Curriculum Asset Mapping for One Health Education

Abstract

The major premise of One Health is engagement of multiple disciplines to address shared problems spanning human, animal, and ecosystem health. The current model of academic specialization encourages development of isolated disciplines within the university setting, thereby creating barriers to resource sharing and academic collaboration. The aim of this project was to develop a systematic approach to mapping university assets that could be harnessed to advance One Health education. Asset in this context was defined as a course, program, or faculty expertise relevant to a particular One Health problem. The approach adopted comprised the following steps: (1) identify a current problem that would benefit from an integrated, interdisciplinary perspective (e.g., EIDs [emerging infectious diseases]); (2) identify individual disciplinary teaching areas pertinent to the problem (e.g., health communication, wildlife ecology); (3) identify competencies expected to be attained by graduates who will address the problem (e.g., respond to outbreaks); (4) survey faculty members on their teaching areas and curricular offerings that address these competencies; and (5) compile responses in a database that is searchable by teaching area and competency. We discuss our recent experiences mapping the assets at Tufts University that are relevant to the problem of EIDs with emphasis on zoonotic-disease surveillance, outbreak investigation, and outbreak response. Using 13 teaching areas and 16 competencies relevant to applied epidemiology, we identified and characterized previously untapped resources across the university. Asset mapping is thus a useful tool for identifying university resources and opportunities that can be leveraged to support interdisciplinary education for One Health.

One Health research and training in Australia and New Zealand

“…This presents a challenge for the development of One Health approaches in practice because it shows that training is largely presented within restricted disciplinary boundaries. A similar observation was made by Mor et al (5) who mapped the curriculum assets for One Health at Tufts University. Their study showed that the integration of assets across disciplines and the understanding of how this integration should occur were hampered by the lack of a well-defined set of desired competencies (5).…”

“…A similar observation was made by Mor et al (5) who mapped the curriculum assets for One Health at Tufts University. Their study showed that the integration of assets across disciplines and the understanding of how this integration should occur were hampered by the lack of a well-defined set of desired competencies (5). However, the type and the level of training a person requires will depend on his or her previous tertiary education.…”

“…The search for training activities was expanded to include those defined as EcoHealth and ecosystem health because they are considered by some to be interchangeable with One Health (48). Indeed, there is little difference in the descriptions of the core components of both the EcoHealth (49) and One Health approaches in terms of functional elements and thus pedagogical and curriculum requirements for training (4, 5). …”

“…This guides the selection of research and training that include two or more disciplines in animal, public, and environmental health. Training activities were also evaluated against published One Health competencies (4) and suggested curriculum elements (5). …”

One health in our backyard: Design and evaluation of an experiential learning experience for veterinary medical students

“…To be effective leaders in these areas, medical practitioners and veterinarians must have an appreciation for the interdependency of human, animal and environmental health (systems thinking) as well as the social, political, legal and cultural environments in which they work [ 9 , 10 ]. They also need to be able to assess and manage interactions between humans, animals and their environment [ 11 ] and work in multidisciplinary teams with an understanding of and appreciation for the different roles and responsibilities of various stakeholders [ 9 ].…”