The Future Public Health Workforce in a Changing World: A Conceptual Framework for a European–Israeli Knowledge Transfer Project

Abstract

Health services quality and sustainability rely mainly on a qualified workforce. Adequately trained public health personnel protect and promote health, avert health disparities, and allow rapid response to health emergencies. Evaluations of the healthcare workforce typically focus on physicians and nurses in curative medical venues. Few have evaluated public health workforce capacity building or sought to identify gaps between the academic training of public health employees and the needs of the healthcare organizations in which they are employed. This project report describes the conceptual framework of “Sharing European Educational Experience in Public Health for Israel (SEEEPHI): harmonization, employability, leadership, and outreach”—a multinational Erasmus+ Capacity Building in Higher Education funded project. By sharing European educational experience and knowledge, the project aims to enhance professionalism and strengthen leadership aspects of the public health workforce in Israel to meet the needs of employers and the country. The project’s work packages, each jointly led by an Israeli and European institution, include field qualification analysis, mapping public health academic training programs, workforce adaptation, and building leadership capacity. In the era of global health changes, it is crucial to assess the capacity building of a well-qualified and competent workforce that enables providing good health services, reaching out to minorities, preventing health inequalities, and confronting emerging health challenges. We anticipate that the methods developed and the lessons learned within the Israeli context will be adaptable and adoptable by other countries through local and cultural adjustments.

What Factors Influence the Interest in Working in the Public Health Service in Germany? Part I of the OeGD-Studisurvey

“…In doing so, experiences from additional good examples and approaches should serve as a basis: The results of the OeGD-Studysurvey could serve as a starting point for the development of a continuous monitoring of the public health workforce along the lines of the PHWINS study [ 87 ], just as they should be taken into account in the development of new qualification models, as is currently being done in Germany, for example, in the EvidenzOEGD study [ 88 ] or at the European level in the SEEEPHI study [ 89 ]. This requires a joint discourse between science, politics and the professional public, which the present results are intended to encourage.…”

Anxiety in the face of the first wave of the spread of COVID-19 in Israel: Psychosocial determinants of a “Panic-to-complacency-continuum”

“…As mentioned above, leadership is crucial during emergencies, but not less important during “normal” preparation and capacity-building times. |Collaboration between Israeli and European universities and public health institutes are currently underway, focusing on capacity building among future public health leaders ( Bashkin et al, 2021 ). We hope that our findings would be useful to policymakers and public health experts – inside and beyond Israel – not just in stirring public behavior toward responsible routes, but on broader terms how to create the structures to study and engage in understanding better how best to engage with different parts of society.…”

How to Increase the Attractiveness of the Public Health Service in Germany as a Prospective Employer? Part II of the OeGD-Studisurvey

“…When addressing the role of PH&ONM professionals in the PHS as well as in reforming other areas of the PHS in Germany to increase job attractiveness, drawing on the practices and experiences of other countries in Europe and beyond can provide valuable insights [ 17 , 48 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 ]. Furthermore, such an endeavor is likely to benefit from a rigorous assessment of the situation in Germany, such as a field qualification analysis, mapping of public health training programs, as well as the systematic development of a catalogue of competencies for the PHS.…”