Thinking Beyond the Silos

Abstract

Supplemental Digital Content is Available in the Text.This study focuses on the existing public health workforce, with the results aiming at informing the revisions public health academic programs and standards are experiencing nationally.

Job Satisfaction

“…The development of PH WINS began in 2013, with a consensus-building process among 31 public health stakeholders representing an array of disciplines. 29 A technical expert panel was convened to guide the sampling methodology, instrument creation, and protocols for survey fielding and administration. 28 …”

The Methods Behind PH WINS

“…1 – 9 The early 1990s saw significant progress in workforce development, hand in hand with the formalization of the Ten Essential Services. 8 , 10 , 11 Because of the siloed nature of public health funding and thus the organization of public health itself at federal, state, and local levels, experts in the field identified 2 major challenges central to workforce development during those years.…”

“…A second challenge caused by the disciplinary and funding silos was an inability to identify systems-level workforce development and training needs in public health. 10 Speculation has long existed that a very small proportion of the workforce has any formal training in public health; this has made on-the-job training critical to the field. 1 Major efforts have been undertaken to create a set of core competencies for public health professionals generally, as well as specifically by discipline and seniority.…”

“…Many training needs had been identified in recent years, but leaders in public health had yet to identify which needs were most immediate. 10 The 31 organizations represented at the summit prioritized systems thinking, communicating persuasively, change management, information and analytics, problem solving, and working with diverse populations as the major crosscutting training needs. However, there was significant interest as to whether the public health workforce agreed with these leaders about the greatest training needs in the field.…”

The physician assistant hospitalist: a time-motion study

“…[1] Workforce shortages in low-density areas are predicted to further reduce the already-limited services pro-vided by public health agencies. [2] One solution to address the shortage is that of task shifting. Task shifting (i.e., moving activities from one set of providers to another) permits physicians to delegate routine patient care functions to physician assistants (PAs) and nurse practitioners (NPs).…”