Public Health Worker Competencies for Emergency Response

Abstract

Emergency preparedness is an expectation of public health organizations and an expectation of individual public health practitioners. Organizational performance standards for public health agencies have been developed during the last several years, providing a foundation for the development of competency statements to guide individual practice in public health program areas, like emergency response. This article provides results from a project that developed emergency preparedness and response competencies for individual public health workers. Documentation of the qualitative research methods used, which include competency validation with the practice community, can be applied to competency development in other areas of public health practice.

State of Emergency Preparedness of Kentucky's Rural Public Health Workforce: Assessing its Ability to Identify Community Health Problems

“…10 We surveyed participants using the Kentucky Public Health Workforce Survey Training Needs Assessment of Emergency Preparedness instruments that contained emergency preparedness competency questions based on the 10 11 A total of 39 items based on generic emergency preparedness competencies identified by Gebbie and Merrill were presented in each survey instrument for each workgroup. 12 To determine which workforce members would receive the appropriate assessment instrument, we collaborated with the personnel division to classify each state-assigned position into one of the eight workgroup classifications. The first component of the survey solicited detailed demographic information; the second component assessed the workgroups' perceived LOC and NFT in the 10 Essential Public Health Services as each related to emergency preparedness.…”

Emergency Preparedness Training for Public Health Nurses: a Pilot Study

“…3 The program content included (1) definitions of emergencies and disasters; (2) roles of the New York City Department of Health during emergency response; (3) responsibilities of other agencies involved in emergency response at local, state, and federal levels; (4) elements of the New York City Department of Health chain-of-command structure; (5) functional roles during emergencies; (6) communication strategies and use of special equipment; (7) emergency protocols; and (8) shelter management procedures and necessary supplies and equipment.…”

Hospital Nurses’ Competencies in Disaster Situations: A Qualitative Study in the South of Brazil

“…19 The establishment of protocols to improve the capacity to respond in emergencies is described for public health professionals. 4 Internally to the hospital, knowledge of the space, activities, and basic equipment of each department/service contributes to agility and quality in health care. 19 This knowledge brings benefits to the institution with a better use of spaces, with avoiding unnecessary costs and dissemination of contagious diseases, and with improving the healing process of patients.…”

“…3 Documents which describe professional competencies for Public Health Workers' 4 Mental Health Competencies for Emergency Situations 5 and Health Worker Competencies for Disaster Education 6 have been published. In nursing, research has been developed to identify emergency and preparedness disaster core-competencies for nurses, 7 and the International Council of Nurses (Geneva, Switzerland) established a framework of disaster nursing competencies.…”