PHF E-News: News for Public Health (April 2012)

Advancing the public health workforce to achieve organizational excellence

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Topic: PHF News

Date: 4/4/2012

News from the

Public Health Foundation (PHF)

Dear Subscriber,

PHF E-News brings you the latest information on how you can use training to strengthen your workforce and improve the health of your community.

Strengthening Individual Training Plans and Organizational Workforce Development Plans with a Competency-Based Approach

Assessing your own current level of competence is a critical first step to identifying, and filling, individual competency-based training gaps. Competency assessments are available for each of the three tiers of the Core Competencies for Public Health Professionals (Core Competencies) to assist professionals at all stages of their careers. Using these assessments, you can score yourself in relation to each of the competencies that make up the Core Competencies and identify areas of strength, as well as areas where you may desire additional training.

The Core Competencies can also be used to guide workforce development at the organizational level. A set of three quality improvement tools, the 3-Step Competency Prioritization Sequence, has recently been developed to assist public health organizations in identifying and prioritizing areas for workforce development. Begin assessing competency gaps by using a radar chart to illustrate current levels of competence within your organization related to the eight domains of the Core Competencies. This exercise can help to demonstrate areas where workforce development may be desirable.

Find more information about the role of the Core Competencies in supporting workforce training and the creation of competency-based workforce development plans.

You Can Help Improve and Measure the Impact of Public Health Workforce Training

The Council on Linkages Between Academia and Public Health Practice (Council on Linkages) is currently seeking feedback on its newest effort to support public health workforce training. Through the Public Health Training Impact initiative, the Council on Linkages is exploring strategies, methods, and tools to improve and measure the impact of training. A draft document summarizing the results of this exploration is now available for download, public review, and comment. Provide your feedback on whether the strategies and methods identified are useful and relevant to help strengthen this guide to effective public health training.

PHF Pulse Blog

Wendy Braund asks, How Can We Best Improve Public Health Training and Measure Its Impact?

Wendy Braund, MD, MPH, MSEd, is the State Health Officer and Senior Administrator, Public Health Division in the Wyoming Department of Health and Chair of the Training Impact Task Force

Find Competency-Based Courses that Support Your Workforce Training Needs and Objectives

Through TRAIN, members of the public health workforce have access to both on-site training and distance learning opportunities available in local, state, and national jurisdictions that are linked to the Core Competencies for Public Health Professionals (Core Competencies). Search nearly 11,000 public health courses that align directly with at least one of the Core Competencies to help develop a skilled and strong public health workforce through training.

Learn more about the important link between TRAIN's learning management system and the Core Competencies to determine training needs and targeted courses that support workforce development.

Build the Capacity of Your Health Department to Teach Quality Improvement

Have you heard of a Train-the-Trainer model to support workforce development? By training a small group of individuals, your organization can build its internal capacity to offer ongoing quality improvement (QI) training for others and create a robust quality culture over time.

Read how the Texas Department of State Health Services recently trained agency staff to teach QI tools and techniques.

Share Your Community Guide Story and Receive Recognition for Your Organization's Accomplishments

Have you used the Guide to Community Preventive Services (Community Guide) to address public health challenges in your community? If so, the Public Health Foundation (PHF) wants to hear from you. PHF invites you to share your experience by entering the "I'm Your Community Guide!" Contest. Your stories will help to identify model practices for implementing the evidence-based strategies outlined in the Community Guide.

The contest announcement is open until April 30, 2012.

PHF wants to hear from you! This is your last chance to vote in the PHF E-News Reader Poll: What public health issue are you currently focused on the most?

Vote by clicking on the image below to help us provide the most timely and helpful information for your public health needs.

Your objective not listed? Email [email protected] or click on the image and let us know in the "add a comment" section.

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In This Issue

- Strengthening Individual Training Plans and Organizational Workforce Development Plans with a Competency-Based Approach

- You Can Help Improve and Measure the Impact of Public Health Workforce Training

- Find Competency-Based Courses that Support Your Workforce Training Needs and Objectives

- Build the Capacity of Your Health Department to Teach Quality Improvement

- Share Your Community Guide Story and Receive Recognition for Your Organization's Accomplishments

- PHF E-News Reader Poll: What public health issue are you currently focused on the most?

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