Good governance competencies in public health to train public health physicians

This study aimed at assessing public health residents' perceived health system governance (HSG) training needs and to define a competency framework for "good governance" to improve Public Health physicians' curricula.

A questionnaire was administered to all Italian medical residents on postgraduate courses in Hygiene and Preventive medicine. Twenty-five (78.1%) of the 32 Italian Schools of Public Health and 299/535 residents (55.9%) took part in this survey. The public health governance competency framework was developed from roles and responsibility at different levels of governance in the Italian Health System context.

The questionnaire revealed that residents felt the need for more training on all the proposed HSG-related topics. Different governance functions, strategic planning, operational planning, and operational programming were considered when defining roles and responsibilities.

More efforts should be made to provide organic training plans tailored to the needs of local and national health system. The competencies framework for good governance could be useful for planning professional training in both the academic and the health system settings.