Perceptions of Criticality and Frequency of Tasks by the Public Health Workforce, 2022

Since the occurrence of the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been significant interest in the public health workforce and its development. Substantial emphasis has been placed on the competencies needed for the development of the workforce. As important as this work on competencies is to a competent public health workforce, the certification of public health professionals and the maintenance of their skills and knowledge is of equal importance. The National Board of Public Health Examiners (NBPHE), along with other organizations, plays a key role in this process. Based on the National Board of Public Health Examiner's 2022 JTA, this study investigates the specific tasks that are performed by the public health workforce in each of 10 domains, their criticality and frequency, and the relationship of their criticality to their frequency.

Using data from the National Board of Public Health Examiners (NBPHE) job task analysis (JTA), the criticality and frequency of tasks and their relationship were investigated through tabular analysis.

Ten tasks were identified as the most critical, focused on the domains of communication, leadership, resource and program management, and law and ethics. The 10 most frequent tasks were the same as the most critical tasks in 8 instances. When the criticality of all tasks was related to their frequency, 12 tasks were found to have high criticality and high frequency, 17 tasks had low criticality and low frequency, and 74 tasks had high criticality and low frequency. In our data, no low criticality tasks were performed frequently.

Results are discussed for their relevance to education in public health and practitioner development. A key takeaway is that workforce tasks and competencies appear to provide two different and important ways to analyze workforce activity in future research.