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Public health workforce enumeration
Kristine M Gebbie1, Amanda Raziano, Sterling Elliott
1Columbia University School of Nursing, New York, NY, USA.
American Journal of Public Health
|March 21, 2009
Summary
Collecting comprehensive public health workforce data is essential for development and research. A pilot project highlighted challenges and the need for a national system to accurately count the public health workforce.
Area of Science:
- Public Health Systems Research
- Health Workforce Development
Background:
- Comprehensive data on the public health workforce are crucial for effective workforce development.
- Such data are vital for public health systems research, informing practice across all levels.
- Challenges exist in creating comparable indicators for federal, state, and local public health workforces.
Purpose of the Study:
- To identify challenges in collecting comparable public health workforce data.
- To explore the feasibility of a national system for public health workforce enumeration.
- To inform the development of robust, recurring workforce counts.
Main Methods:
- A pilot project was conducted by the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials in 2006-2007.
- The project focused on enumerating the public health workforce.
- Key elements for a national system were identified through the pilot study.
Main Results:
- The pilot project demonstrated significant issues in collecting comparable public health workforce data.
- Methodologic and institutional challenges hinder the development of consistent indicators.
- The study illustrated essential components for establishing a national workforce enumeration system.
Conclusions:
- A robust, recurring national count of the public health workforce is necessary.
- An institutionalized national system is required for a comprehensive picture of the public health workforce.
- Addressing data collection challenges is key to advancing public health systems research and practice.
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