Training Needs of Florida Department of Health Hispanic Employees

Background: With increasing life expectancy and associated challenges, developing a competent public health (PH) workforce is an important and enormous task.

Methods: As a part of HRSA's PH Training Centers program, Florida Department of Health (DOH) Employee Training Needs Assessment was conducted online using Survey Monkey. The six part Spanish and English survey was sent to 17,837 DOH employees' office e-mail from May 3, 2011, until May 20, 2011. Of the total DOH employees, 5,698 employees began the survey and 3,685 (64.7%) finished it. Data was downloaded from the website in SPSS for analysis.

Results: Of the 3,685 respondents, 546 (14.8%) self-identified as “Hispanic” and 123 (3.3%) chose the Spanish questionnaire. Most of the Hispanics were from Puerto Rico (188, 34%), followed by Cuba (97, 17.7%) and Mexico (56, 10.2%). Over 80% were women; half had an advanced degree (high school or more). Hispanic respondents were younger, had less experience in PH and at DOH (65.4% had less than 10 years of experience), and most were in entry-level positions (86.2%). Hispanic respondents reported less frequent training of any kind than other DOH employees and expressed a desire for training in “Prevention and Health Promotion”, “Leadership”, “Teamwork”, “PH Needs and Health Status”, and “Emergency and Disaster Relief”.

Conclusion: In order to improve the PH skills of Hispanics, training courses will be developed and presented in a face-to-face classroom format, preferred by respondents. Training will focus on comprehension and application of basic concepts to real-life situations so that essential skills are acquired.