The Public Health Workforce Interests and Needs Survey (PH WINS 2017): An Expanded Perspective on the State Health Agency Workforce

Abstract

Context: Workforce surveillance efforts have long been called for in public health: the Public Health Workforce Interests and Needs Survey (PH WINS) answers that call. Objective: To characterize the state of the governmental public health workforce among State Health Agency-Central Office (SHA-CO) staff across the United States. Design: The SHA leadership were contacted and invited to have their agency participate in PH WINS 2017 as a census-based fielding. Participating agencies provided staff lists, and staff were then directly invited by e-mail to participate in a Web-based survey. Pearson and Rao-Scott χ 2 analyses are employed in descriptive analyses. Balanced repeated replication weights account for design and nonresponse. Setting and Participants: SHA-CO staff. Main Outcome Measures: The PH WINS focuses on 4 primary domains: perceptions of workplace environment and job satisfaction, training needs, national trends, and demographics. In addition, measures of intent to leave and employee burnout are analyzed. Results: The state governmental public health workforce is primarily female (72%), non-Hispanic white (64%), and 46 years of age or older (59%). Nearly one-third (31%) of the workforce is older than 55 years, with 9% aged 30 years or younger. Overall, 74% of respondents indicated that they had at least a bachelor's degree, and 19% indicated having a public health degree of some kind. Seventy-nine percent of the respondents indicated that they were somewhat/very satisfied with their jobs. Approximately 47% of SHA-CO staff say that they are considering leaving or are planning to retire. With respect to training needs, the largest overall gaps for the state health agency workforce were observed in budget and financial management, systems and strategic thinking, and developing a vision for a healthy community. Conclusions: PH WINS represents the first nationally representative survey of governmental public health staff in the United States. It holds potential for wide usage from novel workforce research to identifying and helping address practice-based needs.

Barriers to Dissemination of Local Health Data Faced by US State Agencies: Survey Study of Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System Coordinators

“…If data are not usable, they have limited utility and do not create significant opportunities for public health research. According to the latest Public Health Workforce Interests and Needs Survey (PH WINS), a nationally representative survey of the public health workforce, state agencies lack adequate trained staff who are able to handle and interpret these data [30,31]. Public health agencies are lacking workers in areas such as data-informed decision-making, health informatics, and data quality, which are essential in the dissemination of public health data [30][31][32].…”

Voluntary Separations and Workforce Planning: How Intent to Leave Public Health Agencies Manifests in Actual Departure in the United States

“…While we do not know why these staff actually left, research on the broader 2017 data suggests that staff are considering leaving due to job dissatisfaction, lack of opportunities for advancement, and dissatisfaction with pay. 30 Given the close relationship between intent to leave and actually doing so, a logical approach to retention would be to focus on the drivers of intent to leave including job satisfaction and feelings of supervisor satisfaction, organizational support, and employee engagement. 24 Pay satisfaction is also a consideration.…”

Deficient Response to COVID-19 Makes the Case for Evolving the Public Health System

“…In its most recent survey of the public health workforce, the Association of State and Territorial Health Officers found that 70% of statelevel public health workers were aged >40 years, and <20% of them possessed formal training in public health. 15 Furthermore, 1 in 5 state employees plans to retire by 2023. The survey also found that few health departments employ informatics specialists who can harness the power of advanced computing systems and data science techniques.…”