177140 Chemical and radiological workforce readiness: Managing the interdepartmental collaboration, planning, development and implementation of chemical and radiological emergency preparedness online curricula for a large local public health department infrastructure

Monday, October 27, 2008

Michelle A. Precourt, MPH , Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, Office of Organizational Development and Training, Los Angeles, CA
Cyrus Rangan, MD, FAAP, ACMT , Department of Public Health, Los Angeles County, Los Angeles, CA
Kathleen Kaufman , Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, Environmental Health, Radiation Management, Los Angeles, CA
Stella Fogleman, RN, MSN/MPH, CNS , Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, Toxics Epidemiology Program, Health Assessment and Epidemiology, Los Angeles, CA
Jeffrey Day , Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, Environmental Health, Radiation Management, Los Angeles, CA
Noel Bazini-Barakat, RN, MSN, MPH , Office of Organizational Development and Training, Los Angeles County, Department of Public Health, Los Angeles, CA
Karen Garman, EdD, MAPP , Healthcare Education, Leadership & Performance, Inc., San Diego, CA
Background/Purpose: Ensuring staff compliance around chemical and radiological emergency preparedness training poses implications for a large public health department with an infrastructure of approximately 4,000 employees, 16 divisions, 50 programs, and a variety of disciplines serving a population of 10 million, geographically spanning 4,084 square miles. This presentation will highlight the organizational and technological considerations critical to devising a chemical and radiological emergency preparedness online training product. The purpose of this training is to increase the number of Los Angeles County Department of Public Health first responders that receive hazardous material training. Methods: Key methods include: internal project planning; stakeholder advisory group development; subject matter expert identification; target audience identification; content development; stakeholder review; online technology identification; information systems collaboration and web based application development; video and web technology design; course processes design; focus group testing; marketing; tracking; and evaluation. Results/Outcomes: The course compliance goal is to attain a minimum of 200 trained staff with a posttest completion score of 80 percent or higher by August 30th, 2008. Course outcomes are measured using a LMS to track and query compliance measures. Course evaluation analysis is used to assess the overall course impact and process. Course modifications are made accordingly through participant feedback and evaluation analysis. Conclusions: The presentation aims to provide best practices proven to accomplish departmental collaboration, sophisticated online technological use, and engaging learning mechanisms to change the psychological culture of public health department employees to begin thinking about emergency preparedness as an all hazards necessity.

Learning Objectives:
By the end of the session, the participant will be able to: -Explain best practices around interdepartmental collaboration among project leaders, project consultants, subject matter experts and other department stakeholders for online chemical and radiological curricula planning, design, implementation and evaluation processes. -Explain how chemical and radiological emergency preparedness education fits within Los Angeles County Department of Public Health’s employee readiness framework. -Describe internal organizational development and training planning, design, implementation and evaluation considerations in developing an online chemical and radiological emergency preparedness curricula for a large local public health department infrastructure. -Explain target audience considerations for chemical and radiological education for a large local public health department infrastructure. -Describe the online technology used in the design and development of the chemical and radiological emergency preparedness curricula.

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I do not have any relevant personal financial relationship with a commercial entity. This presentation is provided to public health constituents for academic purposes only.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

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