Advice for Health Departments-2

Local Implementation of the LEAP Program – Advice for Health Departments

About the LEAP Fellowship

In-fellowship activities – After a local LEAP program has been developed with your partner academic ID program, there are still actions that can maximize the utility of having a LEAP fellow. The following are recommendations that former LEAP fellows and health departments have made to that effect.

• Weekly fellow/mentor meetings – A weekly meeting between the LEAP fellow and their health department mentor is very useful. It can be a brief check-in (15-30 minutes is often sufficient), but ideally this meeting should be in person whenever possible. In the past, this has allowed fellows to be pulled into emergent situations and activities. Below are topics that past fellows have noted that were helpful to discuss at each meeting.

○ Debrief of recent LEAP fellow HD activities – LEAP fellows found it useful to discuss recent HD activities with their mentors and ask questions about aspects that they were unclear about or not familiar with.

○ Discussion of any new opportunities for involvement – HDs frequently had new issues occur over the course of the fellowship year that were unplanned, such as novel pathogens, local/regional outbreaks or shifting surveillance priorities. The most notable example of this in past LEAP classes was the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and the need for significant conversation between the HD and clinical facilities. In this situation, LEAP fellows were able to act as “clinical translators” for HD concerns and strategically pivoted their activities and even their LEAP project plans. Regular discussion of new potential opportunities for fellow involvement maximizes the chances that fellows get opportunities to engage in unique HD experiences. Simultaneously, this maximizes the benefits that the LEAP fellow can provide to the HD.

○ Discussion of any unique crises/challenges – As noted above, health departments often have unique issues arise. Regular discussion of these issues can allow for identification of areas where the LEAP fellow can be involved or provide assistance.

• In-person fellow placement – Identifying regularly scheduled times where a fellow could physically be present at the HD and attend key meetings has been extremely useful in allowing fellows to get engaged in activities that are not widely known about or planned.

• Shadowing sessions with key staff – Every LEAP fellow should have an opportunity to shadow certain key personnel at a health department. On starting their LEAP fellowship year, at least one to two days of shadowing with the health department’s epidemiologic specialists, antimicrobial stewards, medical director and HAI coordinator are recommended to allow them to better understand what is involved in these key roles.

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