Characterizing Informatics Roles and Needs of Public Health Workers

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Objective: To characterize public health informatics (PHI) specialists and identify the informatics needs of the public health workforce. Design: Cross-sectional study. Setting: US local and state health agencies. Participants: Employees from state health agencies central office (SHA-COs) and local health departments (LHDs) participating in the 2017 Public Health Workforce Interests and Needs Survey (PH WINS). We characterized and compared the job roles for self-reported PHI, "information technology specialist or information system manager" (IT/IS), "public health science" (PHS), and "clinical and laboratory" workers. Main Outcome Measure: Descriptive statistics for demographics, income, education, public health experience, program area, job satisfaction, and workplace environment, as well as data and informatics skills and needs. Results: A total of 17 136 SHA-CO and 26 533 LHD employees participated in the survey. PHI specialist was self-reported as a job role among 1.1% and 0.3% of SHA-CO and LHD employees. The PHI segment most closely resembled PHS employees but had less public health experience and had lower salaries. Overall, fewer than one-third of PHI specialists reported working in an informatics program area, often supporting epidemiology and surveillance, vital records, and communicable disease. Compared with PH WINS 2014, current PHI respondents' satisfaction with their job and workplace environment moved toward more neutral and negative responses, while the IT/IS, PHS, and clinical and laboratory subgroups shifted toward more positive responses. The PHI specialists were less likely than those in IT/IS, PHS, or clinical and laboratory roles to report gaps in needed data and informatics skills. Conclusions: The informatics specialists' role continues to be rare in public health agencies, and those filling that role tend to have less public health experience and be less well compensated than staff in other technically focused positions. Significant data and informatics skills gaps persist among the broader public health workforce.

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

Public Health Informatics in Local and State Health Agencies: An Update From the Public Health Workforce Interests and Needs Survey

McFarlane

Dixon

Grannis

et al. 2019

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“…Previous studies of informatics capacity have focused on the use of information systems and workforce capacity. 5 , 14 – 18 Existing research shows that LHDs differ in the use or implementation of information systems by infrastructural and other organizational characteristics. 5 , 15 , 16 However, detailed analyses of the informatics-related activities indicating the workforce capacity and the extent to which LHDs vary in informatics activities by organizational characteristics have not been examined.…”

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confidence: 99%

Assessing Skills and Capacity for Informatics: Activities Most Commonly Performed by or for Local Health Departments

Drezner

McKeown

Shah³

2016

“…As the role of public health informatics grows for public health agencies, the need for improved workforce development in SyS also expands. 12 , 13 In 2015, to further understand how LHDs use and manage their SyS systems and SyS workforce capabilities, the International Society for Disease Surveillance (ISDS), in collaboration with NACCHO, conducted the Biosurveillance Needs Assessment Survey (BNAS), to identify and measure LHD biosurveillance system capabilities and workforce competencies nationwide. This study describes levels of proficiency across a range of SyS functionalities and patterns across LHDs of different jurisdiction size.…”

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confidence: 99%

Workforce Competencies in Syndromic Surveillance Practice at Local Health Departments

DeVore

Chughtai

Kan

et al. 2016