Glossary entry

French term or phrase:

médecin inspecteur de Santé publique

English translation:

Public Health Medical Inspector

Added to glossary by John Holland
Dec 14, 2012 11:24
11 yrs ago
10 viewers *
French term

médecin inspecteur de Santé publique

French to English Medical Medical (general) job title
From a CV. The only context is that she became one by going to the Ecole des hautes etudes en sante publique...
Change log

Dec 29, 2012 10:17: John Holland Created KOG entry

Discussion

B D Finch Dec 14, 2012:
@gallagy2 & John A public health doctor is not a GP and, as you will see from my reference, they are transferring to work for local authorities in England and Wales. The "Chief Medical Officer" in Britain is the senior adviser to the government on medical matters - not a supervisory role. Environmental health officers ("officers", not "officials") are not doctors and are employed by local authorities. The move in the UK for public health doctors to work for local authorities too, is likely to enable them to work more closely with EHOs. It seems as though the French system associates the two functions.

Also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medical_Officer_for_Health, which makes it clear that a Medical Officer for Health is an adviser on policy at local and regional government level, not an inspector.
Yvonne Gallagher Dec 14, 2012:
Hi John, sorry, I misunderstood what you were saying. My point is that it would seem to me that a Medical Officer for Health has a very similar role and that "public health doctor" (for me anyway) conjures up a different notion entirely in English (=a GP working in the health service). As you said, the inspection is not done by them either but by Environmental health officials. It's problematic but in any case the French title needs to be retained//OOps yeah the "public health doctor" was BDF. I just think I'd drop the "Public Health" bit anyway
John Holland Dec 14, 2012:
@gallagy2 Just to clarify, I didn't mean to suggest that a Chief Medical Officer was merely supervisory. What I meant is that it's a position with more seniority (at least from what I understand from your links).

Here's what the relevant Decret says (see: http://ur1.ca/c1puj , TITRE Ier : Article 1):

"I. - Les médecins inspecteurs de santé publique forment un corps de fonctionnaires de l’Etat classé dans la catégorie A prévue à l’article 29 de la loi du 11 janvier 1984 susvisée.
Ce corps comprend les grades de médecin général de santé publique, de médecin inspecteur en chef de santé publique et de médecin inspecteur de santé publique.
Le grade de médecin général de santé publique comprend trois échelons.
Le grade de médecin inspecteur en chef de santé publique comprend sept échelons.
Le grade de médecin inspecteur de santé publique comprend neuf échelons."

I believe a "Chief Medical Officer" would be more like a "médecin général de santé publique" or a "médecin inspecteur en chef de santé publique."

It's true that after a certain point, it's difficult to find an exact correlation. But is there a reason not to use the translation provided by the school's website?

Proposed translations

+2
38 mins
Selected

Public Health Medical Inspector

That's what the degree program is called on the English version of the website of the École des hautes études en santé publique:
http://www.ehesp.fr/formation/formations-fonction-publique/m...

Also see: https://duckduckgo.com/?q="Public Health Medical Inspector"

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Note added at 2 hrs (2012-12-14 13:34:33 GMT)
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@ B D Finch

I think the issue is that in Anglophone countries, public health inspectors are not required to be medical doctors, whereas in France they are (certainly for the degree program in question).

In the UK, "Public Health Inspectors" are now called "Environmental Health Officers," and this is what they do (from: https://nationalcareersservice.direct.gov.uk/advice/planning... ):
"As an environmental health officer or practitioner (EHO or EHP), you could deal with a wide range of issues including:
food safety
environmental protection
pollution control
noise control
health and safety at work
waste management
housing standards."
From the same site, the degree prerequisite is "an environmental health degree (BSc) or postgraduate degree (MSc) approved by the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH)" plus plus on-the-job training plus exams.
Also see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_health_inspector

In the USA, a "public health inspector" is a lower-level position, requiring a B.A. if not an Associates (two-year, junior college degree). See: http://education-portal.com/articles/How_to_Become_a_Public_... . The next, more administrative level is "environmental health professional," which is similar to the UK role in terms of duties and training. See: http://www.bestpublichealthschools.org/how-to/how-to-become-...

Now, the "Médecin inspecteur de santé publique" or "Public Health Medical Inspector" deals with the same kind of issues:
"Métier
Statut : cadre de catégorie A

Le médecin inspecteur de santé publique exerce dans les services du ministre chargé de la santé :
agences régionales de santé (siège ou délégations territoriales de santé)
administration centrale

Ses fonctions sont variées :
conception, mise en œuvre, exécution, évaluation et contrôle de la politique de santé publique
organisation du système de soins
mise en œuvre de programmes de prévention et de promotion de la santé
rôle de veille et de sécurité sanitaire
formation et recherche en santé publique

Le médecin inspecteur de santé publique est amené à exercer aussi bien des missions techniques spécialisées comme la surveillance épidémiologique ou la prévention et la gestion de crises sanitaires que du management, de la conduite de projet ou programmes de recherche."
That's from the site of the program in question at the EHESP: http://www.ehesp.fr/formation/formations-fonction-publique/m...
It's an administrative position. I think it's comparable to the Master's level studies in the UK, such as: http://www.ehcareers.org/where_what/msc_content.html

But, and (at long last!) here's the point, to enroll in this program in France, one must first be a medical doctor. From the program's site (at http://www.ehesp.fr/formation/formations-fonction-publique/m... ):
"Conditions d’accès
Concours interne

Il est ouvert aux médecins fonctionnaires et agents de l’Etat, des collectivités territoriales et des établissements publics qui en dépendent ainsi qu’aux médecins en fonctions dans une organisation internationale intergouvernementale, justifiant au moins 3 années d’expérience.

Le candidat doit, en outre, être titulaire d’un des diplômes suivants :

diplôme d’études spécialisées de santé communautaire et médecine sociale,
diplôme d’études spécialisées de santé publique et médecine sociale,
certificat d’études spéciales de santé publique,
diplôme, certificat ou autre titre qui permettant l’inscription sur la liste de la spécialité de santé publique et médecine sociale par application du règlement de qualification des médecins.

Concours externe

Il s’adresse aux médecins titulaires d’un diplôme exigé pour l’exercice de la profession de médecin et de l’un des diplômes suivants :

diplôme d’études spécialisées de santé communautaire et médecine sociale,
diplôme d’études spécialisées de santé publique et médecine sociale,
certificat d’études spéciales de santé publique,
diplôme, certificat ou autre titre qui permettant l’inscription sur la liste de la spécialité de santé publique et médecine sociale par application du règlement de qualification des médecins."
Also see:
http://www.sante.gouv.fr/medecin-inspecteur-de-sante-publiqu...
http://www.sante.gouv.fr/medecin-inspecteur-de-sante-publiqu...

Since the position is different - since to my knowledge there is no public health administration post requiring an M.D. as a prerequisite in the Anglophone world - then it would follow that it is not possible to use a job title that exists in English since the job requirements are different. Both "public health inspector" and "medical" are needed.
Note from asker:
Thank you. For my context, it's important to show she's a qualified doctor. Less important, I think, to use a job title that actually exists in English. So your suggestion looks good. I'll give it a bit longer before closing though.
Peer comment(s):

agree B D Finch : Can you give any non-translated, English language sources for that title? Given writeaway's comment on my own answer, yours does at least specify what the person involved does and, if there isn't a precise English equivalent, I'd agree with it.
4 mins
Thanks, B D Finch. I'm also wondering if there is a reason not use the translation provided on the EHESP's own website...
agree cc in nyc : (French) Public Health Medical Inspector
3 hrs
Thanks, cc in nyc
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4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Selected automatically based on peer agreement."
38 mins

public health doctor

careers.bmj.com/careers/advice/view-article.html?id=20007384
"Public health doctors who will transfer to local authorities once councils take over responsibility for public health in April 2013 will be allowed to stay in the NHS ..."

www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvn3wiHb81E
"A public health doctor takes the perspective of health from a population level rather than individual cases and ... "

NB. Not a Doctor of Public Health, who is not a "médecin".
Note from asker:
I started with 'public health physician' but decided I wasn't happy that readers would understand the inspector part was included.
Peer comment(s):

neutral writeaway : so all public health doctors are inspectors?
59 mins
Good point, presumably some of them do work in labs etc.
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41 mins

Public health inspector

I think you can put "Public Health Inspector" even though the title in English does not state "medical doctor" - in my mind, this goes without saying.
Peer comment(s):

neutral B D Finch : In the UK, at least, they are NOT doctors! See http://www.healthunit.org/jobs/careers/phi_description.htm. That ref is, of course Canadian, because the old Public Health Inspectors in the UK became Environmental Health Officers.
3 mins
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3 hrs

Medical Officer for Health (and Inspections)

yes, I agree that an exact equivalent does not exist (as is so often the case) as John is right about the Environmental health Officer making the inspections. So I think this might be the closest in terms of seniority of position and educational background required. See here for requirements which are similar to the French ones

http://www.opm.gov/qualifications/standards/IORs/gs0600/0602...

and various Medical Officer of Health NZ/Canada/UK ..seems to be international term

https://www.healthed.govt.nz/resource-table/table-medical-of...

http://www.health.alberta.ca/about/chief-medical-officer.htm...










http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medical_Officer_for_Health





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Note added at 3 hrs (2012-12-14 15:05:02 GMT)
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you can tag on the (for Inspections) or make it clear elsewhere that they are also responsible for inspections in France

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Note added at 3 hrs (2012-12-14 15:06:02 GMT)
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of/for Health both used
as is

Health Medical Officer

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Note added at 4 hrs (2012-12-14 15:59:01 GMT)
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Chief Medical Officer might work better for UK

This report abstract points to the lack of harmonisation of roles

http://researchonline.lshtm.ac.uk/1572/

"... there is no universally agreed role for a CMO. This article describes the findings of a study, based on interviews with key informants and documentary analysis that sought to describe their diverse roles. ... Four broad categories of countries were identified: those whose CMO is the most senior doctor in the health ministry, in some cases with responsibility spanning all of government; where they are head of a division within the health ministry; head of a separate body such as a national board of health; and countries where no single individual can be identified. Although the diversity of health systems means that these roles cannot be harmonised, there is scope to explore what can be learnt from the different approaches."

whereas here are some of the functions of an MOH in Canada

http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fniah-spnia/pubs/finance/_agree-accor...

The functions of the MOH generally include the following:

responsibility for communicable disease control;
working with other stakeholders to assess environmental health concerns and to intervene as necessary;
providing leadership in emergency situations where there is a potentially negative impact on public health;
overseeing health surveillance activities;
undertaking in-depth epidemiological studies where necessary;
acting as consultant on health promotion and disease prevention;
developing, recommending and implementing public policies in support of improved health;
managing programs, including planning, implementation and evaluation;
education of other health care providers.

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Note added at 4 hrs (2012-12-14 16:07:25 GMT)
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I am assuming you are keeping the French title and putting an explanation in brackets?
Peer comment(s):

neutral John Holland : It's close, but I think that a "cadre de catégorie A" is a lower-lever post. See: http://ur1.ca/c1o9x . Please see my comment in the discussion section.
26 mins
not necessarily, roles may differ across countries
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