.
Any employment contracts are separate from the PPHOTP program.
Will there be any assessments during the program?
No, there will be no formal assessment. Opportunities for participants to apply their knowledge will occur through attendance and engagement in workshop activities.
Will I have a qualification at the end of the program?
No, there is no formal qualification but participants will receive a certificate of completion.
*Public Health teams
The NMHS public health teams consist of:
- Boorloo (Perth) Public Health Unit
- DonateLife WA
- Health Promotion
- Humanitarian Entrant Health Service (HEHS)
- Western Australian Acquired Brain Injury Rehabilitation Service (WAABIRS)
- Western Australian Tuberculosis Control Program (WATBCP)