Week 1: January 12-16
Wednesday: off
Thursday: Off
Friday: Off
Week 2: January 19-23 (Onsite & Asynchronous)
Monday: MLK Day, off
Tuesday: Today was my first day on-site, and for majority of the day I was in New Hire Orientation. We went over the basics of new hire paperwork, technology and IT support, insurance, HIPAA and emergency preparedness. After this orientation I had a few hours left in my work schedule to meet with my preceptor and go over expectations for this internship and the role that I contribute to the team. I spent the rest of my day working on HIV Testing and Counseling Training modules.
Wednesday: I worked for a few hours in the morning by looking at some of the data I was given the day before, as well as . When I arrived on site, I was present in a meeting with my preceptor, PrEP Navigators, Managers, Nurses, and the District Health Director. In this meeting I observed how the PrEP team discuss their strengths and weaknesses that they’ve experienced over the quarter. They also discussed ways to improve access and care to PrEP and HIV treatment and care. After the meeting, I spent the rest of my day working on my INSTI HIV training, so that I could learn how to do an HIV test.
Thursday: Worked at home for the day. I completed and finished the rest of my INSTI training and reviewed my notes on it. I also spent majority of my time trying to find research articles and literature reviews that focused more on how to increase PrEP access to women, specifically Black Women.
Friday: Off
Weekly Summary: Firstly, meeting with my preceptor and going over the priority populations and what is needed to improve the current health status of that population has presented as one of the first health promotion competency I’ve completed. We defined the purpose of our assessment, well as identifying the priority populations. From completing the modules for HIV Testing and Counseling, as well as INSTI HIV testing, I was able to gain the skills necessary future implementation of health interventions that I may do at future community events. Doing research on how to increase PrEP access was a form of procuring secondary data that could be used to improve future plans of implementation. The training modules I completed also gave me the protocols of how testing and counseling is done by DPH standards.
Competencies of the Week:
- 1.1.1 Define the purpose and scope
- 1.1.2 Identify priority populations
- 1.2.4 Procure Secondary Data
- 2.4.2 Develop materials needed for implementation
- 2.4.3 Address factors that influence implementation
- 3.1.4 Establish training protocol
Week 3: January 26-30 (Asynchronous)
Monday: I worked at home this day because of the ice storm that occurred over the weekend. During my time at home, I research various articles relating to HIV testing beliefs and perceptions in relation to Black Women in the Southeast United States
Tuesday: Continued my research of HIV testing perceptions among Black Women. Made notes from what I read and also how we could apply them to our efforts improve testing and PrEP access in our priority populations at the Northeast Health District.
Wednesday: I started off the day by going over my notes from the research articles I read over the past two days. Then at around 10am I had a phone call with my preceptor. During the phone call we went over what I had learned from the research articles, important dates for in person events, and what to research more in the literature.
Thursday: Continued my research but with the parameters of Telehealth and PrEP Navigators . Made notes from the research articles and added them to a folder to be shared with other colleagues to discuss at a later date.
Friday: Off
Weekly Summary: This week was a good week for me. I spent most of my time doing the same thing everyday, but I was able to take what I learned from each day and apply it to improve my search of articles for the next day. I really enjoyed the fact that I was reading these research articles about topics in public health that I’m really interested in, and then to show my findings to my preceptor was really rewarding. My current research that I’ve been doing is still procuring secondary data which will help us develop what is needed for implementing better health programs for our identified priority populations.
Competencies of the Week:
- 1.1.2 Identify priority populations
- 1.2.4 Procure Secondary Data
- 2.4.2 Develop materials needed for implementation
- 2.4.3 Address factors that influence implementation
Week 4: February 2-6 (Onsite & Asynchronous)
Monday: On this day we had a lunch and learn at the Specialty Care Clinic with Biktarvy. Biktarvy is a drug taken once a day to treat HIV. During this lunch and learn we learned about the research done with this drug and how it yielded high efficacy results among its users. From this experience I was able to see how important it is to continually learn as
Tuesday: I reviewed more research articles. I also started to make connections between the articles I had read from the week before which was good because it made easier for me to make new connections with the data from the articles and how we could apply it to our district.
Wednesday: After gathering all of the articles I had been reviewing, I sent them to the other person I’m working on this literature analysis with for further review. We are planning to put together a document of the literature we’ve reviewed and present it in the next PrEP meeting we have.
Thursday: I spent majority of my time doing some self-learning. I researched more about the Ryan White program and how it is used in our health district. I learned a lot more about this program than I knew before. I also spent some time getting familiarized with incorporating my spanish minor with learning some medical spanish terminology.
Friday: Off
Weekly Summary: I really liked the lunch and learn this week. It highlight how important it is to learn about new drugs that could benefit the patients of our district. So much so that it prompted me to do my own self-learning to set myself up for success the next times I’m on site. With reviewing articles, for the most part I think I’m done with searching. We have a pretty good number of articles to choose from and incorporate into our literature analysis. I’m excited for more training next week with HIV counseling.
Comptencies of the Week:
- 1.2.4 Procure Secondary Data
- 2.4.2 Develop materials needed for implementation
- 2.4.3 Address factors that influence implementation
- 3.1.4 Establish training protocol
Week 5: February 9-13 (Onsite & Asynchronous)
Monday: We had another lunch and learn today, but it was with a representative with Gilead and he taught us about Yeztugo. This was a very important and interesting meeting because we learned about this drug and how its a biannual injection form of PrEP. I also met with some of my coworkers and discussed the plans for the community outreach events in the next week and how I can be apart of them.
Tuesday: From the lunch and learn yesterday, I started to brainstorm ideas of how we could improve our PrEP access program with the implementation of Yeztugo. I did a little bit of self-research about Yeztugo and also cross analyzed it with some of the research articles I reviewed in the last week.
Wednesday: Today I chose to review some of my old notes on health insurance, like private insurance, medicare, and medicaid. This refreshment helped me with understanding how drug coverage from insurance companies can impact a persons access to PrEP in our program, especially with the new forms of injectable PrEP.
Thursday: I reviewed my notes from the online modules I did during my second week, in preparation for our final module presentation. This was about HIV Testing, protocols, types of tests used, and how to deliver the news of a negative or positive HIV test.
Friday: Off
Weekly Summary: One of the things I’m really enjoying about this internship and from this week, is the self-research and relearning I’ve been doing. I feel that it’s a good way to brush up on some of my public health skills and to keep them active while I’m not in the classroom. The lunch and learn was definitely a highlight of my week. I’m really excited for Yeztugo to be widely accessible for all people who need access to PrEP, I think it will have such a positive impact on improving the adherence to PrEP. I’m also excited to do more onsite and handson activities in the next week with my internship.
Competencies of the week:
- 1.2.4 Procure Secondary Data
- 2.4.2 Develop materials needed for implementation
- 2.4.3 Address factors that influence implementation
- 3.1.4 Establish training protocol
Week 6: February 16-20 (Onsite & Asynchronous)
Monday: Today was day 1 of my final HIV counseling and testing course. This was a virtual training session where we went over basic counseling skills, how to give an INSTI HIV test, what to and not to do.
Tuesday: Today was day 2 of my HIV counseling training course. Today we did a recap of yesterday and then went over some logistal things like our workers ID number, how to fill out the forms, and finally a roleplaying scenario of us giving an HIV test and going over the resources available. I was with a group of 2 other people and we split up our role-play by being both the provider/tester and the patient. My part included telling the patient what resources were available following their negative test result.
Wednesday: Today we had a tabling event at UGA with the Pride Center. It was Cookies and Condoms where we had condoms, lubes, dental dams, and handouts about the HIV prevention services the Georgia Dept of health offers. It was such a great experience being able to tlak with peers and other people about what PrEP is, HIV transmission and also just their understanding of sexual health and HIV.
Thursday: Today was a recap day for myself. I did some more research and self-studying over my trainings from the past two days.
Friday: Today was also another event, we did a testing event at Pinewoods Library. We set up our testing tents and also had some resources available, like the condoms, lube, and dental dams. At this event we had two testers that offered free rapid HIV testing. I actually was able to practice doing a rapid HIV test on someone, just to get familiarized with the process. It was a great experience to get out into the community and see how
Weekly Summary: This was a really great week and I feel that I learned a lot. I loved my HIV counseling training, I feel that they made me more confident about he process and becoming a tester. Hopefully at the next testing even I will be a more active tester. The tabling event and testing event, made me feel that I was putting my public health and communication skills to use. I twas great to be able to talk to and see how public health interacts with people in everyday life. It was also eye opening for me to see how people view their own sexual health.
Competencies of the week:
- 1.1.1 Define the purpose and scope
- 1.1.2 Identify priority populations
- 1.2.4 Procure Secondary Data
- 2.4.2 Develop materials needed for implementation
- 2.4.3 Address factors that influence implementation
- 3.1.4 Establish training protocol
- 3.2.4 Deliver health education and promotion as designed
Week 7: February 23-27 (Onsite & Asynchronous)
Monday: After the testing event on Friday I decide d to go over some more of the HIV testing and counseling training and wrote more notes about it in my notebook. I also looked at a few more articles to choose to incorporate for the meeting on Friday.
Tuesday: I decided to take all of my articles I’ve read over these last few weeks and put them into a doc for a sort of culmination project. I worked on putting all of my articles into the doc and ten worked on the key findings for each article.
Wednesday: Today I continued to work on my culmination project. Reading more of the articles and finding the key findings in them. I eventually plan to create a section where I use the information from the articles and discuss how the Northeast health district can use these findings in our programs. I also went back into some of my lecture notes and relearned about the health promotion theories. I enjoyed doing this because it was like a refresher for me, and it also allowed me to see how I could incorporate these theories into my culmination project.
Thursday: I wanted to make sure I had all of my information together for the meeting tomorrow. I create more notes on the articles in my notebook and went over them so I was sure of what I wanted to talk about in the meeting.
Friday: Today we had a meeting with one of the prep navigators, the hit prevention manager and my preceptor. In this meeting we discussed some of our findings from literature and other resources in connection with Teleprep. It was a really good meeting with lots of discussion. We even were able to find a health department program that utilized teleprep, which can help create a foundation for our telepresence program.
Weekly Summary: I really enjoyed our meeting we had this week. I like sharing new information with others about ways we can start and improve our teleprep program. I do think that I’m starting to feel more confident with using my voice with the people i work with. I think before I felt a little unsure because I was an intern however, I work with great people that make me feel supported and confident. There’s so much more that I want to learn from this internship and I’m really enjoying it.
Competencies of the week:
- 1.1.1 Define the purpose and scope
- 1.1.2 Identify priority populations
- 1.2.4 Procure Secondary Data
- 2.4.2 Develop materials needed for implementation
- 2.4.3 Address factors that influence implementation
- 3.1.4 Establish training protocol
- 3.2.4 Deliver health education and promotion as designed
Week 8: March 2-6 (Asynchronous & Onsite)
Monday: Today I worked on researching some of the topic we discussed in the meeting from last Friday. I looked at some of the articles from my culmination doc and reviewed some of the ones that my preceptor highlighted for me to look at from last weeks meeting.
Tuesday: I spent most of today researching and injectable PrEP and its adherence in clinics, as well as seroconversion rates. I enjoyed researching about this because it provided me with newer information that I hadn’t thought of. For example, with the increase in popularity of PrEP on-demand, there may be a link to acute HIV infection rates.
Wednesday: Today I spent most of my time gathering my articles for the meeting, reading them over and typing short descriptions. I sent the email over to my preceptor to look over and potentially bring up for the meeting the next day.
Thursday: We had our meeting today to talk about some of what we discussed in the small meeting yesterday, but with the Linkage Coordinator, NP and District Director. We mostly discussed what TelePrEP and navigation would look like in our health district, throught he help of research articles and current teleprep programs across the country.
Friday: Off
Weekly Summary: This was a good week. Although it was similar to last week with the meeting at the end of the week, reading research articles, and talking through them, I still enjoy my internship a lot. I do have some upcoming projects to work on in the next few weeks and with another intern in my cohort. I really do like these meetings because I”m starting to learn how programs are started and implemented in health districts from the ground up. It’s a thorough and detailed process.
Competencies of the week:
- 1.1.1 Define the purpose and scope
- 1.1.2 Identify priority populations
- 1.2.4 Procure Secondary Data
- 2.4.2 Develop materials needed for implementation
- 2.4.3 Address factors that influence implementation
- 3.1.4 Establish training protocol
- 3.2.4 Deliver health education and promotion as designed
Week 9: March 9-13 (Spring Break
Week 10: March 16-21 (Asynchronous & Onsite)
Monday: Off
Tuesday: This was my first day back since spring break. I took the day to catch up on emails, go over my calendar for the month and make a plan. I also spent a lot of my time going over a small project I’m wanting to do for this internship.
Wednesday: Today we had an outreach event with the pride center, it was another Cookies and Condoms event. I do think that this time it was more successful than the last. More people came and took condoms from us, which I think is partially due to the fact that we had paper bags, which provides discretion for those that wanted it.
Thursday: I worked more on my plan for reaching otu to clinics and organizations about their process with HIV screening, as well as offering PrEP to their patients. I’m planning on calling these clinics sometimes next week and taking notes of whatever I can.
Friday: Off
Saturday: Today we had an outreach event at Lay Community Center and Park. This was a resource fair with other organizations and vendors offering resources like free haircuts, backpacks with supplies, and food for anyone that needed it. We had our testing tents set up outside and provided free HIV rapid testings, as well as free condoms
Weekly Summary: This was another good week for me with my internship. I really enjoy these outreach/community events we do. It really has helped me realize that I like working in the community and being with people. I do want to focus more of my time in the next few weeks with working on my projects and getting them done. I really want to have something tangible to show what I’ve learned throughout this internship.
Competencies of the Week:
- 1.1.1 Define the purpose and scope
- 1.1.2 Identify priority populations
- 1.2.4 Procure Secondary Data
- 2.4.2 Develop materials needed for implementation
- 2.4.3 Address factors that influence implementation
- 3.1.4 Establish training protocol
- 3.2.4 Deliver health education and promotion as designed
Week 11: March 23-27 (Asynchronous)
Monday: Today I responded back to the start of an email chain discussing the Providers needs assessment were working on. I worked on creating a list of questions I’d like to ask/talk to providers in the area about surrounding HIV testing and PrEP services they offer in their clinics. I sent them to the email chain to be viewed and for approval.
Tuesday: Today I worked on reading articles that were related to community providers that either did offer HIV and PrEP services or those that didn’t but wanted to. These were qualitative studies that did interviews with both the providers (mostly doctors) and patients. It was good to read and hear from both sides. However, it’s also important to note that most of these studies were done in the rural south, so they do have some holding with the needs assessment I’m wanting to do, except the factor of the lack of resources presented as a problem in some of these studies, which is not necessarily the case in my situation. But it did help to see the type of question the providers were asked.
Wednesday: I spent most of today reading articles, specifically the ones that my preceptor asked me to look over and review. I’m planning on writing something for her for these articles.
Thursday: Today I made a plan to meet up next week with the people I’ll be working on this needs assement with. I’m really excited and hoping to get necessary feedback on how to go about this process. I do feel like I have good questions to ask but it’s also good that I’m meeting with someone that has already interacted with the providers and knows a bit more on how to
Friday: Off
Weekly Summary: Most of this week was comprised of reading articles, creating questions to ask providers, responding to emails, and independent study. I’m really excited for the next two weeks, we have two events, one on campus, to attend. I like being out and interacting with people so it’ll be a good change from this week.
Competencies of the Week:
- 1.1.1 Define the purpose and scope
- 1.1.2 Identify priority populations
- 1.2.4 Procure Secondary Data
- 2.4.2 Develop materials needed for implementation
- 2.4.3 Address factors that influence implementation
- 3.1.4 Establish training protocol
- 3.2.4 Deliver health education and promotion as designed
Week 12: March 30-April 3 (Asynchronous & Onsite)
Monday: Off
Tuesday: I worked on preparing for my meeting I was going to have the next day about my project. I caught up on some emails, as well as reading some research articles.
Wednesday: Today I had my meeting with one of my coworkers to discuss the steps of this project that I’m doing. They both gave me advice on how to reach out to t these providers and clinics, as well as guiding me on how to work on my script and interview questions. We ended the meeting with having a plan, a script, a list of providers for me to reach out to, and a date to reconvene with the qualitative data I procure.
Thursday: Today we had an outreach event on campus that was hosted by UGA Pride Center. We did the same sort of tabling we normally do for cookies and condoms, except without the cookies. I do think that with this particular event on campus had a bigger crowd come up to our table, mainly becaus eit was outside and had a lot of traffic.
Friday: Today, I looked at the list of providers and offices that I wanted to reach out to and went to them. I got in my car and drove to 5 offices this day. Two of them were closed for the day. One of them gave me a card and told me to email them with my questions and to reach out. One gave me a card and told me to call them back on Monday morning, which I am planning to do. And the third told me to come back on Monday morning to try again. I really liked having this sort of exposure to putting myself out there and reaching out to these providers.
Weekly Summary: I really enjoyed this week of my internship. I felt that this was definitely my most “active week” of my internship. I can’t wait for next week when I can meet with and interview some providers for my project.
Competencies of the week:
- 1.1.1 Define the purpose and scope
- 1.1.2 Identify priority populations
- 1.2.4 Procure Secondary Data
- 2.4.2 Develop materials needed for implementation
- 2.4.3 Address factors that influence implementation
- 3.1.4 Establish training protocol
- 3.2.4 Deliver health education and promotion as designed
Week 13: April 6-10 (Onsite & Asynchronous)
Monday: Today I went to one of the offices that told me to come back, and I was able to interview one of the MDs and NPs. I talked to them separately about their practices when it comes to HIV and their office. This was a midwifery office, so there wasn’t a lot of hiv prevention practices that were as common as a primary care or sexual health clinic. I had really good conversations with both of the providers and even have
Tuesday: Today I was able to interview 3 more providers, two MDs and one NP. Today I think I learned the most and got good qualitative data and information. I also was able to chat a little bit longer with one of the MDs and NPs about their experiences with working in healthcare/direct patient care and the current political landscape. I thought that this was very eye opening and provided me with some perspectives I have not thought of but want to look into.
Wednesday: Off
Thursday: Off
Friday: Off
Weekly Summary: I really enjoyed doing these interviews this week. I really did learn a lot and I’m excited to share these findings with my coworkers! I think that with these findings we could also use them to make improvements and also establish connections with some of the providers in the Athens area when it comes to providing HIV prevention resources.
Competencies of the Week:
- 1.1.1 Define the purpose and scope
- 1.1.2 Identify priority populations
- 1.2.4 Procure Secondary Data
- 2.4.2 Develop materials needed for implementation
- 2.4.3 Address factors that influence implementation
- 3.1.4 Establish training protocol
- 3.2.4 Deliver health education and promotion as designed
Week 14: April 13-17 (Onsite & Asynchronous)
Monday: Today was my day back from being out for a bit. I got all of my notes together from the provider assessment I did and went to the health department to discuss what I found with the Linkage Coordinator and the PrEP Navigator. It was a good discussion, I was able to think more about the responses I received and to also think more about what I would have done differently/changed about the assessment.
Tuesday: Today I started to work more on my report from the providers assessment. I looked at templates, reviewed my notes and started writing out my process of doing the providers assessment.
Wednesday: Off
Thursday: Today I had my second meeting of the week, where I met with my preceptor and the HIV Prevention Manager. I met with them to discuss my findings from doing my providers assessment. It was the same as Monday, but I was able to reflect more on what I learned from this assessment. I also got further instruction on the report I’m going to create and share at the next meeting on Wednesday.
Friday: Off
Weekly Summary: This week was really good. I enjoyed sharing my findings with my coworkers and getting their responses and feedback. It helped me think of better ways I could improve this type of research I’m conducting. I am a little bit excited and nervous to share my report with more people at the meeting next week, but I think it will be a good thong for me to do.
Competencies of the Week:
- 1.1.1 Define the purpose and scope
- 1.1.2 Identify priority populations
- 1.2.4 Procure Secondary Data
- 2.4.2 Develop materials needed for implementation
- 2.4.3 Address factors that influence implementation
- 3.1.4 Establish training protocol
- 3.2.4 Deliver health education and promotion as designed
Week 15: April 20-24
Monday: Off
Tuesday: Off
Wednesday: I attended Cookies and Condoms, hosted by the Pride Center on campus. This was our last partnered outreach event at UGA this semester. We were able to talk to a lot of people this time around. Then I attended and shared findings from Providers Assessment at Northeast Health District Meeting. I had printed out my report and gave it to the other members in the meeting to review and ask questions. This marked the end of my internship
Thursday: Off
Friday: Off
Weekly Summary: I’m so proud of myself with what I’ve done and accomplished throughout this semester for my internship. I really feel like this internship made me more independent and willing to create my own projects with confidence. I am a bit sad to go and not continue working with the Northeast Health District but I have learned so many valuable things that I will carry with me forever into my career.
Competencies of the Week:
- 2.4.2 Develop materials needed for implementation
- 2.4.3 Address factors that influence implementation
- 3.1.4 Establish training protocol
- 3.2.4 Deliver health education and promotion as designed