After engaging in a yearlong review and revision process and addressing over 1,000 comments, the Council on Linkages Between Academia and Public Health Practice (Council on Linkages) is pleased to announce the adoption and release of the 2014 Core Competencies for Public Health Professionals (Core Competencies). Thanks are in order for the hundreds of public health professionals from across the country who have contributed to this revision!
A consensus set of skills desirable for the broad practice of public health, the Core Competencies are a collaborative effort of the 20 national organizations represented on the Council on Linkages. The Core Competencies describe foundational skills appropriate for public health professionals regardless of discipline and are used in workforce development activities nationwide.
Guided by the 55-member Core Competencies Workgroup, the revision of the Core Competencies culminated on June 26th with the Council on Linkages unanimously adopting the 2014 version, which updates the version from 2010. Changes in the 2014 version reflect an effort to add and expand concepts of increasing importance in a time of health reform and national health department accreditation, simplify and clarify the wording of competencies, and reorder competencies within domains to group similar concepts and ensure a logical progression in the complexity of skills. The 2014 version retains the same eight domain and three tier structure present in the 2010 version, and no competencies have been moved from one domain to another.
Regular review and revision of the Core Competencies are critical to ensuring these competencies remain relevant in an evolving field of public health. As Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB) President and CEO Kaye Bender, RN, PhD, FAAN, stated, “PHAB applauds the Council on Linkages for updating the Core Competencies for Public Health Professionals to reflect today’s current public health practice environment. The inclusion of specific linkages to the accreditation standards and measures should enhance a health department’s use of the competencies in planning their workforce development initiatives. Common language and linkages between organizational capacity and individual performance are keys to excellence in public health practice.”
Resources and tools to help public health professionals and organizations transition to the new version of the Core Competencies and integrate the Core Competencies into workforce development activities are also being created and updated. By the end of July, a crosswalk of the 2014 and 2010 Core Competencies, showing the relationships between specific competencies, will be available, and the 2014 Core Competencies will be incorporated into the set of competency assessments.
In the coming months, there will be several opportunities to learn more about the 2014 Core Competencies, including exhibits and sessions at national meetings this summer and fall. Copies of the new Core Competencies will be available at the Public Health Foundation’s booth (Booth 77) during the National Association of County and City Health Officials’ 2014 annual meeting, and Council on Linkages Director Ron Bialek, MPP, will be taking questions at the booth on Wednesday, July 9th from 11:30am-1pm. Sessions focused on the Core Competencies are scheduled for the National Association of Local Boards of Health Annual Conference on Friday, August 15th from 9:30-10:30am (Session 4.1) and the American Public Health Association Annual Meeting on Monday, November 17th from 10:30am-12pm in the Hilton, Grand Salon 4 (Session 3120.0). Additional events will be announced through the Council on Linkages Update newsletter as they are confirmed. As well, Council on Linkages staff are available to answer questions related to the Core Competencies and can be reached at competencies@phf.org.
The 2014 version of the Core Competencies can be accessed online at phf.org/corecompetencies, and additional information about the Core Competencies, including resources and tools to facilitate use, can be found at phf.org/aboutcorecompetencies.