Looking for professional identity of public health workers in Poland

Abstract

Introduction.Public health is a specific field, which deals with an improvement of population health. It is an interdisciplinary and intersectoral activity and requires participation of various workers. All current documents and acts in public health field in Poland emphasize on the performance of specific tasks, but leave aside personal status and competencies. Many aspects were not resolved till now, e.g. which domains should be included in public health workforce, the problem of workforce enumeration: how large this group should be and what competencies should have.Aim. The aim of the study was an attempt to indicate some professional identity components for public health workers.Material and methods. The study was performed applying the semi-structured interviews method using a hermeneutic approach. The informants were a purposeful sample of 12 people who obtained the master's degree in public health and already took up professional work and graduated from two universities. The basic research question was: how do interviewees perceive the public health worker?Results. All respondents, regardless of the place of work, perceived themselves as public health workers and presumably as specialists. Attempts to describe a public health worker led to non-specific and generalized statements. There were no answers revealed to the responsibility issue for effects of work among interviews. Respondents tended to characterize public health worker competencies vertically, by domain categories, not functionally, by public health services, so the issue of key competencies importance for identity is controversial.Conclusions. There are no strong evidences that particular workplaces or core competencies are related to professional identity of public health workers. Universities have an important role in professionalization of such workers.

Antibiotic susceptibility of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) strains isolated at tertiary care hospital in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

“…The higher values of MRSA in elderly patients might be due to their weak immune systems, visits or stays in healthcare facilities for the long term, and lower standards of hygiene in particular the male gender. [21] According to our data, the majority of MRSA isolates were from wounds (34.5%) followed by blood (14.6%) and tissue (13.2%) infections. Hence, it was confirmed that the most frequent presentation of MRSA infection was SSTI.…”

An analysis of health policy programmes on eye health implemented by Local Government Units (LGUs) in Poland, 2015–2023

“…Findings from this study showed that during the 9 years (2015-2023), only 41 health policy programs on eye health were developed by LGUs in Poland. Study carried out among local government workers showed that in poviats there is a lack of uniform structures dealing with health issues, including health policy programs [15]. Limited funding and lack the skills needed to plan health policy programs [15] are considered as important barriers in the implementation of health policy programs by LGUs.…”

“…Study carried out among local government workers showed that in poviats there is a lack of uniform structures dealing with health issues, including health policy programs [15]. Limited funding and lack the skills needed to plan health policy programs [15] are considered as important barriers in the implementation of health policy programs by LGUs. Out of 41 health policy programs on eye health in Poland, 8 were rejected by ATHATS and could not be implemented due to significant mistakes in the programs (mostly related to the type of intervention, target population calculations, and budget estimates.…”

“…Health policy programs are an important part of local health policies developed by LGUs [15]. They also reflect the priority issues of LGUs and the health needs of local populations [15].…”

“…Health policy programs are an important part of local health policies developed by LGUs [15]. They also reflect the priority issues of LGUs and the health needs of local populations [15]. Previously published data showed that LGUs in Poland implemented health policy programs on infectious disease prevention through vaccination, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, overweight, and obesity [12,13,16,17].…”