Abstract
Acts of bioterrorism, such as the “anthrax letters” in 2001, exposed public health professionals to potentially high concentrations of unknown biological organisms. After an event such as the “anthrax letters,” it became apparent that public health professionals require continual training and knowledge about proper biological safety level 3 (BSL-3) practices and procedures. To assess specific content areas where training was needed, public health professionals in northeast Ohio were given an original assessment. Prior needs assessments had warranted the development of three 2-day courses based on BSL-3 practices and government regulations. These courses stimulated learning by combining open-ended questioning and hands-on exercises to promote group discussion. Testing instruments were administered before and after the courses and analyzed by paired t-test to assess improvement in participant knowledge. Five questions from this test were used as content measures to assess learning in specific content areas. Learner attitudes were assessed following course completion via survey data. Participants averaged 67.7% ± 9.2 on testing instruments prior to courses as compared to 86.0% ± 8.6, following course completion (p < 0.001). Improvement was significant (p < 0.05) in all content areas measured. Eighty-two percent of participants responded that they would change their practices based on information learned from the course. These data coupled with learner attitudes demonstrate a significant increase in participant knowledge among public health professionals and a willingness to change existing practices through the integration of new concepts.