[Public health competencies and contents in Spanish university degree programmes of Veterinary Medicine]

[Characteristics and contents of the Master's programs in public health in Spain]

OBJECTIVE

To compare the main academic characteristics and contents of the different master's programs in public health currently offered in Spain.

METHOD

A systematic search has been carried out in the Register of Universities, Centers and Degrees of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports. The main academic characteristics and the contents (mandatory and optional) of the programs of 11 official master's degrees with the renewed accreditation in 2018 were analyzed based on the data published on the universities' web pages.

RESULTS

Most programs are 60 ECTS (European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System), face-to-face, taught in Spanish, include in their curriculum the completion of a master's thesis but not professional practices. Only contents related to statistics and basic epidemiology, and the training activity of master's thesis, are offers by all programs.

CONCLUSIONS

The majority of public health master's programs in Spain shows a certain homogeneity regarding their academic characteristics, but a great heterogeneity in relation to their contents. There is also a great heterogeneity in the credits granted to the different subjects, especially optional subjects. It would be advisable to standardize a common core, especially in the mandatory contents.

Professional competencies and public health content in the human nutrition and dietetics degree program: A qualitative study based on experts' consensus

OBJECTIVE

To gather consensus on professional competencies and basic public health content for the degree program in Human Nutrition and Dietetics (HND).

DESIGN

In 2018, the Fifth Meeting of University Public Health Professors took place in Zaragoza (Spain). Fourteen lecturers in the HND degree program participated from 11 Spanish universities. They identified competencies and basic content for training for the HND degree using group dynamics and consensus strategies.

RESULTS

The professors identified 51 basic competencies, distributed in the areas of "evaluation of population health needs" (n = 20), "development of health policies" (n = 23), and "guaranteeing provision of health care services" (n = 8). In order to reach these competencies, 35 topics were proposed organized into six thematic blocks: foundations of public health, nutritional epidemiology, health problems and diet and nutrition strategies, food security, health in all policies and health promotion and education.

CONCLUSION

The consensus reached serves as a reference to orient and update public health education as a part of the HND degree.