Who will be left to keep the public healthy?

With a public health workforce shortage looming, succession planning is crucial to ensuring continuous coverage of the essential public health services including emergency preparedness. In the 2003 Institute of Medicine report, Who Will Keep the Public Healthy, emphasis was placed on the need to maintain a well-trained public health workforce, especially given the severe shortage predicted to occur in the next several years. Therefore, it is essential for continuity of operations, to know where vacancies within health departments are likely to occur and what types of training are needed to ensure protection of the public's health.

The University of Michigan School of Public Health conducted an assessment of state-employed public health workers in Michigan to assist with succession planning. More than half (54%) of all public health professionals surveyed reported they plan to leave the public health workforce within 10 years. In general, this trend was true regardless of job category, with notable exceptions including 37% of epidemiologists and 75% of health administrators planning to leave in the next 10 years. Those planning to retire in the next decade were most interested in courses focused on leadership (56%), strategic planning/thinking (52%), and management (50%), while those planning to remain in the workforce longer indicated an interest in communicable disease courses (50%). In Michigan, effective public health department succession planning requires training and recruiting professionals with leadership and management skills to fill the future gap created by the departure of health administrators.