The Tennessee Department of Health workshops on use of secondary data for community health assessment, 2012.

Community health assessment is a core function of public health departments, a standard for accreditation of public health departments, and a core competency for public health professionals. The Tennessee Department of Health developed a statewide initiative to improve the processes for engaging county health departments in assessing their community's health status through the collection and analysis of secondary data. One aim of the Tennessee Department of Health was to position county public health departments as trusted leaders in providing population data and engaging community stakeholders in assessments.

The minigrant model: a strategy to promote local implementation of state cancer plans in Appalachian communities.

East Tennessee State University (ETSU) was awarded a grant through an interagency agreement between the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Appalachian Regional Commission to promote cancer control activities between state comprehensive cancer control (CCC) coalitions and local Appalachian communities. We invited representatives from CCC coalitions and Appalachian communities to a forum to develop a plan of action. The attendees recommended a minigrant model that uses a request for proposals (RFP) strategy to encourage CCC coalitions and Appalachian communities to collaboratively conduct forums and roundtables locally.

Practice locations of graduates of family physician residency and nurse practitioner programs: considerations within the context of institutional culture and curricular innovation through Titles VII and VIII.

Background: Studies have described the aggregate results of federal funding for health professions education at the national level, but analysis of the long-term impact of institutional participation in these programs has been limited.

Purpose: To describe and assess federally supported curricular innovations at East Tennessee State University designed to promote family medicine and nurse practitioner graduate interest in rural and underserved populations.

Methods: Descriptive analysis of a survey to determine practice locations of nurse practitioner graduates (1992-2002) and graduates of 3 family medicine residencies (1978-2002).