Mission Mitigation and Prevention: How One State-Level Consortium Promotes Infectious Disease Management in Childcare and Educational Settings
A specialized consortium for childcare and educational settings that is well-staffed, well-trained, and well-funded can provide essential and timely public health response, support, and infectious disease training and education to reduce transmission within these settings.
On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared novel coronavirus (COVID-19) as a global pandemic. The pandemic called for a strengthening of public health infrastructure. In response, the New Jersey Department of Health created a state-level consortium, better known as the DSH Team (Daycares, Schools, and Higher Education), to triage incoming infectious disease inquiries and consultation services, support disease surveillance, investigations, and outbreak response, assess training needs, and develop effective public health educational materials and training geared toward educational entities, as well as the New Jersey’s 94 local health departments. Our team also assisted educational entities through dissemination and simplification of evolving COVID-19 guidance updates and recommendations. Our recently published peer-reviewed practice brief report in the Journal of Public Health Management and Practice further details the implementation of our consortium and our pronounced efforts to improve prevention and mitigation strategies in childcare and educational settings.
The DSH Team launched in August 2021 with a core public health mission to prioritize collaboration, education, and training to strengthen public health and minimize infectious disease transmission in childcare and educational settings. Our team, initially comprised of three epidemiologists and two nursing consultants, has an extensive background in health education, school health, research, health care, academia, and public health agencies. Our consortium workflow diagram as shown below depicts the structure of our team, our roles, our work, as well as our impact and reach. Our specialized backgrounds allow us to conduct outbreak surveillance and investigation, provide guided support and infectious disease management and prevention plans with educational entities, and develop tailored deliverables requested via needs assessment surveys.
Following initiation, we increased our team’s recognition through engagement, outreach, and collaboration. We conducted focus groups with the state’s local health departments and needs assessment surveys with our constituents in the educational entities to better understand how to best serve our communities and provide effective prevention and mitigation tools to address infectious disease outbreaks within childcare and educational settings. We prioritized engagement and collaboration through various in-person and virtual communications, including attending and presenting at state-level conferences, conducting planning meetings with our partner state agencies, hosting virtual webinars, and sending monthly email blasts. We geared our outreach efforts toward school nurses, athletic directors, teachers, school administration, childcare directors and associated staff, and local health department staff. In turn, these constituents would be able to disseminate information to students, staff, and parents and guardians to reach New Jersey’s communities with updated and timely public health information.
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The feedback and results from the focus groups and needs assessment survey drove the development of our education and training materials, including modality of delivery, layout of deliverables, and topics of choice. For example, requests for virtual recorded live sessions allowed for our team to reach hundreds of staff from schools, childcare centers, and local health departments per session and disseminate infectious disease information with consideration to flexibility and ease of accessibility. Our team also developed a web site to store our materials in a one-stop shop and allow users to view and download various infectious disease resources, including pre-recorded trainings, recorded webinar sessions, and infectious disease flyers.
Our report provides a further detailed framework on the applicability and utility of our consortium for public health practitioners considering similar initiatives. It also highlights information on the impact and timely effectiveness of our trainings and outreach, as well as insight into our team’s future directions. We are focusing our efforts on specific populations within childcare and educational settings, including underserved communities, rural populations, and non-English speaking communities. Targeted efforts are also in progress for institutes of higher education.
Finally, our report discusses public health implications in having a designated consortium to support childcare and educational settings with infectious disease prevention and mitigation, which includes:
- Increased timely use of appropriate infectious disease prevention and mitigation strategies within childcare and educational settings;
- Development and dissemination of relevant and timely infectious disease educational materials and training sessions;
- Tailored support for childcare and educational settings and local health departments during outbreak investigation and management; and
- Enhanced engagement and partnerships among the consortium, partner state agencies, local health departments, and educational entities.
- For continuation and sustainability, adequate staffing, training, and funding must be secured.
Read our article in the Journal of Public Health Management and Practice:
Tasnim Salam, MBE, MPH, is an epidemiologist on the New Jersey Department of Health (NJDOH) DSH (Daycares, School, and Higher Education) Team. She previously coordinated and managed several research studies at the University of Pennsylvania (Penn). Tasnim received her dual master’s degrees in bioethics and public health from Penn.
Sarah Leifer, MPH, MA, is a former epidemiologist on the NJDOH DSH Team. She previously worked in the nonprofit and education sectors.
Victoria Simpson, MPH, MSOH, GSP, is an epidemiologist on the NJDOH DSH Team with previous experience managing outbreaks within a local health department in Ohio. She studied epidemiology and occupational health at the University of Toledo in Ohio and public health administration in Tennessee at East Tennessee State University.
Stacey DeFrank, BSN, CSN, is a nursing consultant on the NJDOH DSH Team. She has 17 years as a registered nurse with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing and is a certified instructional school nurse in New Jersey. Her previous experience includes school, camp, and ENT nursing.
Barbara Carothers, LPN, is the subject matter expert on school health at NJDOH.
Edward Lifshitz, MD, holds a leadership position at NJDOH.
Sherif Ibrahim, MD, MPH, also holds a leadership position at NJDOH.