Information needs and uses of the public health workforce--Washington, 1997-1998

Substantial efforts have been made to ensure that state and local public health agencies have the information technology and training needed for public health communications, information access, and data exchange. Numerous public health-related data and information resources are available on the World-Wide Web (e.g., MEDLINE, MMWR, CDC Prevention Guidelines Database, and Emerging Infectious Diseases); however, little systematic work has been done to understand the information needs of the public health workforce. To identify these needs and patterns of use and to set priorities for developing new online public health information resources, the University of Washington School of Public Health and Community Medicine (UW SPHCM) and the Washington State Department of Health (WSDoH) held structured and facilitated discussions with segments of the local public health workforce in Washington during 1997-1998. This report summarizes the results of those discussions, which indicate that different segments of the public health workforce have different information needs.