Certified in public health program: credentialing public health leaders

2016 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Allison Foster

Purpose – Unlike other health professions, there has historically been no licensing, registration, or certification of public health practitioners to demonstrate their qualification to the public and employers. The purpose of this paper is to outline the rationale for developing public health workforce certification, describes the certification process developed by the National Board of Public Health Examiners (NBPHE), and explains how it is affecting public health education and practice. Design/methodology/approach – This paper is a narrative review from records of NBPHE. Findings – The Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health commissioned a formal study of health worker credentialing in 1989 and created a task force in 1999 to determine the need for public health credentialing. Based on input from public health leaders and stakeholders, the NBPHE was formed in 2005 to offer the Certified in Public Health (CPH) examination. The first CPH examination was administered in 2008. Uptake of the CPH was strong the first year (693 examinees), dropped by nearly half (369 examinees) in the second year, and then increased each year through 2015. Part of the increase may be due to eligibility revisions for taking the CPH examination. Eligibility for taking the CPH examination was revised in 2010 to include graduate students in public health and in 2015 to include candidates with a bachelor degree from any field and at least five years of work experience in public health. The NBPHE is piloting open professional eligibility for candidates with no formal education in public health and at least five year’s public health work experience. Schools and programs of public health accredited by the Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH) view the CPH examination as a useful tool in curriculum assessment and improvement and for maintaining CEPH accreditation. Several schools and programs of public health have begun requiring all graduate students to take the CPH examination. The CPH credential is also increasingly being used as a hiring factor among employers. Originality/value – NBPHE’s CPH credential is unique in the world. Foreign students graduating with American public health degrees have been taking the exam before returning to leadership roles in their own country. The CPH program described can serve as a model for other nations.

2007 ◽  
Vol 122 (4) ◽  
pp. 435-440 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristine Gebbie ◽  
Bernard D. Goldstein ◽  
David I. Gregorio ◽  
Walter Tsou ◽  
Patricia Buffler ◽  
...  

The National Board of Public Health Examiners (NBPHE, the Board) is the result of many years of intense discussion about the importance of credentialing within the public health community. The Board is scheduled to begin credentialing graduates of programs and schools of public health accredited by the Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH) in 2008. Among the many activities currently underway to improve public health practice, the Board views credentialing as one pathway to heighten recognition of public health professionals and increase the overall effectiveness of public health practice. The process underway includes developing, preparing, administering, and evaluating a voluntary certification examination that tests whether graduates of CEPH-accredited schools and programs have mastered the core knowledge and skills relevant to contemporary public health practice. This credentialing initiative is occurring at a time of heightened interest in public health education, and an anticipated rapid turnover in the public health workforce. It is fully anticipated that active discussion about the credentialing process will continue as the Board considers the many aspects of this professional transition. The Board wishes to encourage these discussions and welcomes input on any aspects relating to implementation of the credentialing process.


Author(s):  
Kahler W. Stone ◽  
Kristina W. Kintziger ◽  
Meredith A. Jagger ◽  
Jennifer A. Horney

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.


2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (Supplement_4) ◽  
Author(s):  
M Perkiö ◽  
R Harrison ◽  
M Grivna ◽  
D Tao ◽  
C Evashwich

Abstract Education is a key to creating solidary among the professionals who advance public health’s interdisciplinary mission. Our assumption is that if all those who work in public health shared core knowledge and the skills for interdisciplinary interaction, collaboration across disciplines, venues, and countries would be facilitated. Evaluation of education is an essential element of pedagogy to ensure quality and consistency across boundaries, as articulated by the UNESCO education standards. Our study examined the evaluation studies done by programs that educate public health professionals. We searched the peer reviewed literature published in English between 2000-2017 pertaining to the education of the public health workforce at a degree-granting level. The 2442 articles found covered ten health professions disciplines and had lead authors representing all continents. Only 86 articles focused on evaluation. The majority of the papers examined either a single course, a discipline-specific curriculum or a teaching method. No consistent methodologies could be discerned. Methods ranged from sophisticated regression analyses and trends tracked over time to descriptions of focus groups and interviews of small samples. We found that evaluations were primarily discipline-specific, lacked rigorous methodology in many instances, and that relatively few examined competencies or career expectations. The public health workforce enjoys a diversity of disciplines but must be able to come together to share diverse knowledge and skills. Evaluation is critical to achieving a workforce that is well trained in the competencies pertinent to collaboration. This study informs the pedagogical challenges that must be confronted going forward, starting with a commitment to shared core competencies and to consistent and rigorous evaluation of the education related to training public health professionals. Key messages Rigorous evaluation is not sufficiently used to enhance the quality of public health education. More frequent use of rigorous evaluation in public health education would enhance the quality of public health workforce, and enable cross-disciplinary and international collaboration for solidarity.


1956 ◽  
Vol 40 (3) ◽  
pp. 159-163 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard P. Barthol ◽  
Barbara A. Kirk

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
F Tahzib

Abstract Background Public health practitioners regularly face moral dilemmas in their daily practice but they are not well prepared to deal with them. Yet, from an ethics perspective, educational programmes are often inadequate. Rather, there is a need to better understand public health ethical competencies and to develop education and training in public health ethics (PHE). Objectives This presentation will share findings and learning from an ESRC funded research by the UK Faculty of Public Health in collaboration with the Universities of Southampton and Bristol around the nature of competency in PHE and law. Our leading question is: What are the key ethical and legal knowledge, skills, values and attitudes necessary for PHE and law as a professional competency of the public health workforce (PHW)? Results We created a working list of what the competencies should look like based on the material from the competency library, comments from a panel of practitioners, experts which we convened, and own analysis that reflects subject matter knowledge, expressed skill development requirements and personal work experience. These were organized within five areas which: (i) Awareness and Understanding, (ii) Engagement and Research, (iii) Analysis and Reasoning, (iv) Evaluation and Reflection and (v) Action and Advocacy. The five areas and various issues which they cover will be described, as well as reflection and learning from some key activities and initiatives in building competency and capacity. Conclusions There is need to appreciate the nature of competency of PHE and build capacity and competency of the PHW through education and training programmes as key element of public health training curricula. Key messages There are distinguishing features in teaching, learning and practice of PHE compared to clinical ethics. To implement PHE competencies into practice and in public health curricula requires better understanding of practice and the political mandate of public health.


2021 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cath Conn ◽  
Shoba Nayar ◽  
Margaret Hinepo Williams ◽  
Radilaite Cammock

Key drivers of change in the 21st century—pandemic, technology advance, social disparity—are shaping the public health industry, including employment and education. In 2020, COVID-19 brought rapid change to the teaching of public health in higher education. In this reflective essay, we move beyond the delivery of existing curricula shifting from classroom to online, and consider the greater agenda of a transformative educational paradigm. This is broadly conceptualized as a shift from a “factory model education” to one of “personalized learning” with an emphasis on fostering creativity and heutagogical (student-driven) models, underpinned by technology, and real world application involving problem and project-based learning in a changing industry. Such change has stemmed both from the impact of COVID-19 on the education system, and in response to a more momentous transformation in public health careers and societal expectations of a public health workforce.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Megan Humburg ◽  
Verily Tan ◽  
Adam V. Maltese ◽  
Amber Simpson ◽  
Joshua A. Danish

Purpose This study aims to understand how graduate students in a maker education course discuss beliefs about making and implement these beliefs as pedagogy in their curricular designs. Design/methodology/approach Interview transcripts from seven students were analyzed thematically for conceptions of making and learning. Lesson plans were also coded for elements of making, and the authors compared students’ articulated ideas about making with the practical implementation of making in their designs. Findings Students reflected on the nature of making and the possible benefits and tensions surrounding the use of making for learning. Multiple students discussed benefits for their future learning and careers. Comparisons between interview and lesson plans highlight both successful alignments and key gaps in the application of making principles, including struggles that students encountered when translating their beliefs about making into real-world pedagogy. Research limitations/implications Given the limited sample size, future research should explore the extent to which educators in other contexts encounter similar or different obstacles in their development of maker-focused pedagogies. Practical implications Findings can be used to inform future maker education courses to better support students in successfully translating core principles of making from general beliefs into effective and practical pedagogical strategies. Originality/value Despite widespread interest in combining making with educational spaces, much remains to be understood about the strategies that educators use to integrate elements of making into their pedagogy. This study contributes discussions of the benefits and tensions that maker educators may encounter when blending tenets of making with the needs of formal education.


2020 ◽  
pp. 237337992097438
Author(s):  
Grazia Cunningham ◽  
Thomas M. Becker ◽  
Tanya Firemoon ◽  
Ashley Thomas

American Indians and Alaska Natives (AI/ANs) continue to be severely underrepresented in biomedical research, particularly in principal investigator roles. Efforts to decrease health disparities have shifted to building research capacity and training highly skilled AI/AN health researchers who can conduct quality research within their tribal communities. Funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Indian Health Service, the Northwest Native American Research Centers for Health (NW NARCH) program has offered financial support and mentorship to 149 AI/AN biomedical and public health graduate students for the past 15 years. In 2018, trainees were surveyed to track their progress and career development. Survey results confirmed that the financial support and mentorship available via the NW NARCH program were instrumental to their professional advancement. Support to AI/AN biomedical graduate students should continue not only to diversify the public health workforce, but also to address risk factors and health conditions that disproportionately affect AI/AN people.


2016 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 340-368 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiří Šindelář

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of selected organizational factors on the performance of employees charged with sales forecasting, and to compare this across the different organizational environments of Central-Eastern European (CEE) retail chains. Design/methodology/approach The research involves seven major pan-European retail chain companies, with a total number of 201 respondents. Data were collected via a questionnaire [computer-aided personal interview (CAPI) and human-aided personal interview (HAPI) method] with a five-point scale evaluation of both dependent (organizational factors) and independent (performance indicator) variables. Cluster analysis was then used to derive the characteristics of average organizational environments, and correlation analysis was used to investigate the direction and size of the performance effect. Findings The results confirmed that different organizational environments have differing effects on the performance of forecasters. It also showed that the “hard core” factors (performance evaluation and information systems) do not have a dominant effect on employee performance in any of the environments regardless of their quality, and are aggregately outclassed by “soft” factors (communication lines and management support). Finally, the research indicated that among the personal attributes related to individual forecasters, domain and forecasting work experience have significant, beneficial effects on forecasting performance, whereas formal education level was detected to have a negative effect and can be, at best, considered as non-contributor. Practical implications The research results along with available literature enable us to define four management theses (focus on system, less on people; soft factors are equal to hard ones; higher formal education does not contribute to forecasting performance; and do not overestimate the social and morale situation on the working place) as well as four stages of organizational development, creating a practitioner’s guide to necessary steps to improve an environment’s key factors, i.e. performance evaluation, information systems and forecasting work experience. Originality/value Although there are regular studies examining the effect of organizational factors on employee performance, very few have explored this relationship in a forecasting context, i.e. in the case of employees charged with sales forecasting. Furthermore, the paper brings evidence on this topic from the CEE area, which is not covered in most prominent forecasting management studies.


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