The Core Competencies for Public Health in Canada: Opportunities and Recommendations for Modernization.

Context: The 2008 Public Health Agency of Canada's (PHAC's) "Core Competencies for Public Health in Canada" (the "Canadian core competencies") outline the skills, attitudes, and knowledge essential for the practice of public health. The core competencies represent an important part of public health practice, workforce development, and education in Canada and internationally. However, the core competencies are considered outdated and are facing calls for review, expansion, and revision.

The Governance of Core Competencies for Public Health: A Rapid Review of the Literature.

Core competencies for public health (CCPH) define the knowledge, skills, and attitudes required of a public health workforce. Although numerous sets of CCPH have been established, few studies have systematically examined the governance of competency development, review, and monitoring, which is critical to their implementation and impact. This rapid review included 42 articles.

Integrating Public Health Into Undergraduate Medicine in North America: A Systematic Review.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has served as a stark reminder of the importance of foundational public health training for all physicians. However, the most effective way to incorporate these concepts into undergraduate medical education remains unclear. Here, we characterize the literature regarding the effectiveness of public health integration into undergraduate medical education in North America.

Prioritization of public health financing, organization, and workforce transformation: a Delphi study in Canada.

Background: The increased scrutiny on public health brought upon by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic provides a strong impetus for a renewal of public health systems. This paper seeks to understand priorities of public health decision-makers for reforms to public health financing, organization, interventions, and workforce.

Methods: We used an online 3-round real-time Delphi method of reaching consensus on priorities for public health systems reform.

Centralization and integration of public health systems: Perspectives of public health leaders on factors facilitating and impeding COVID-19 responses in three Canadian provinces.

The extent to which power, resources, and responsibilities for public health are centralized or decentralized within a jurisdiction and how public health functions are integrated or coordinated with health care services may shape pandemic responses. However, little is known about the impacts of centralization and integration on public health system responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. We examine how public health leaders perceive centralization and integration facilitated and impeded effective COVID-19 responses in three Canadian provinces.

"We cobble together a storyline of system performance using a diversity of things": a qualitative study of perspectives on public health performance measurement in Canada.

Background: There have been longstanding calls for public health systems transformations in many countries, including Canada. Core to these calls has been strengthening performance measurement. While advancements have been made in performance measurement for certain sectors of the health care system (primarily focused on acute and primary health care), effective use of indicators for measuring public health systems performance are lacking.

Partner notification by family physicians for sexually transmitted infections: Facilitators and barriers.

Objective: To explore Canadian FPs' experiences with, perceived barriers to, and perceived facilitators of FP-initiated partner notification (PN) for HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs), as well as to inform the development of tools that might enhance this work.

Design: Online survey.

Setting: British Columbia.

Lessons from management of syphilis in Nunavut, Canada, 2012-2020.

Background: Nunavut, part of Inuit Nunangat, is a geographically vast territory in northern Canada, with a population of over 38,000 people. Most (85%) of the population identify as Inuit. Nunavut has experienced a significant rise in heterosexual infectious syphilis cases since 2012.

Molecular Characterization and Antimicrobial Resistance in Neisseria gonorrhoeae, Nunavut Region of Inuit Nunangat, Canada, 2018-2019.

We assessed antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in Neisseria gonorrhoeae in Nunavut, Canada, using remnant gonorrhea nucleic acid amplification test-positive urine specimens. This study confirms the feasibility of conducting N. gonorrhoeae AMR surveillance and highlights the diversity of gonococcal sequence types and geographic variation of AMR patterns in the territory.

Facilitators and Barriers to Expedited Partner Therapy: Results From a Survey of Family Physicians.

Background: Expedited partner therapy (EPT) can prevent transmission of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and reinfection of the index patient. We surveyed family physicians (FPs) in British Columbia to understand their perceptions of barriers and facilitators to EPT use and explored how perceptions varied by demographic and practice characteristics.

Methods: Survey participants were recruited through the Divisions of Family Practice, which include greater than 90% of FPs in British Columbia.

Building managed primary care practice networks to deliver better clinical care: a qualitative semi-structured interview study.

Background: Primary care practices are increasingly working in larger groups. In 2009, all 36 primary care practices in the London borough of Tower Hamlets were grouped geographically into eight managed practice networks to improve the quality of care they delivered. Quantitative evaluation has shown improved clinical outcomes.