Strategic Approach to Assess Training Needs Across a Diverse Region

Abstract

in Atlanta, GA, is to develop and implement programming to train and educate public health professionals in U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Region IV. To identify public health workforce development needs, the R-IV PHTC created a systematic process that included the implementation of a variety of strategies, to gain insights from each state within the diverse region. Conducting regular needs assessments is an integral step to ensure trainings are relevant and meet the needs of public health professionals. To this end, the PHTC employed a mixed methods approach to gather information on both competency-based and non-competency-based training needs, as well as training needs within R-IV's content focus area of infectious disease. In R-IV there is great variability between the structures of the state and local health departments (e.g., some centralized, some decentralized), each of which faces different funding challenges and works with different service delivery models and regulatory authorities. Moreover, states have diverse populations (e.g., races, urban/rural, migrant/refugees, tribal, Appalachian) and face a wide range of public health priority concerns. Health departments were found to be at different stages of readiness to undertake a training needs assessment due to a number of issues, including their stage of pursuing Public Health Accreditation Board accreditation and recent participation in other needs assessment efforts. The R-IV PHTC approach to assessing training needs within this challenging environment is described.

Enhancing Public Health Practice Through a Regional Student Field Placement Program

“…However, the highest increases were in financial planning/management and cultural competency, possibly because these may be domains in which they had the least experience. Several of these domains align with priority training needs identified by the current public health workforce, based on assessment findings in Region IV (McCormick et al, in press).…”

“…With more substantive professional contact with students, agencies can also make more informed personnel decisions in hiring students post graduation. (Divine, Linrud, Miller, & Wilson, 2007; Frazee, 1997; McCormick et al, 2017).…”

“…These core competencies are also used as a guide for public health workforce development in health departments (Stewart, Halverson, Rose, & Walker, 2010). Students benefit by achieving academic practicum requirements and applying knowledge and skills to real practice settings (McCormick, Reel, Alperin, Lloyd, & Miner, 2017;Steigerwald, Nolan, Loux, Baskin, & Scharff, 2016). Students can also enrich their experiences by problem solving, collaborating, and learning directly from disparate communities (Anderson et al, 2011;Villanueva, Hovinga, & Cass, 2011).…”

Connecting Public Health Students to Rural and Underserved Areas: Promoting Health Equity Through Field Placement Experiences

“…The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) first funded the establishment of public health training centers (PHTCs) in the 1990s to address quality standards and measures for accreditation of public health departments (Bigley, 2016). Since then, the work of PHTCs has focused on strengthening the public health infrastructure through workforce development and training (McCormick, Reel, Alperin, Lloyd, & Miner, 2017). HRSA (2018) tasked its Bureau of Health Workforce with improving “the health of underserved and vulnerable populations by strengthening the health workforce and connecting skilled professionals to the communities in need” (para.…”

The Role of the U.S. Public Health Learning Network in Strengthening the Current and Future Public Health Workforce

“…They also express how findings of this process will be used to enhance current and future programming in the region. McCormick, Reel, Alperin, Lloyd, and Miner (2017) describe the mixed methods approach used to gather competency- and noncompetency-based training needs of the public health workforce within the eight state region that makes up HHS Region IV.…”