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News from the Public Health Foundation (PHF) |  |
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PHF E-News brings you the latest ideas and tools for quality improvement and workforce development in public health.
In the six years since the Core Competencies for Public Health Professionals (Core Competencies) were adopted, the field of public health has seen major changes, from the events of September 11, 2001 to new technologies, and an aging workforce. Beginning in September 2007, the Council on Linkages Between Academia and Public Health Practice (the Council) undertook a project to refine and update the Core Competencies, based on recommendations from Council members, as well as the public. The new draft includes changes in both content and phrasing and aims to address issues raised in the 7 years since the Core Competencies were first released. See the draft Core Competencies and provide comments. [Note: Comment period ended December 31, 2008.]
An adequate supply of well-trained public health workers is a necessary part of a healthy society. Unfortunately, the number of public health workers in the United States is projected to drop drastically in the coming years as more workers are eligible for retirement and budget cuts disallow hiring, tuition reimbursement, and other recruitment methods. According to the 2007 Institute of Medicine report, "Training Physicians for Public Health Careers," the overall number of governmental public health workers dropped more than 28% between 1980 and 2000. In recent surveys by the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials it was found that the average age of a state public health employee is 47 and that over 50% of some state health agency workforces will be eligible to retire by 2012. The Association of Schools of Public Health determined that over 250,000 more public health workers are needed by 2020. With this in mind, the Council on Linkages has released a policy statement aimed to urge organizations to collect the appropriate data so that public health can move toward evidence-based recruitment and retention strategies.
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than 20% of children are not fully protected against vaccine-preventable diseases. The CDC said that levels of vaccine-preventable diseases are at or near record lows; we cannot take high immunization coverage levels for granted. To continue to protect America's children and adults, we must obtain maximum immunization coverage in all populations, establish effective partnerships, conduct reliable scientific research, implement immunization systems, and ensure vaccine safety. CDC's Pink Book (Epidemiology and Prevention of Vaccine-Preventable Diseases) is an important resource for all public health and health care professionals who provide immunizations. Distributed in partnership with the Public Health Foundation, the recently updated 10th Edition (2nd Printing) contains information on: * Principles of Vaccination
TRAIN.org, the nation's largest and most comprehensive public health learning management system, has grown into a community of over 235,000 learners utilizing over 9,500 courses. As an increasing number of public health professionals, organizations, and course providers come aboard TRAIN, many begin to wonder how cost-effective is this learning management system and what kind of financial returns may result. KY-TRAIN, a member of the TRAIN community since its inception in 2003, calculates the state's return on investment (ROI) on a monthly basis. By utilizing TRAIN, Kentucky calculated that in 2007 savings on trainings for nurses and environmentalists totaled over $3.5 million, an average of nearly $300,000 a month. Based on the KY-TRAIN ROI, it is anticipated that if other public health professionals utilize TRAIN their states and organizations could also save millions of dollars annually. To view the KY-TRAIN ROI, please visit http://www.phf.org/TRAIN_KY_2007_ROI.htm. For a downloadable copy, log on to TRAIN (https://www.train.org) and go to the Resources section. If you are not yet a TRAIN user, log on to create your free account to view the Kentucky ROI. Also, remember that your free TRAIN account affords you the opportunity to begin building your skills, obtaining continuing education credits and saving your state or organization training dollars. If you are interested in your state joining the TRAIN community, please contact Lois Banks.
This message is a service of the Public Health Foundation (CFC #9856). |
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