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

Abstract #105915

Erin E. Rothney, MPH¹, Lisa Macon Harrison, BSPH, MPH (c)¹, Anjum Hajat, MPH¹, and Pia D.M. MacDonald, PhD, MPH². (1) North Carolina Center for Public Health Preparedness, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Campus Box 8165, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-8165, 919-843-0837, erin_rothney@unc.edu, (2) Department of Epidemiology / North Carolina Center for Public Health Preparedness, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Campus Box 8165, Chapel Hill, NC 27599

The North Carolina Center for Public Health Preparedness (NCCPHP) in the North Carolina Institute for Public Health conducted an online workforce training needs assessment in local public health departments in North Carolina throughout 2004. The self-assessment was designed to identify high priority training needs for individual public health workers, agencies, and occupational groups. In local public health departments, 6482 of 8306 public health workers (78%) completed the online assessment. Public health nurses make up the largest occupational group of public health workers in North Carolina, and 27% of all assessment participants (N=1935). Priority emergency preparedness and response training needs for public health nurses include: describing the signs and symptoms of exposure to chemical agents and biological agents and describing the incident command system in your community. Priority public health core competency training needs for public health nurses include: staying informed of public health laws and regulations, being aware of the amount of each important health problem in your community, and recognizing a disease outbreak in your community. NCCPHP offers extensive, free online training in emergency preparedness and core public health competencies. Based on the priority training needs of the public health nurses in North Carolina, the NCCPHP now links directly to a bundle of trainings for public health nurses that meet their expressed emergency preparedness and core competency training needs. In addition to offering trainings for individuals and occupational groups, NCCPHP also targets public health nurses through training plans developed for local public health departments.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of this session, the learner should be able to

• Describe the implementation of an online workforce training needs assessment for public nurses in North Carolina
• Identify the priority emergency preparedness and response and public health core competencies for public health nurses
• Discuss the trainings offered by NCCPHP to address the priority needs for public health nurses based on assessed need for individuals and for local health department training plans

Keywords: Competency, Training

Related Web page: publichealthpreparedness.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.