walden university MPH prgram

nika1980 · Jan 17, 2009

Hello, I know that I am months late but I just saw your posting. I will be finishing my mph at Walden in May. I am doing my practicum at my local health dept. How are your classes?

hzrizen · Jan 19, 2009

Hello, I know that I am months late but I just saw your posting. I will be finishing my mph at Walden in May. I am doing my practicum at my local health dept. How are your classes?

Please tell me more about your experiences, how did you find the practicum location and how hard was it to set up? is that program and accredited public health program? (I know the school is accredited).

Thanks for your time.

nika1980 · Jan 19, 2009

Overall, the school is good and you will be doing a lot of reading and writing oh my goodness. You have to find your own practicum site which sucks.,, um yes the public health program is accredited but we don't that prestigious accredition that I think only about 15 top traditional schools have like Yale and schools like that but overall my experience is alright. However, I probably would have gone to a traditional school if I had known it was going to be this much work.. ask me more questions if need to

coolvibesRN · Jan 20, 2009

Hello, I know that I am months late but I just saw your posting. I will be finishing my mph at Walden in May. I am doing my practicum at my local health dept. How are your classes?

Hi,Nika.You are not late.I'm in my second quarter taking Biostatistics and social cultural class.The spss system for Biostatistics is a little hard on me,but i'm making it.The other classes were fine.I think in March i start epi which i don't envy at all.Congrats on making it this far.Hopefully i'll be done by May 2010.Let me know if you have any tips on making it.Thanks again for responding.Feel feel to PM me anytime.

nika1980 · Jan 20, 2009

Hi Nika,

Well, I pray that you will do well in Biostats and Epi. I have a 3.73 gpa at Walden, but I ended up getting a B in biostats and a C in Epi and all A's in all the other classes. You will make it through. I am at my internship as we speak trying to knock these hours out.

Ria21 · Jan 28, 2009

Hi I am CONFUSED!! Wondering if you can help me being that you are in the MPH program. I am just about to apply for graduate school and am considering the MSN (Community/Public Health)/MPH dual degree. I am not fond of the 12-hr Med-Surg shifts in the hospitals. I would prefer pt. education, prevention, working in a clinic. However I do want to use my clinical skills in some way. I am also very much interested in maternal/child/women's health- more on the side of education/nutrition/fitness. I am also interested in being a certified fitness specialist in order to teach/educate women about health and fitness, perhaps lecture and teach in the future. Working in a health organization is also appealing. Would this be a good field for me to consider based on what my interests are? What types of job can I get with this degree? VNS? What about the public health aspect- what's the program and internship like? Do you know what the salary's like and the job outlook? I know I asked a lot of questions, but PLEASE, any information would be GREATLY appreciated!!!!!!

nika1980 · Jan 28, 2009

I can only speak about the MPH aspect of your question. Public Health is a booming field and depending on the job you take the salary can range from 40,000-over 100,000. You can be a health educator, epidemiologist, health sanitarian, run a health department and hospital, public health nurse, statisticians and many other things. The program at Walden is challenging I have managed to keep a good gpa, the only thing that I don't like was having to find my own internship at my local health dept, that was a hard process. But, I am done in May praise the God!!! So, in retrospect I made the right decision because Walden MPH program is ranked number amongst online school according USA today. Feel free to ask me more questions

jjsrn1 · Jan 29, 2009

Please tell me more about your experiences, how did you find the practicum location and how hard was it to set up? is that program and accredited public health program? (I know the school is accredited).
Thanks for your time.

Hi Hzrizen,

No, Walden University is not a CEPH (Council on Education for Public Health) accredited school according to the Association of Schools of Public Health, which represents the accredited schools.There are 40 accredited public health programs in the U.S. with 8 additional schools on their way to becoming accredited.

For more information on accredited public health schools in the US check out: http://www.asph.org/document.cfm?page=200

The only reason I can think of to attend a CEPH accredited school is to have a peace of mind, knowing that you are getting the best public health education out there. Also, if you do not attend a CEPH accredited school you will not be eligible to take the exam to become certified in public health (CPH). http://www.publichealthexam.org/Exam.cfm

If you do not mind that your school is not accredited, then definitely go for that program at Walden. Public health is a great career! Honestly, I do not think employers check to see if the public health school you attended is accredited. Valuable experience that you can document on your CV often matters more.

MPHgirl

jjsrn1 · Jan 29, 2009

Hi I am CONFUSED!! Wondering if you can help me being that you are in the MPH program. I am just about to apply for graduate school and am considering the MSN (Community/Public Health)/MPH dual degree. I am not fond of the 12-hr Med-Surg shifts in the hospitals. I would prefer pt. education, prevention, working in a clinic. However I do want to use my clinical skills in some way. I am also very much interested in maternal/child/women's health- more on the side of education/nutrition/fitness. I am also interested in being a certified fitness specialist in order to teach/educate women about health and fitness, perhaps lecture and teach in the future. Working in a health organization is also appealing. Would this be a good field for me to consider based on what my interests are? What types of job can I get with this degree? VNS? What about the public health aspect- what's the program and internship like? Do you know what the salary's like and the job outlook? I know I asked a lot of questions, but PLEASE, any information would be GREATLY appreciated!!!!!!

MSN/MPH is a great combo!! Not only will you have clinical skills, but you will be able to work in and develop programs that are effective at preventing disease. I'm currently seeking my MSN now (got my MPH about 2 yrs ago in Community Health & Prevention) and have been told that this combination will allow greater flexibility in your career (which is perfect if you are interested in a variety of things). I currently work at a health department in the chronic disease prevention program. I enjoy working on projects that prevent chronic disease, but I am most interested in communicable disease prevention and maternal/child health --- two areas I will never be able to work in because I do not have clinical experience (at least this is the way it is at my health department). It is interesting to note that it is the MSN/MPH staff that head these programs....

The job outlook is good for public health. Always more work to be done! Starting salary for an entry-level job is typically between $35,000 - $50,000...but you can always work your way up to a higher salary. One disclaimer though: Some public health jobs are more secure than others, typically those that aren't grant-based. When your grant money runs out and if you were not able to secure additional grant money then you are basically out of a job until more money comes in. This has already happened to a couple of friends of mine from grad school. However, if you have another degree, i.e. MSN, this may not affect you as much. Also, there are some areas in the US where entry-level public health positions are more scarce compared to other areas. Just some things to keep in mind.

Overall, I'm very glad I went to school for my MPH. It is serving me well now in my current job and I expect it will serve me even better as a Family Nurse Practitioner :)

MPHgirl

Ria21 · Jan 29, 2009

from nika1980

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posts: 48 jan 27, 2009, 10:40 pm

re: walden university mph prgram

i can only speak about the mph aspect of your question. public health is a booming field and depending on the job you take the salary can range from 40,000-over 100,000. you can be a health educator, epidemiologist, health sanitarian, run a health department and hospital, public health nurse, statisticians and many other things. the program at walden is challenging i have managed to keep a good gpa, the only thing that i don't like was having to find my own internship at my local health dept, that was a hard process. but, i am done in may praise the god!!! so, in retrospect i made the right decision because walden mph program is ranked number amongst online school according usa today. feel free to ask me more questions

thanks so much! can you please tell me a little more about your internship and what it is that you do there? i am more familiar with the nursing aspect of community health but fuzzy about the public health portion...

nika1980 · Jan 29, 2009

Well basically I choose to float between different departments in the health dept. I currently work in the environmental health depart, I basically go on health inspections of restaurants and pools. I also go out with lead inspectors to test homes for lead. I get to do hands on work with the lead inspectors. We go out and take samples from homes where children had tested for high levels of lead. I also work with the health educator. Her job is to educate the community on how to prevent various health issues. Her focus is now to go out to daycare centers and school and teach parents and teachers the proper way to install a car seat in a car.