Back to Annual Meeting

Back to Annual Meeting

APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Joanna K. Weinberg, JD, LLM, Institute for Health & Aging/Integrating Medicine & Public Health program, UC San Francisco, Box 0646 Laurel Heights, Suite 340, San Francisco, CA 94705, 510-207-2997, joanna.weinberg@ucsf.edu, Sibylle Lob, MD, MPH, Integrating Medicine and Public Health Program, UC San Francisco, UCSF, Institute for Health & Aging, 1616 Capital Avenue, Suite 74.317, P.O. Box 997413, MS 7210, Sacramento, CA, CA 95899-7413, Janice Tunder, MPH, Health Promotion and Education Bureau, 355 Tuolumne Street, MS 20-210, Vallejo, CA 94590, and Jerry Street, REHS, MPA, Public Health Bioterroism and Response, 275 Beck Avenue, 2nd Floor MS 5-240, Fairfield, CA 94533.

The goal of this project was to conduct a survey of public health workers in a San Francisco Bay area county, to assess training needs for bioterror and emergency preparedness, and to recommend appropriate training tools. The purpose was to evaluate public health staff training needs related to emergency preparedness and response, in order to identify specific training priorities. The survey focused on developing a comprehensive baseline summary of the needs and degree of confidence of all categories of public health employees. This paper describes the survey methodology, the findings of the assessment, and recommendations for specific training modules.

Researchers reviewed existing needs assessment surveys used by other agencies, in order to create and implement a staff training needs assessment tool specific to the local community. We then documented the findings, cataloguing the four most urgent training needs identified. These included: Understanding the powers of state and local governments in a disaster or emergency (e.g. declaration of emergencies, identification of need for isolation, quarantine or evacuations, and classification of public health employees as emergency workers); recognizing basic emergency protocol procedures and systems (e.g. Standardized Emergency Management System/National Incident Management System; Emergency Operations Center and Departmental Operations Center); knowing which procedures to follow after receiving an emergency notification; and recognizing the signs of exposure to chemical or biological agents, and the appropriate actions to take.

Learning Objectives: Following this presentation, attendees will be able to

• Assess the components of basic CDC-defined competencies for public health worker emergency and disaster preparedness; 2.Create a data collection tool to test public health worker confidence in preparedness;
• Analyze data collected through a self-administered web-based questionnaire;
• Assess training tools relevant to worker competencies.

Keywords: Emergency, Health Workers Training

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Not Answered