By Pamela Fuselli, President and CEO, Parachute 

While injuries are the No.1 cause of death for people in Canada ages 1 to 44, there are almost no formal training opportunities on injury prevention. Parachute is working to fill that gap, starting with our new Introduction to Injury Prevention e-learning course.

Those who currently work in the field of injury prevention are a diverse group: our backgrounds and expertise come from a wide range of disciplines. We have worked in public health or medicine; ambulance, fire and police services; education, sports, social and community services; urban and transportation planning, and more. But none of these lines of work specifically train people in effective ways to create, implement and measure injury prevention initiatives. And as injury prevention touches so many sectors, we can all benefit from a common language, and methods, to work more effectively together to address preventable injuries in Canada.

As Canada’s leader in injury prevention, one of Parachute’s strategic priorities is to be the national resource for injury prevention information and education. This includes the goal of building capacity in the field by providing education and certification opportunities for injury prevention professionals. The Introduction to Injury Prevention e-learning course is our first step toward this goal.

Parachute’s team of knowledge translation and communications experts developed our new course which is adapted, with permission, from the Injury Prevention 101 eLearning module created by Injury Matters of Western Australia. We use Canadian statistics, resources and examples throughout, and reviewed all material to assure it was relevant to the Canadian experience. 

Introduction to Injury Prevention is for those looking to become oriented to injury prevention practice in Canada, including newcomers to the field of injury prevention, those whose work intersects with injury prevention or those who are simply interested in learning more. 

By the end of the course, you will have gained:

  • a basic understanding of the issue and impact of injury in Canada
  • an understanding of the Public Health Approach to injury prevention 
  • knowledge about implementing and evaluating injury prevention interventions 

Once you are through the course materials, there is an online Certificate Test to generate a certificate of completion. This certificate acknowledges successful participation in the course for educational purposes; it doesn’t confer any professional licensing or clinical privileges.

The course, which takes around two hours to complete – more if you review all the provided additional resources – consists of nine modules:
1. Introduction to Injury Prevention
2. Introduction to injury in Canada
3. Public Health Approach to injury in Canada
4. Stage 1: Defining the issue
5. Stage 2: Identifying risk and protective factors
6. Stage 3: Selecting an intervention
7. Stage 4: Implementation
8. Stage 5: Evaluation
9. Conclusion  

The Introduction to Injury Prevention e-learning course fee is $34.99 CAD. 

In addition to the Introduction to Injury Prevention e-learning course, Parachute will be developing further educational resources for injury prevention practitioners. Upcoming courses will provide an in-depth examination of evidence-informed injury prevention for practitioners looking to enhance their knowledge and skills. 

I’m delighted this long-wished-for resource is now ready for people in Canada who want a clear, focused introduction into why need to reduce the devastating impact of injury on individuals, families, communities and our economy. Please take this opportunity to learn about proven methods and interventions we can make together to prevent injuries, and save lives.

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