Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #102480

Dawn K. Gentsch, MPH, CHES¹, Janan Wunsch-Smith, RN², Christopher Atchison, MPA¹, Barry Greene, PhD¹, and Laurie M. Walkner, RN, MA³. (1) College of Public Health, University of Iowa, Institute for Public Health Practice, 200 10th St., 5th Fl. Clemens Bldg., Des Moines, IA 50309, 515 282-4548, dawn-gentsch@uiowa.edu, (2) Janan Wunsch-Smith and Associates, 1200 South 60th Street, West Des Moines, IA 50266, (3) Iowa Center for Public Health Preparedness University of Iowa College of Public Health, 5197 Westlawn, Iowa City, IA 52242

This presentation will provide an overview of strategies implemented and under development that utilize tools such as competency frameworks and a learning management system to enable assessment, training and evaluation of the workforce's contributions to public health. The Institute for Public Health Practice at the University of Iowa has been engaged in utilizing these tools to support local public health agencies in the development of a system's view of public health, with special emphasis on elements dealing with workforce. This includes work with discreet local public health agencies, a state-wide public health agency association, the Public Health Ready Project and community health centers. Competency sets have been reviewed, attempts at validation and where necessary new competencies developed to better define units of skill that public health practitioners need to demonstrate in their daily job. These activities have been reviewed in relation to the National Public Health Performance Measures, NACCHO's definition of a local public health agency and are presented within the framework of the ten essential public health services. The Institute's approach has been very integrative and it is system's oriented. Our activities are evidence that human resource goals can be defined through the creation of a public health workforce profile that emphasizes a system's approach.

Learning Objectives:

• Discuss the process used to identify local public health units of skill and link them to relevant practice based competencies.
• Describe how practice based public health competencies were linked to the National Public Health Peformance Standards.
• Discuss the process used to validate the practice based public health competencies.
• Identify how these competencies and the performance measures will be used to drive human resources goals and create a profile of the Iowa public health workforce.

Keywords: Competency, Performance Measures

Related Web page: www.prepareiowa.org

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.

Recorded presentation