scholarly journals Public Health Workforce in Switzerland: are public health workers lacking?

2013 ◽  
Vol 58 (6) ◽  
pp. 799-800 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fred Paccaud ◽  
Alison Weihofen ◽  
Martina Frank
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Workforce ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
Public Health Workforce ◽  
Public Health Workers

Commentary: Who is Remembering Local Public Health? The Forgotten Pandemic Worker

2021 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 115-117
Author(s):  
Jodi Brookins-Fisher ◽  
Alexis Blavos ◽  
Heidi Hancher-Rauch ◽  
Amy Thompson
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Workforce ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
Public Health Workforce ◽  
Local Public Health ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Future ◽  
Public Health Workers ◽  
Health Experts

As the COVID-19 pandemic rages, there is no end in sight to the stress induced on the public health workforce. It is clear over the last 18+ months that the woeful underfunding of public health efforts across the US impacted the speed and agility with which public health experts have tackled the pandemic. This has led to the emotional decimation of public health workers who have plowed forward, even as they have worked long and stressful hours while also being politically and physically vilified. If this continues, what does the future of our public health workforce look like?

scholarly journals Public Health Workforce Burnout in the COVID-19 Response in the U.S.

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (8) ◽  
pp. 4369
Author(s):  
Kahler W. Stone ◽  
Kristina W. Kintziger ◽  
Meredith A. Jagger ◽  
Jennifer A. Horney
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Workforce ◽  
Work Experience ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
Public Health Workforce ◽  
Cross Sectional Survey ◽  
Public Health Response ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
The U.S

While the health impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on frontline health care workers have been well described, the effects of the COVID-19 response on the U.S. public health workforce, which has been impacted by the prolonged public health response to the pandemic, has not been adequately characterized. A cross-sectional survey of public health professionals was conducted to assess mental and physical health, risk and protective factors for burnout, and short- and long-term career decisions during the pandemic response. The survey was completed online using the Qualtrics survey platform. Descriptive statistics and prevalence ratios (95% confidence intervals) were calculated. Among responses received from 23 August and 11 September 2020, 66.2% of public health workers reported burnout. Those with more work experience (1–4 vs. <1 years: prevalence ratio (PR) = 1.90, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.08−3.36; 5–9 vs. <1 years: PR = 1.89, CI = 1.07−3.34) or working in academic settings (vs. practice: PR = 1.31, CI = 1.08–1.58) were most likely to report burnout. As of September 2020, 23.6% fewer respondents planned to remain in the U.S. public health workforce for three or more years compared to their retrospectively reported January 2020 plans. A large-scale public health emergency response places unsustainable burdens on an already underfunded and understaffed public health workforce. Pandemic-related burnout threatens the U.S. public health workforce’s future when many challenges related to the ongoing COVID-19 response remain unaddressed.

The Public Health Learning Network: Strengthening the Public Health Workforce of Today to Meet the Challenges of Tomorrow

2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (1_suppl) ◽  
pp. 13S-16S ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer McKeever ◽  
Dorothy Evans
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Workforce ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
Health Resources ◽  
Public Health Workforce ◽  
Years Of Life Lost ◽  
Health Training ◽  
The Public ◽  
Learning Network ◽  
Public Health Training

In 2013, the Health Resources & Services Administration redesigned the long-standing Public Health Training Center program to meet the training needs of the modern public health workforce and to implement parts of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which sets the training, recruitment, and retention of public health workers as a priority. Understanding that today’s most significant public health threats are socially constructed, resulting in chronic disease and significant years of life lost, the Health Resources & Services Administration laid the groundwork for the creation of a nationally unified network of training centers—the Public Health Learning Network (PHLN). The PHLN is the nation’s most comprehensive system of public health educators, health experts, thought leaders, and practitioners working together to advance public health training and practice. The system comprises 10 regional public health training centers, 40 local performance sites, and a National Coordinating Center for Public Health Training. The PHLN strengthens the workforce in state, local, and tribal health departments, as well as community health centers and primary care settings, to improve the capacity of a broad range of public health personnel to meet the complex public health challenges of today and tomorrow.

scholarly journals Self-Assessment in the Measurement of Public Health Workforce Preparedness for Bioterrorism or other Public Health Disasters

2005 ◽  
Vol 120 (2) ◽  
pp. 186-191 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dave S. Kerby ◽  
Michael W. Brand ◽  
David L. Johnson ◽  
Farooq S. Ghouri
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
Public Health Workforce ◽  
Self Assessment ◽  
Local Public Health ◽  
Public Health Agencies ◽  
The Public ◽  
Control And Prevention ◽  
Public Health Officials ◽  
Public Health Workers

Objective. The purpose of this study was to examine effective ways to evaluate public health workers' competence for preparedness. Methods. The Public Health Ready project, developed by the National Association of County and City Public Health Officials and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is a pilot program designed to prepare local public health agencies to respond to emergency events. Workers at a Public Health Ready site ( N=265) rated their need for training and their competence in meeting generic emergency response goals. Cluster analysis of cases was conducted on the self-assessed need for training. Results. Three groups of workers emerged, differing in their overall ratings of need for training. A given worker tended to report similar needs for training across all training goals. Conclusions. In this study, workers' ratings of need for training may reflect an overall interest in training rather than need for training in a particular area. Caution should be exercised in interpretation when generic goals and self-assessment are used to measure need for training. Future assessments of training needs may be more effective if they use objective measures of specific local plans.

scholarly journals The Design of a Master of Public Health Professional Development Course During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Application of the Salmon Model

2021 ◽  
pp. 237337992110214
Author(s):  
Ann Kuganathan ◽  
Mackenzie Slifierz ◽  
Laura N. Anderson ◽  
Elizabeth Alvarez ◽  
Emma Apatu
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Professional Development ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
Student Feedback ◽  
Public Health Workforce ◽  
Online Course ◽  
Teaching Online ◽  
Master Of Public Health ◽  
Health Course ◽  
Public Health Workers

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has highlighted the need for well-trained public health workers to interpret evidence, make informed decisions, and disseminate information to the general public. As public health courses in Ontario universities have moved online due to this pandemic, instructors were required to simulate their teaching online while maintaining student engagement. Previous research has shown that there is a lack of description for the development of online public health courses. As such, the objective of this article is to outline the development and layout of a Professional Development Studio course offered in the Masters of Public Health program at McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario. We use the Salmon model, previously described by Salmon and colleagues in 2013, to form the course outline. The Salmon model provides a five-stage framework for the development of a concise, engaging, and impactful online course. Based on student feedback, we found that the Salmon model positively shaped the development of the course by aiding the formulation of a course layout that was easily accessible, discussion threads to communicate in an inclusive and safe space, and relevant assessments requiring the use of tools to make judgments and appropriately disseminate information publicly. We conclude that the Salmon model is a helpful framework to use in developing an engaging online public health course. Further assessments based on student feedback should be completed to continually evolve the online course to better tailor the needs and interests of public health students preparing them for the public health workforce.

scholarly journals Building a new platform to support public health emergency response in Africa: the AFENET Corps of Disease Detectives, 2018–2019

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (10) ◽  
pp. e002874
Author(s):  
Ben Masiira ◽  
Simon N Antara ◽  
Herbert B Kazoora ◽  
Olivia Namusisi ◽  
Notion T Gombe ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Workforce ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
Rapid Response Team ◽  
Public Health Emergency ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Public Health Workforce ◽  
Health Security ◽  
Field Epidemiology ◽  
Sub Saharan

Public health emergency (PHE) response in sub-Saharan Africa is constrained by inadequate skilled public health workforce and underfunding. Since 2005, the African Field Epidemiology Network (AFENET) has been supporting field epidemiology capacity development and innovative strategies are required to use this workforce. In 2018, AFENET launched a continental rapid response team: the AFENET Corps of Disease Detectives (ACoDD). ACoDD comprises field epidemiology graduates and residents and was established to support PHE response. Since 2018, AFENET has deployed the ACoDD to support response to several PHEs. The main challenges faced during ACoDD deployments were financing of operations, ACoDD safety and security, resistance to interventions and distrust of the responders by some communities. Our experience during these deployments showed that it was feasible to mobilise and deploy ACoDD within 48 hours. However, the sustainability of deployments will depend on establishing strong linkages with the employers of ACoDD members. PHEs are effectively controlled when there is a fast deployment and strong linkages between the stakeholders. There are ongoing efforts to strengthen PHE preparedness and response in sub-Saharan Africa. ACoDD members are a competent workforce that can effectively augment PHE response. ACoDD teams mentored front-line health workers and community health workers who are critical in PHE response. Public health emergence response in sub-Saharan Africa is constrained by inadequacies in a skilled workforce and underfunding. ACoDD can be utilised to overcome the challenges of accessing a skilled public health workforce. To improve health security in sub-Saharan Africa, more financing of PHE response is needed.

scholarly journals No Two Workforces Are the Same: A Systematic Review of Enumerations and Definitions of Public Health Workforces

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rory D. Watts ◽  
Devin C. Bowles ◽  
Eli Ryan ◽  
Colleen Fisher ◽  
Ian W. Li
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Systematic Review ◽  
Health Workforce ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
The United States ◽  
International Standards ◽  
Public Health Workforce ◽  
The Public ◽  
Data Alignment ◽  
Public Health Functions

The delivery and coordination of public health functions is essential to national and global health, however, there are considerable problems in defining the people who work in public health, as well as estimating their number. Therefore, the aim of this systematic review was to identify and explore research which has defined and enumerated public health workforces. In particular, how were such workforces defined? Who was included in these workforces? And how did researchers make judgments about the size of a workforce? In this systematic review, we identified 82 publications which enumerated a public health workforce between 2000 and November 2018. Most workforce definitions were unique and study-specific and included workers based on their occupation or their place of work. Common occupations included public health nurses and physicians, epidemiologists, and community health workers. National workforces varied by size, with the United States and Switzerland having the largest public health workforces per-capita, although definitions used varied substantially. Normative assessments (e.g., assessments of ideal workforce size) were informed through opinion, benchmarks or “service-target” models. There are very few regular, consistent enumerations within countries, and fewer still which capture a substantial proportion of the public heath workforce. Assessing the size of the public health workforce is often overlooked and would be aided by fit-for-purpose data, alignment of occupations and functions to international standards, and transparency in normative methods.

scholarly journals Looking for professional identity of public health workers in Poland

2018 ◽  
Vol 128 (4) ◽  
pp. 139-143
Author(s):  
Dorota Cianciara ◽  
Larysa Sugay ◽  
Anna Rutyna ◽  
Ewa Urban ◽  
Maria Piotrowicz ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Professional Identity ◽  
Health Worker ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
Core Competencies ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Public Health Workforce ◽  
Public Health Services ◽  
Public Health Worker ◽  
Public Health Workers

Abstract Introduction. Public health is a specific field, which deals with an improvement of population health. It is an interdisciplinary and intersectoral activity and requires participation of various workers. All current documents and acts in public health field in Poland emphasize on the performance of specific tasks, but leave aside personal status and competencies. Many aspects were not resolved till now, e.g. which domains should be included in public health workforce, the problem of workforce enumeration: how large this group should be and what competencies should have. Aim. The aim of the study was an attempt to indicate some professional identity components for public health workers. Material and methods. The study was performed applying the semi-structured interviews method using a hermeneutic approach. The informants were a purposeful sample of 12 people who obtained the master’s degree in public health and already took up professional work and graduated from two universities. The basic research question was: how do interviewees perceive the public health worker? Results. All respondents, regardless of the place of work, perceived themselves as public health workers and presumably as specialists. Attempts to describe a public health worker led to non-specific and generalized statements. There were no answers revealed to the responsibility issue for effects of work among interviews. Respondents tended to characterize public health worker competencies vertically, by domain categories, not functionally, by public health services, so the issue of key competencies importance for identity is controversial. Conclusions. There are no strong evidences that particular workplaces or core competencies are related to professional identity of public health workers. Universities have an important role in professionalization of such workers.

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