Increasing workforce capacity through competency development at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has developed competency models for mission-critical occupations to help assess individual employees' needs and to choose the most appropriate developmental opportunities to suit different situations. This presentation examines CDC's efforts to increase workforce capacity to meet ongoing and emerging public health challenges, particularly among health scientists, epidemiologists, and medical officers. It establishes CDC's definition of a competency and details CDC's competency development process, which engages the workforce, solicits feedback from employees and supervisors, and employs rigorous self- and supervisory assessment measures to determine core, functional, and occupational competencies. Mission-critical components of each competency model and critical gaps in attaining those competencies are addressed. Developmental curricula and opportunities are then created from the competency model to ensure a workforce that can improve health and prevent disease and injury. The presentation includes detailed discussion of the competency development experience for CDC's two largest employee populations, including the unique challenges of designing competencies for general health scientists, epidemiologists, and medical officers; strategies used to address proficiency gaps revealed by the process; and interventions to address those gaps through education and training. The presenter then integrates competencies into workforce development through use of technology and performance assessment and closes with discussion regarding CDC's external partnerships in competency development.