Public Health Accreditation Addresses Issues Facing the Public Health Workforce

As the Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB) launched the nation’s only accreditation program for state, local, tribal, and territorial health departments in September 2011, attention to the issues facing the public health workforce in these health departments was included. PHAB developed several...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:American journal of preventive medicine 2014-11, Vol.47 (5), p.S346-S351
Main Authors: Bender, Kaye W., PhD, RN, Kronstadt, Jessica L., MPP, Wilcox, Robin, MPA, Tilson, Hugh H., MD, MPH, DrPH
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Accreditation
Career Choice
Consensus
Education, Public Health Professional
Governing Board
Health policy
Humans
Internal Medicine
Professional Competence
Public health
Public Health Administration - manpower
Public Health Administration - standards
Public health departments
Public Health Practice - standards
Quality Improvement
Standardization
United States
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Summary:As the Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB) launched the nation’s only accreditation program for state, local, tribal, and territorial health departments in September 2011, attention to the issues facing the public health workforce in these health departments was included. PHAB developed several measures in the accreditation standards and measures related to public health workforce development. The accreditation process calls upon health departments to focus more intentionally on their current workforce, while also supporting the development of future public health workers. Working with a group of public health workforce thought leaders, PHAB developed a long-range plan for the expectation of accredited health departments in workforce development. Beginning with the development of intentional standardization in workforce development and moving into future challenges and issues, PHAB uses its platform of quality improvement to bring emphasis on the current and future public health workforce. This article describes the development of the workforce components of public health department accreditation as well as future plans to ensure that the momentum continues. Using data from the accredited health departments at the time of article submission, PHAB also describes some of the approaches that governmental public health departments that have completed the accreditation process are using to develop their own workforce and support the development of the future public health workforce. Challenges faced by health departments in these areas are also described.
ISSN:0749-3797
1873-2607
DOI:10.1016/j.amepre.2014.07.020