Local Health Departments' Engagement in Addressing Health Disparities: The Effect of Health Informatics

Objectives: This study examined whether distinct factors exist among public health skills, measured through the Public Health Workforce Interests and Needs Survey (PH WINS). Understanding how workforce training needs group is important for developing targeted and appropriate public health workforce training sessions. Design: Exploratory factor analysis was used to examine public health skills among tier 1 staff (nonmanagers) and a combined group of tier 2 and 3 staff (managers and executives). Setting: Data for this study come from the 2017 PH WINS, which assessed public health workforce perceptions of training needs, workplace environment, job satisfaction, perceptions about national trends, and demographics. The analysis included 22 items. Participants: All public health staff in participating agencies were eligible to complete the survey. The national data set included participants from 47 state health agencies, 26 large local health departments (LHDs), and 71 mid-sized LHDs across all 10 Health and Human Services regions in the United States (including LHDs from all states). The analytic sample was n = 9630 in tier 1, n = 4829 in tier 2, and n = 714 in tier 3 staff. Main Outcome Measure: Three factors were identified within the skills portion of PH WINS, using exploratory factor analysis. To interpret retained factors, the following parameters were used: factor loadings greater than 0.4, factor cross-loadings less than 0.4 or higher than loadings on other factors, and communalities greater than 0.5. Results: Factors included (1) data and systems thinking, (2) planning and management, and (3) community collaboration, with slight variation in item loadings between tier 1 and tier 2 and 3 staff analyses. Conclusion: This study was the first known factor analysis of the training needs and workforce skills portion of PH WINS in the published literature. This study advances our conceptualization of public health workforce skills and has the potential to shape future critical workforce training development.

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Grouping Public Health Skills to Facilitate Workforce Development: A Factor Analysis of PH WINS

Petrovskis

Bekemeier

Draanen

et al. 2022

“…18 The SHARE-NW dashboard, however, does not contain COVID-19-specific data, was not available to users in 2020, and no studies have examined its impact on rural practice or health outcomes. Yet, a study by Shah et al 19 suggests that better access to and use of data increase the odds of an LHD implementing more activities related to addressing disparities.…”

Section: Improved Data Accessmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rural Public Health Data Challenges During the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Case for Building Better Systems Ahead of a Public Health Crisis

Bekemeier

Heitkemper

Backonja

et al. 2023

Context: Rural public health personnel serve communities that have been particularly susceptible to COVID-19 and yet faced the pandemic with far less well-resourced capacity than their urban counterparts. A critical aspect of addressing local health inequities is access to high-quality population data and the capacity to effectively use data to support decision making. However, much of the data required to investigate inequities are not readily available to rural local health departments and the tools and training to analyze data are often lacking. Program: The purpose of our effort was to explore rural data challenges related to COVID-19 and provide recommendations for improving rural data access and capacity ahead of future crises. Implementation: We gathered qualitative data in 2 phases, more than 8 months apart, from rural public health practice personnel. Initial data were gathered in October-November 2020 regarding rural public health data needs during the COVID-19 pandemic and then to later identify whether the same findings held true in July 2021 or whether access to and capacity to use data to address the pandemic and related inequities improved as the pandemic progressed. Evaluation: In our 4-state exploration focused on access and use of data among rural public health systems to promote health equity in the Northwest United States, we found tremendous and ongoing unmet data needs, challenges with communicating data, and a lack of capacity to meet this public health crisis. Discussion: Recommendations for addressing these challenges include increasing dedicated resources specifically to rural public health systems, improving data access and infrastructure, and providing dedicated data-related workforce development.

“…10 Despite these trends and the benefits of health informatics, public health is still behind in adopting informatics systems and technology usage compared with other health care institutions. 11,12 According to OʼLawrence, "Technology is only as good as the ingenuity of those who can both maintain and use it to its fullest potential," 13(p068) thus calling for the need for a skilled workforce that is competent in the public health application of technology, including PHI. Previous assessments of the health informatics capacity of health departments in the United States have found that public health employees have training gaps in many aspects of informatics, including those related to core public health practice.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing Public Health Workforce Informatics Competencies: A Study of 3 District Health Departments in Georgia

Adewale

Apenteng

Shah³

et al. 2021

Self Cite

Context: Despite the increased recognition of the importance of having informatics-competent public health professionals, the competency level of the public health workforce in public health informatics (PHI) has not been examined extensively in the literature. Objective: The purpose of this study was to assess public health workforce informatics competencies in select Georgia health districts and determine the correlates of PHI proficiency. Methods: This study is based on a cross-sectional quantitative study design. We conducted an online self-administered survey of employees from 3 selected district health departments to assess proficiency in foundational PHI competency domains. Three hundred thirty-three respondents completed the survey, with a response rate of 32.5%. A gap score was calculated as a proxy to identify informatics training needs. A path analysis was conducted to assess the relationships among contextual factors and foundational PHI competency domains. Results: The public health employees participating in this study reported relatively high proficiency in foundational PHI competency. Psychometric testing of the competency assessment instrument revealed 2 foundational informatics competency domains-effective information technology (IT) use and effective use of information. The effective use of IT mediated the relationship between employee-level factors of age and past informatics training and the effective use of information. Conclusion:The study highlights the importance of improving the ability of public health professionals to leverage IT and information to advance population health. Periodic assessment of staff PHI competencies can help proactively identify competency gaps and address needs for additional training. Short assessment tools, such as presented in this study, can be validated and used for such assessments.