Identifying training priorities through self-assessment by Alyssa K. Landen
accreditation at the allegheney county health department
Download 189.55 Kb.
|
- Navigate this page:
- Workforce development in the united states
- History of Workforce Development
- Workforce Development and Accreditation
- Methods for Workforce Development
accreditation at the allegheney county health departmentCurrently, the Allegheny County Health Department is in the pre-application phase of the accreditation process. This requires collaboration among staff members within different bureaus of the health department. Although there are many domains that must be addressed to become accredited, this essay looks at the second bullet above and addresses the process of determining the training needs of staff based on a self-assessment of core competencies. The documentation required for the measure “workforce development strategies” must include a workforce development plan and demonstrate that the health department implemented workforce development strategies (Public Health Accreditation Board, 2013c). An interdisciplinary working group, comprised of roughly twenty staff across all bureaus, has been developed to identify appropriate documentation for accreditation measures. The Allegheny County Health Department aims to submit an application for accreditation prior to December of 2015 and submit necessary documentation prior to December of 2016. literature reviewWorkforce development definedIt is challenging to define workforce development within the context of public health due to the difficulties in even determining who is considered a public health professional. A public health worker can be interpreted to include those who are drivers within a health agency, transporting lab samples, or to include doctors who provide guidance to individuals on their health and behaviors that impact their health. A public health worker can be defined as an individual who “provide[s] essential public health services, regardless of the nature of the employing agency” (Beck et al, 2012), including those at public, private, and voluntary organizations (Turnock, 2003). This includes “all those engaged during a significant part of time in work that creates the conditions within which people can be healthy” (Tilson and Gebbie, 2004). Interviews with leaders in public health indicated that (Miner and Allan, 2014):
Workforce development in public health “reflects the multiple disciplines constituting the field of public health” (Kaufman et al, 2014). Workforce development is thought to be a solution to gaps in competencies for public health workers who do not have a public health degree, a group that makes up a large portion of public health workers in the United States (Miner and Allan, 2014). However, not having a degree in public health or a lack of formal public health training does not mean that the current public health workforce is unprepared (Turnock, 2003). A systematic review of public health workforce literature, published in 2012, noted four themes and also indicated few articles were empirically based, peer reviewed, or provided evidence-based findings (Beck et al., 2012):
Workforce development in the united statesIn 2000, the Public Health Functions Steering Committee published a report estimating there were approximately 500,000 public health professionals within government organizations and noted that there was a decrease in the public health workforce in comparison to a report they published in 1980 (Gebbie and Turnock, 2006). In acknowledgement of a decline in the public health workforce and gaps in competencies in the workforce, the federal government developed grant funded programs addressing training and preparedness (Gebbie and Turnock, 2006). Public health training centers were established to “provide competency-based trainings and practice-based opportunities to advance the current and future public heath workforces” (Freedman et al., 2014). There are five steps in training module development in the public health training centers model (Millery et al., 2014):
For a short period of time, it appeared that the number of public health workers was increasing, peaking in 2003; however, a reverse in this trend appeared in 2004 (Gebbie and Turnock, 2006). The decline in the workforce of public health professionals can potentially be attributed to improvements in technology and changes in political and bureaucratics within government organizations (Gebbie and Turnock, 2006). History of Workforce DevelopmentIn 1988, the Institutes of Medicine noted the public health system as being in disarray (Beck et al., 2012) and “called for broad, crosscutting skills and competencies for public health practitioners” (Kaufman et al, 2014). In 2003, the Institutes of Medicine called for “continuous, lifelong training for the public health workforce” (Kenefick et al, 2014). In 2000, HealthyPeople2010 noted that improving the infrastructure of public health through investing in the workforce was a priority (Gebbie and Turnock, 2006), as concerns existed regarding the “composition, distribution, skills, and performance of the public health workforce” (Gebbie and Turnock, 2006). Today, HealthyPeople2020 still considers workforce development a priority for the nations public health officials. Workforce Development and AccreditationIn theory, addressing the competencies of a workforce through workforce development and training appears to be a simple and reasonable solution. Although it is acknowledged that additional training is needed, it was unclear for some time on how to determine baseline competencies of public health workers and what suggested workforce competencies should be. This lead to a project, that took a decade, by the Council on Linkages to develop a list of such competencies and how to assess for them in the workplace (Gebbie and Turnock, 2006). These established competencies “are critical for defining the desired outcomes of an educational activity, thus [provide] metrics useful for evaluating the effectiveness of skills acquisition” (Koo and Miner, 2010) and are “critical for public transparency and accountability” (Koo and Miner, 2010). Workforce development plays an important role in accreditation of health departments. Accreditation of health departments can serve as a method for monitoring the public health workforce. Methods for Workforce DevelopmentA struggle exists between investing in training for the public health workforce and budget constraints. Recent studies have suggested using methods such as distance and online trainings. This method is possible due to advances in technology. These trainings are relatively inexpensive and this method removes the need for traveling to training centers, remove limits on the number of individuals trained, and remove constraints due to time of training (Millery et al., 2014). It is recommended that training is active and that trainings include activities incorporating case-studies, problem solving, and bring learning into the workplace (Millery et al., 2014; Koo and Miner, 2010). When training adults, it is necessary to keep in mind adults (Koo and Miner, 2010; Kenefick et al., 2014):
These learning modules can be program specific or offered to an entire agency. Improvements in performance based on trainings can be monitored through employee performance reviews and achievement of yearly goals and objectives (Turnock, 2003). However, it is important to note that a gap in competencies may be concerning technology and individuals my need to be trained in using technology to advance knowledge and skills before computers and web-based courses can serve as training methods for public health workers. Download 189.55 Kb. Share with your friends:
|