Baseline Assessment of Public Health Informatics Competencies in Two Hudson Valley Health Departments

Abstract

Information technology has the capability to improve the way public health is practiced. Realization of this potential is possible only with a workforce ready to utilize these technologies. This project team assessed informatics competencies of employees in two county departments of health. The goal was to determine the status quo in terms of informatics competencies by surveying current levels of proficiency and relevance, and identify areas of needed training. A survey was adapted from the recommendations of a Working Group document by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and administered to all employees in the two health departments. Respondents evaluated proficiency and relevance for each of 26 recommended competencies. A gap score was generated between these two measures; results were compared to the recommendations of the Working Group. The following data for each job level are presented: mean gap scores by competency class; the percentage of respondents demonstrating a gap in the competencies reported to be most relevant; and the percentage of respondents meeting the target recommendations of the Working Group. The percentage of respondents who reached the targets was low in higher-level staff. And overall, employees reported low levels of relevance for most of the competencies. The average public health employee does not feel that prescribed informatics competencies are relevant to their work. Before the public health system can take advantage of information technology, relevant employee skills should be identified or developed. There needs to be a shift in thinking that will recognize the promise of information technology in everyday work.

Developing an evidence-based public health informatics course*

“…A single month-long online survey using the Qualtricst software was administered to members of two professional health associations: the Mississippi Rural Health Association (MRHA) and the Mississippi Public Health Association (MPHA). The instrument leveraged the knowledge of prior informatics competency surveys [10,11] and collected information mainly in three areas: professional profile, usage of key public health information resources, and utilization of data, information, and technology. The leaderships of the two associations encouraged the effort by notifying their membership of this survey.…”

Findings from an Organizational Network Analysis to Support Local Public Health Management

“…18 These categorical data were binarized to create three matrices: employee × tasks (187 items), employee × knowledge (29 items), and employee × resources (74 items).…”

Assessing Public Health Workforce Informatics Competencies: A Study of 3 District Health Departments in Georgia

“…A secondary outcome measure was the informatics competency gap. For each competency item, in addition to assessing their proficiency, employees assessed the relevance to their job role on a 5-point Likert scale from “very important” to “not important at all.” Following past public health workforce training needs assessment studies, a competency gap score was computed for each item using the following equation: Proficiency – Relevance to Job 21. Competency gap scores are used as a proxy for determining workforce training needs.…”

“…Following past public health workforce training needs assessment studies, a competency gap score was computed for each item using the following equation: Proficiency -Relevance to Job. 21 Competency gap scores are used as a proxy for determining workforce training needs.…”