Clinical public health: harnessing the best of both worlds in sickness and in health

Abstract

Introduction Effective, sustained collaboration between clinical and public health professionals can lead to improved individual and population health. The concept of clinical public health promotes collaboration between clinical medicine and public health to address complex, real­world health challenges. In this commentary, we describe the concept of clinical public health, the types of complex problems that require collaboration between individual and population health, and the barriers towards and applications of clinical public health that have become evident during the COVID­19 pandemic. Rationale The focus of clinical medicine on the health of individuals and the aims of public health to promote and protect the health of populations are complementary. Interdisciplinary collaborations at both levels of health interventions are needed to address complex health problems. However, there is a need to address the disciplinary, cultural and financial barriers to achieving greater and sustained collaboration. Recent successes, particularly during the COVID­19 pandemic, provide a model for such collaboration between clinicians and public health practitioners Conclusion A public health approach that fosters ongoing collaboration between clinical and public health professionals in the face of complex health threats will have greater impact than the sum of the parts.

Letter to the Editor - What we need is a political-economic public health

“…I fully agree with Choi et al 1 that ongoing, interdisciplinary collaboration is needed to address complex health problems and improve health for all. However, "clinical public health" as described in this commentary is not going to achieve this.…”

“…4 All of this is theoretically consistent with a broad version of public health, long defined as the art and science of preventing disease and promoting health through organized efforts of society. Although Choi et al 1 don't define public health in their commentary, it is clear that they adopt a narrow version of public health as an arm of the health care/medical system focussed primarily on service delivery and surveillance. Unfortunately, it is this narrow version of public health, which has been building for decades, 5 that we have seen during the COVID-19 pandemic, to the detriment of population health and health equity.…”

Public health surveillance and the data, information, knowledge, intelligence and wisdom paradigm

“…Also, to modernize the definition of surveillance it will be necessary to look into the connections between health domains and different interactions among all living and non-living things. One example is intersectoral collaboration, such as collaboration between public health and clinical medicine (27). There are so many intersectoral issues that arise from public health issues.…”

Trauma-Informed Approaches and Community Engagement: Community Engaged Research (CEnR) and Programming for Public Health and Health Inequities

“…Public health efforts often take a community-or population-level approach to address recognized health and safety concerns, and are often designed to complement individualized clinical and social/human services. 5,6 Trauma is a recognized public health issue 7 that has largely been addressed through the study of traumatic stress and other individual health responses to trauma, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Traumatic events drain resources in minoritized and socioeconomically disadvantaged settings.…”