Oral

Adequate numbers of skilled, diverse, and culturally competent public health workers are necessary to assure that all Americans have access to needed population and personal health services. The reemergence of infections disease, aging of the population and workforce, lack of coordination in information technology system development, rising number of uninsured and need for improved terrorism and emergency readiness provide vivid imagery of the mounting pressure on the public health system. At a minimum, thwarting these threats to our nation's health will require the public health workforce to grow in numbers, productivity, and political competence to surmount the various civil service, union, pipeline and compensation barriers that hinder our recruitment and retention efforts. It will also require a driving force such as the Council on Linkages Between Academia and Public Health Practice to ensure that recruitment and retention remains a leading issue. This session will focus on highlighting past, current and future work aimed at bolstering the public health workforce. Session participants will have an opportunity to hear from and engage in discussions with public health workforce leaders, career services professionals and others about how we use a variety of lessons learned and political competence to build the public health workforce our country needs and deserves.

Session Objectives: Learn about strategies others are using to improve the recruitment, retention, and training of a diverse and culturally competent public health workforce. Identify existing resoures and develop ideas for potential tools in this area.

CE Credits: CME, Health Education (CHES), Nursing