Transcript Slide 1

The Key to a Prepared Workforce:
2006 Public Health
Lifelong Learning Conference
The Key to a Prepared Workforce
Hugh Tilson, MD, DrPH
Whaddya’ mean “KEY” …
“PREPARED”?
We regret that the program
…could not be CANCELLED!!
An Essential Public
Health Service…
Assuring a
Competent
Workforce
Essential Public Health
Services… 10? or 11?
1. Monitor
health status to identify community health problems
2. Diagnose and investigate community health problems
3. Inform, educate, and empower people about health issues
4. Mobilize community partnerships to identify health problems
5. Develop policies and plans that support health efforts
6. Enforce laws and regulations to protect health / ensure safety
7. Link people to needed personal health services
8. Assure a competent public health workforce
9. Evaluate effectiveness, accessibility, and quality of services
10. Research for new insights & solutions to health problems
11.
Prepare for and respond to disasters
GOOD Public Health
Practice = Preparedness
Three primary components of public
health infrastructure form the foundation
for a ‘pyramid of preparedness’
1. Workforce Capacity and Competency
2. Information and Data Systems
3. Organizational Capacity
Public Health Practice
Public Health
Services
Laboratory Epidemic
Surveillance Practice Investigation
Information
& Knowledge
Systems
Public
Health
Workforce
Organizational
Capacity
Why is Training Important?
Highest Educational Degrees of North Carolina's
Public Health Employees (n=5067)
Professional
Degree
2%
Doctoral Degree
1%
Master's Degree
10%
High School
28%
Bachelor's
Degree
32%
Associate
Degree
27%
Why is Training Important?
Educational
Fields in
which North
Carolina’s
Public Health
Employees
Hold Degrees
(n=3200)
Communications
0%
Agriculture/Animal Science
1%
Health Education
1%
Medicine
1%
Public
Health
Public
Health
Information Technology
2%
2%
2%
Environment and Engineering
5%
Nutrition
5%
Biology/Chemistry
5%
Education
6%
Business/Law
7%
Other Health
8%
Social Work/Psychology
8%
Other
11%
Nursing
0%
38%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
Percent of those w ith degrees
35%
40%
Training well can be difficult
in an ever-changing world
“The myriad continuing challenges facing
public health require us to continue to attend
to professional education, recruitment and
retention of staff, investment in continuing
education, and more.”
-Tilson and Gebbie
The Public Health Workforce
Ann Rev Public Health 2004
Challenges
• Defining the scope and content of work
currently done by the workforce in the field;
• Defining, classifying, and enumerating
existing and needed workforce;
• Understanding required competencies and
specifying those competencies;
Challenges
• Building programs to use these
competencies to train the workforce;
• Documenting and assuring the competency
of the workforce through efforts at formal
credentialing; and, at long last,
• Grappling with the enormous legacy of
neglect in conducting formal public health
systems research including workforce
research…
The Key to a Prepared Workforce:
2006 Public Health
Lifelong Learning Conference
THE FUTURE OF
THE PUBLIC’S
HEALTH
in the 21st Century
INSTITUTE OF MEDICINE
OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES
Committee on
Assuring the
Health of the
Public in the
21st Century
The Key to a Prepared Workforce:
2006 Public Health
Lifelong Learning Conference
WWW.NAP.EDU
THE FUTURE OF
THE PUBLIC’S
HEALTH
in the 21st Century
INSTITUTE OF MEDICINE
OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES
The National Academies
The National Academy of Sciences (1863)
The National Research Council (1916)
The National Academy of Engineering (1964)
The Institute of Medicine (1970)
IOM Report Says:
…Let’s DO it!
“The issue of workforce
training and competency is
central to the success of any
public health system.
Governmental public health
agencies have a responsibility
to identify the public health
workforce needs within their
jurisdictions and to implement
policies and programs to fill
those needs (p 119).”
The Public Health System per
IOM: The KEY - Leadership
• The components of the SYSTEM
and their roles
• The TEN Essential Services
• Core Competencies
• Public Health SYSTEM
Performance Standards
• Certification
• Accreditation
IOM Report Says:
…Let’s DO it!
Public health training programs
(like the Lifelong Learning
initiative) should assure that
education encompasses a
number of emerging content
areas critical to responding to a
world changing rapidly because
of globalization, medical and
technological advances, and
rapid demographic shifts.
National PH performance
Standards (NPHPSP)
• THREE “instruments”
• OMB
“control numbers”
• STATE
• LOCAL
• GOVERNANCE
IOM Report – a National
Catalyst for Accreditation
• Establish a “national
commission to explore
accreditation”
• Further states…
– “This (accreditation)
commission should focus
on the development of a
system that will further the
efforts of NPHPSP.”
So HOW do we do this?
• Sustain partnerships across practice & academia
• Assess the workforce regularly
(both training needs and demographics)
• Develop training plans
(individual, occupational, organizational)
• Implement training plans in agencies
• Create learning organizations of LHDs
(through policies, practice, and expectations
that prioritize training for the workforce)
• Provide competency-based training programs
• Evaluate progress & demonstrate competency
Strategic Elements for Public
Health Workforce Development
Monitor workforce
composition
Assure financial
support
Identify
competencies/
Develop curriculum
Conduct evaluation
and research
Design integrated
learning system
Use incentives to
assure competency
“It’s about the people”
“Public health workers have always been
the most important component of public
health’s infrastructure, yet attention to the
public health workforce has seldom been a
priority of policy makers, national public
health organizations, academic
institutions, or even federal, state and local
public health agencies.”
-Barney Turnock
ESSENTIAL SERVICES
ARE…ESSENTIAL!
The work is just
beginning!!
SO .. LET’S TALK…
YOUR leadership
counts!!!
Public Health is a work
in progress...
I want to hear from YOU
NOW … and always!
[email protected]
A‘ keynote’ … a new
oppor-TUNE-ity for lifelong learning
• G-minor: Gee, there are certainly some
minor problems (ahem!!) getting there
• B-flat: Be flat-out proud of what our field
and this state have already accomplished
• B-sharp: All hazards preparedness and
the “old public health” require it
• C-MAJOR!!
A‘ keynote’ … a new
oppor-TUNE-ity for lifelong learning
• I have MET the KEY
• Not “DO” OR “RE” …
• IT’S …
A‘ keynote’ … a new
oppor-TUNE-ity for lifelong learning
• I have MET the KEY
• NOT “DO” OR “RE” …
• IT’S … ME!!
Thank you!
Keep up the good work!
Three cheers for lifelong learning in public health:
Leading to better practice, stronger infrastructure,
and a well prepared workforce!!