Training injury control practitioners: The Indian Health Service model

Many individuals practicing injury control have not received specific train ing for their work, in large part because of a scarcity of training opportu nities. Consistent with its mission of "raising the health status of Americ an Indian and Alaska Native people to the highest possible level," the Indi an Health Service (IHS) created an innovative training program for federal and tribal employees. The model emphasizes training that is practical and c an be applied immediately to community interventions. Many features of the II-IS training model have broad applicability to other settings. These feat ures include the use of experiential instruction, preceptors, and community case studies to train individuals from diverse cultural and educational ba ckgrounds; educational strategies for employed adults; and courses that pro mote community empowerment. The development of IHS training courses are guided by community input, epid emic logical data, advances in knowledge, and program evaluations. Courses range from a half-day "minicourse" to a full-year fellowship program. The s uccess of the training model is evident in programs instituted by MS Injury Prevention Specialist Fellowship graduates, whose projects have ranged fro m drowning prevention in Alaska to fire safety in North Dakota. The MS trai ning model could be applied in a variety of other community-based settings, but it is most relevant to programs that train individuals from diverse ba ckgrounds who are not full-time students and programs that make community n eeds an organizational priority.