CPH - Certified in Public Health?

[ingemar]

Anybody doing this and challenging the exam? Is there a point?

Here's the link:

http://www.publichealthexam.org

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[ingemar]

Has nobody heard about this exam?

 

[erikalindsay]

We've (everyone in my program) all been told that the exam is worthless, but that we can take it if we want. No employers are currently requiring the exam and it doesn't seem that it'll be necessary, either. Apparently there are tight restrictions on who is allowed to take the exam, as well, which will leave out many current MPH degree holders. I personally do not plan on taking it.

 

[briy61]

Call me crazy, but if you put yourself through the rigors of any accredited MPH degree program, in which you have presumably taken multiple exams, written multiple papers, worked on multiple projects, gained experience via curriculum-required internships, and (lastly) earned a Masters in Public Health degree...why on earth would you feel compelled to take yet another exam that says you are "certified" in public health. Surely, the fact that you've earned a Masters degree in Public Health is certification enough, no?

I'm not trying to be an a$$hole. Maybe I'm wrong. But it seems ridiculous.

 

[ingemar]

That argument makes sense, but I think what they're trying to do is ensure a standard base of knowledge for all graduates of MPH programs (and that seems like a very MPH-like thing to do, eh?) You'd think that individual schools assure this in the granting of the MPH degree, but it sounds like they're moving towards licensure, much like MD's and other health care professionals have. Now right now, getting licensed (or certified) in public health seems a little ridiculous, because everyone can practice public health, with or without an MPH or certification, and certification brings you no benefits. Nevertheless, maybe in the future this will be a standard thing to do, and I'll regret not doing it while the material is fresh in my mind.

 

[Nell1217]

They are telling us to do what we want, but you are right, the material is fresh and one day they may require it. I would hate to have to take the exam after I've been out of school. We have to take a comprehensive exam in our last semester. We get 2 chances to take it and if we dont pass, we dont graduate. So I will probably take the exam b/c I'm already studying for our school's comprehensive one.

 

[briy61]

I see your point(s), but logistically, it seems enormously impractical to require practitioners of public health to be certified or licensed.

a) you would have to somehow define what it means to practice public health, which is a nebulous field anyway (hence, the need to pick a concentration).

b) assuming a) happens (scope of practice of public health is defined), it's not as though it could be realistically or, more importantly, fairly enforced. This is because the practice of public health spans so many industry sectors, skill sets, and individual core competencies.

c) is a standard base of knowledge not achieved via the MPH program itself? What does this say about the MPH degree. In effect, a new level of certification says that the degree is insufficient.

 

[shraf]

I think the reason this was created was to either try and weed out the MPH programs that are not accredited or to force them to change their curriculum to get accredited by eventually trying to get employers to require it of new graduates. Its an attempt to unify the MPH degree which may or may not work. I still have a year until i have to worry about whether or not to take it but I think in the end I probably will....at the least it can't hurt.

 

[sickan85]

I went to a presentation at my school a couple days ago about the exam. The presenter made the argument that everyone else in an academic health center needs to be credentialed (dentists, physicians, pharmacists), so we should too. This logic doesn't make sense since they all deal directly with patients, while we deal with populations. He also talked about how this exam might end up being similar to CHES (Certified Health Education Specialist) - which is getting to a point where jobs are now requiring certification. The only problem is that NOBODY has heard about this exam. Very few public health students know about, let alone employers. So, it would take a while to get to a point where this is a valued certificate.

They want you to pay $400 to take this exam. This first time around, they aren't even sure how well the test questions will be written. So, they may give you a "special" certificate - one that's labeled "inaugural" or something similar, so as to differential between the first time takers, and those that took the later, better standardized tests. In addition, your coursework may not have covered everything that's being tested. The curriculum person at my school (an accredited school) said that they haven't decided if they will teach everything on the test, or just tell us which parts of the test haven't been taught to us. You'll have to re-credential at some point - but they haven't decided on when or how.

The overwhelming attitude among students that went to this meeting was that it really isn't worth your time. You're getting a degree from an accredited school, and that alone should be worth something. If anything, maybe this will be a good thing to take once it gets more established in a couple years (or maybe it'll just fade out).

 

[snoofle]

I asked my Tulane advisor about this test and she said that their program was moving towards their students taking this rather than doing a thesis, b/c as shraf said, it is meant to distinguish graduates from accredited programs from those who attend unaccredited ones. so she suggested students take it as soon as they graduate when the material is fresh

 

[Bobblehead]

I'd take it if they paid me $400 to be a guinea pig for their first test so they may collect data from the testing session.

They also want you to get on the treadmill and re-certify every 10 years creating an income stream for the rest of your working life for them.

 

[1234…[email protected]]

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