Back to Annual Meeting

Back to Annual Meeting

APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Cammie Marti, BSN, MPH¹, John B. Wayne, PhD¹, JoAnn Bolick, MA², and Lewis Leslie, BS². (1) College of Public Health, Univ of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, 4301 West Markham Street, Slot #820, Little Rock, AR 72205-7199, (479)248-1471, cmarticonsulting@centurytel.net, (2) Division of Health, Arkansas Department of Health and Human Services, 4815 West Markham, Little Rock, AR 72205

Like many states, Arkansas is preparing its public health (PH) workforce for any natural or manmade disaster necessitating a PH response. Arkansas has adopted a competency-based training approach based on CDC's Bioterrorism and Emergency Readiness Competencies for All PH Workers and uses this framework to: assess the need for employee training; select/develop trainings; assess training effectiveness; evaluate performance; measure preparedness; and track progress.

Our questionnaire was based on a survey conducted by South Central Center for PH Preparedness. For each of the nine Core Competencies (149 knowledge/skill items) respondents were asked (1) how often they performed the knowledge/skill; (2) how confident they were in performing the knowledge/skill; and (3) to what extent they needed training to improve their knowledge/skill. In 2005, 109 valid responses were obtained.

In 2003 the highest training need was “Communication.” By 2005 respondents had the most confidence in their co-workers' ability to “Demonstrate correct use of communication equipment (51%).” In 2005 the highest overall training need was “Describe your functional role(s) in an emergency response and demonstrate your role(s) effectively in regular drills (47.8%)” and the most requested training was: “Following disaster drills/exercises, write after action reports using the Homeland Security Exercise Evaluation Program format (74%).” Respondents had more confidence in their ability to perform preparedness tasks than their co-workers or supervisors. These and other results are provided for comparison with other state initiatives and will assist those agencies still searching for an assessment tool. Further, the implications can provide a roadmap for other states.

Learning Objectives:

• Attendees will be able to assess the need for employee training utilizing a competency-based needs assessment.
• Attendees will understand how a competency-based needs assessment can be used to assess training effectiveness and evaluate performance.
• Attendees will be able to describe the results and implications of the Arkansas assessment.

Keywords: Bioterrorism, Competency

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Not Answered