My practicum placement at the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) is now halfway completed and I can’t believe how quickly the time has gone. Within PHAC, I work in the National Microbiology Laboratory (NML) in the Public Health Risk Sciences division. The focus of my project is to complete a scoping literature review on a mosquito-borne disease. I have already completed several stages of the review such as drafting a protocol, completing the literature search, and screening the identified documents for relevance. Currently, I am in the data characterization stage of my project.

My typical day involves reading publications that have been screened into the review, inputting the relevant information into my data characterization tool, and resolving any “conflicts” that arise with my screening partner. “Conflicts” are when the data I have put into the form does not match the data that my partner has put in. Although this seems like a simple task, this is actually the part that takes the longest and can be the most tedious step of the data characterization.

Working at PHAC has been a great opportunity in many ways. Firstly, I am thoroughly enjoying the project that I am working on and have learned so many skills related to knowledge synthesis research. As well, my office has given me the opportunity to meet other students and coworkers with whom I share similar interests. The Federal Public Service does an excellent job of engaging the students that work in the organization over the summer and I have had the chance to learn about the work being completed in all areas of PHAC and in other departments. Attending educational sessions such as biweekly lab rounds and the PHACtually speaking seminars has become a frequent part of my routine. Overall, I am learning a great deal from my practicum placement and I look forward to the second half of the placement that is still to come!