Turnover, COVID-19, and Reasons for Leaving and Staying Within Governmental Public Health.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Public health workforce recruitment and retention continue to challenge public health agencies. This study aims to describe the trends in intention to leave and retire and analyze factors associated with intentions to leave and intentions to stay. DESIGN: Using national-level data from the 2017 and 2021 Public Health Workforce Interests and Needs Surveys, bivariate analyses of intent to leave were conducted using a Rao-Scott adjusted chi-square and multivariate analysis using logistic regression models. RESULTS: In 2021, 20% of employees planned to retire and 30% were considering leaving. In contrast, 23% of employees planned to retire and 28% considered leaving in 2017. The factors associated with intentions to leave included job dissatisfaction, with adjusted odds ratio (AOR) of 3.8 (95% CI, 3.52-4.22) for individuals who were very dissatisfied or dissatisfied. Odds of intending to leave were significantly high for employees with pay dissatisfaction (AOR = 1.83; 95% CI, 1.59-2.11), those younger than 36 years (AOR = 1.58; 95% CI, 1.44-1.73) or 65+ years of age (AOR = 2.80; 95% CI, 2.36-3.33), those with a graduate degree (AOR = 1.14; 95% CI, 1.03-1.26), those hired for COVID-19 response (AOR = 1.74; 95% CI, 1.49-2.03), and for the BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and people of color) (vs White) staff (AOR = 1.07; 95% CI, 1.01-1.15). The leading reasons for employees' intention to stay included benefits such as retirement, job stability, flexibility (eg, flex hours/telework), and satisfaction with one's supervisor. CONCLUSIONS: Given the cost of employee recruitment, training, and retention of competent employees, government public health agencies need to address factors such as job satisfaction, job skill development, and other predictors of employee retention and turnover. IMPLICATIONS: Public health agencies may consider activities for improving retention by prioritizing improvements in the work environment, job and pay satisfaction, and understanding the needs of subgroups of employees such as those in younger and older age groups, those with cultural differences, and those with skills that are highly sought-after by other industries.

Knowing Where Public Health Is Going: Levels and Determinants of Workforce Awareness of National Public Health Trends.

CONTEXT: Several recent developments are trending in public health, providing an important window into the future of policy and practice in the field. The extent to which public health workforce is aware of these trends has not been assessed. OBJECTIVE: This research examined the extent to which the public health workforce is familiar with 8 important developments and trends in public health and explored factors associated with variation in awareness levels. DESIGN: This study characterizes an observational cross-sectional design, based on analysis of secondary data collected by the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials through the Public Health Workforce Interests and Needs Survey (PH WINS). SETTING: Our study used data from those states for which representative samples for the local health department (LHD) employees were also available. PARTICIPANTS: We included survey responses from employees of state health agencies' central offices and LHDs. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: The primary outcome variable for the analysis was the level of awareness about emerging public health trends in the public health workforce. RESULTS: Awareness of emerging trends was lowest for Public Health Systems and Services Research; roughly 1 in 4 employees were aware of this trend. The second least heard of trends were Health in All Policies, and cross-jurisdictional sharing. The public health trends about which the highest proportion of public health employees had heard were implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and evidence-based public health practice. Awareness about public health trends was generally higher among state health agency employees than among LHD employees. Work environment, supervisory status, employee education, and female gender were significantly associated with higher awareness levels for both state health agency and LHD employees. CONCLUSIONS: Public health trends that are important for health agencies should be brought to the spotlight in national dialogue in order to increase practitioner involvement in those initiatives.

Current and planned shared service arrangements in Wisconsin local and tribal health departments.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to explore current and future use of shared service arrangements as a management strategy to increase capacity to provide public health essential services in Wisconsin. DESIGN: An online cross-sectional survey of 99 local and tribal health departments in Wisconsin was conducted. Select variables from the 2010 Wisconsin Local Health Department Survey were merged. Other data sources included results from a Board of Health governance analysis and the Wisconsin Department of Health Services region data. Descriptive analysis was performed of current and future shared service arrangements and the characteristics of the types of arrangements and agreements in place. RESULTS: Ninety-one of 99 Wisconsin local and tribal health departments responded, yielding a 92% response rate. Seventy-one percent of respondents currently share services with 1 or more other health departments. More frequent arrangements were present in programmatic areas than in departmental operations. Most frequently reported motivators include making better use of resources, providing better services, and responding to program requirements. Extensive qualitative comments indicate arrangements accomplished what the local health department hoped it would with perceived gains in efficiency and effectiveness. CONCLUSION: There is widespread use of shared services among health departments in Wisconsin. Extensive qualitative comments suggest participant satisfaction with what the arrangements have accomplished. Motivating factors in developing the arrangements and limited mention of expiration dates suggest continued study of how these arrangements may evolve. Further examination of shared services as a potential mechanism to advance service effectiveness and efficiency is needed.

Oregon's Approach To Demonstrating The Value Of A Modern Public Health System Through Accountability Metrics.

Oregon's public health system uses accountability metrics to improve health, eliminate inequities, and practice stewardship. First enacted into law during the 2015 legislative session, with additions and clarifications made in the 2017 session, these metrics promote collective action across sectors, bring attention to the root causes of health inequities, and hold public health authorities accountable for performance improvement as they carry out core public health functions. This article describes the development of Oregon's accountability metrics and implications for future practice. In 2023, Oregon's public health leaders adopted a new set of health outcome indicators and process measures for communicable disease control and environmental health, with performance tied to financial incentives. Oregon's process is a model for other states developing an accountability framework in their pursuit of public health transformation. Oregon's work contributes to legislative and other policy decisions for measuring the success of approaches to eliminating health inequities and for applying performance-based incentives within the public health system.

Engaging Antiracist And Decolonial Praxis To Advance Equity In Oregon Public Health Surveillance Practices.

Public health surveillance and data systems in the US remain an unnamed facet of structural racism. What gets measured, which data get collected and analyzed, and how and by whom are not matters of happenstance. Rather, surveillance and data systems are productions and reproductions of political priority, epistemic privilege, and racialized state power. This has consequences for how communities of color are represented or misrepresented, viewed, and valued and for what is prioritized and viewed as legitimate cause for action. Surveillance and data systems accordingly must be understood as both an instrument of structural racism and an opportunity to dismantle it. Here, we outline a critique of standard surveillance systems and practice, drawing from the social epidemiology, critical theory, and decolonial theory literatures to illuminate matters of power germane to epistemic and procedural justice in the surveillance of communities of color. We then summarize how community partners, academics, and state health department data scientists collaborated to reimagine survey practices in Oregon, engaging public health critical race praxis and decolonial theory to reorient toward antiracist surveillance systems. We close with a brief discussion of implications for practice and areas for continued consideration and reflection.

Centering Communities of Color in the Modernization of a Public Health Survey System: Lessons from Oregon.

Context: Public health survey systems are tools for informing public health programming and policy at the national, state, and local levels. Among the challenges states face with these kinds of surveys include concerns about the representativeness of communities of color and lack of community engagement in survey design, analysis, and interpretation of results or dissemination, which raises questions about their integrity and relevance. Approach: Using a data equity framework (rooted in antiracism and intersectionality), the purpose of this project was to describe a formative participatory assessment approach to address challenges in Oregon Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) and Student Health Survey (SHS) data system by centering community partnership and leadership in (1) understanding and interpreting data; (2) identifying strengths, gaps, and limitations of data and methodologies; (3) facilitating community-led data collection on community-identified gaps in the data; and (4) developing recommendations. Results: Project team members' concerns, observations, and critiques are organized into six themes. Throughout this engagement process, community partners, including members of the project teams, shared a common concern: that these surveys reproduced the assumptions, norms, and methodologies of the dominant (White, individual centered) scientific approach and, in so doing, created further harm by excluding community knowledges and misrepresenting communities of color. Conclusions: Meaningful community leadership is needed for public health survey systems to provide more actionable pathways toward improving population health outcomes. A data equity approach means centering communities of color throughout survey cycles, which can strengthen the scientific integrity and relevance of these data to inform community health efforts.

Quality improvement and accreditation readiness in state public health agencies.

OBJECTIVE: There were 3 specific objectives of this study. The first objective was to examine the progress of state/territorial health assessment, health improvement planning, performance management, and quality improvement (QI) activities at state/territorial health agencies and compare findings to the 2007 findings when available. A second objective was to examine respondent interest and readiness for national voluntary accreditation. A final objective was to explore organizational factors (eg, leadership and capacity) that may influence QI or accreditation readiness. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. SETTING: State and Territorial Public Health Agencies. PARTICIPANTS: Survey respondents were organizational leaders at State and Territorial Public Health Agencies. RESULTS: Sixty-seven percent of respondents reported having a formal performance management process in place. Approximately 77% of respondents reported a QI process in place. Seventy-three percent of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that they would seek accreditation and 36% agreed or strongly agreed that they would seek accreditation in the first 2 years of the program. In terms of accreditation prerequisites, a strategic plan was most frequently developed, followed by a state/territorial health assessment and health improvement plan, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Advancements in the practice and applied research of QI in state public health agencies are necessary steps for improving performance. In particular, strengthening the measurement of the QI construct is essential for meaningfully assessing current practice patterns and informing future programming and policy decisions. Continued QI training and technical assistance to agency staff and leadership is also critical. Accreditation may be the pivotal factor to strengthen both QI practice and research. Respondent interest in seeking accreditation may indicate the perceived value of accreditation to the agency.

Structure and functions of state public health agencies in 2007.

We sought to document the structure and functions of state public health agencies throughout the United States in 2007 and compare findings with those from a similar 2001 assessment. In 2007 a survey of the structure and functions of state public health agencies was sent to and completed by senior deputies in all 50 states and the District of Columbia (a 100% response rate). The results of the survey showed that all emerging practice areas in 2001 had expanded by 2007. Also, state health departments generally had greater levels of responsibility in 2007 than they did in 2001, emphasizing the need for continued support of governmental public health systems and research on the operations of those systems.

State landscape in public health planning and quality improvement: results of the ASTHO survey.

Limited data exist on state public health agencies and their use of planning and quality improvement (QI) initiatives. Using the 2007 Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO) State Public Health Survey, this article describes how state public health agencies perform tasks related to planning, performance management (PM), and QI. While 82 percent of respondents report having a QI process in place, only 9.8 percent have it fully implemented departmentwide. Seventy-six percent reported having a PM process in place, with 16 percent (n = 8) having it fully implemented departmentwide. A state health improvement plan was used by 80.4 percent of respondents, with 56.9 percent of respondents completing the plan more than 3 years ago. More than two-thirds (68.2%) of the respondents developed the plan by using results of their state health assessment. Analysis of state health department level planning, PM, and QI initiatives can inform states' efforts to ready themselves to meet the proposed national voluntary accreditation standards of the Public Health Accreditation Board.

Self-assessment of public health essential services among Illinois local health department administrators.

This article uses data from a study commissioned by the Illinois Public Health Institute in 2007 as part of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Multistate Learning Collaborative Grant for exploring accreditation of health departments. Local health departments in Illinois were surveyed on their self-assessed performance in meeting a set of performance standards derived from the Illinois Practice Standards and the Operational Definition of a Functional Local Health Department. All state-certified local health departments were represented in the survey by the 81 respondents. The lowest scores were observed in the evaluate standard (evaluate programs and provide quality assurance in accordance with applicable professional and regulatory standards to ensure that programs are consistent with plans and policies, and provide feedback on inadequacies and changes needed to redirect programs and resources). The findings suggest that new approaches are needed to better integrate evaluation in local health departments beginning with training designed specifically for and informed by local health department administrators.

Public Health Quality Improvement Exchange: A Tool to Support Advancements in Public Health Practice.

OBJECTIVES: The Public Health Quality Improvement Exchange(PHQIX) is a free, openly available online community that supports public health practitioners in the rapidly evolving landscape of public health quality improvement (QI). This article's objective is to describe the user-centered development of PHQIX and its current content and examine how elements of a QI initiative may vary by an organization's characteristics or QI experience. METHODS: PHQIX was developed by taking a user-centered iterative design approach, seeking early and continued input from users to gather requirements for the website. We performed an exploratory analysis of the published QI initiative descriptions, reviewing all QI projects that PHQIX users shared as of January 1, 2018. RESULTS: PHQIX features 193 QI initiatives from a variety of health departments and public health institutes using a wide range of QI methods and tools. DISCUSSION: Submitted QI initiatives focus on many public health domains and favor the PDCA/PDSA cycle; Kaizen; and fishbone diagrams, flowcharts, process maps, and survey methods. Limitations include data coming only from users who represent health departments with sufficient time to complete the PHQIX submission template. Additionally, many initiatives were submitted in part to fulfill a grant requirement, which could skew results. CONCLUSION: As the field of QI in public health practice evolves, resources targeted to QI practitioners should build on and advance the available resources. Findings from this study will provide insight into QI initiatives being performed and the types of projects that can be expected as organizational experience and collaboration grow.

Sharing Local Public Health Services Across Jurisdictions: Comparing Practice in 2012 and 2014.

OBJECTIVE: Describe cross-jurisdiction service sharing (CJS) by local and tribal health departments (LHD) in Wisconsin in 2014 compared to 2012. DESIGN: An online survey of 91 LHD directors in Wisconsin was conducted. Results were compared to the results of a 2012 survey. Characteristics of CJS arrangements and differences in results by population size, geographic region, and governance type were described. Standardized proportion differences (h) were estimated using the arcsin transformation. Confidence intervals were estimated using unconditional exact confidence intervals for the difference of proportions.8 A forest plot of the estimates and confidence intervals was generated to visualize change in CJS for each population category. RESULTS: Seventy-eight percent of respondents in 2014 reported currently sharing services compared to 71% of respondents in 2012. Positive effect sizes indicate increased sharing in year 2014 relative to 2012. CJS was more frequent for LHD serving smaller jurisdictions, consistent with both 2012 survey results and national findings. All governance types continue to engage in sharing public health services. IMPLICATIONS: Cross jurisdictional service sharing is widespread and increasing in Wisconsin, implying that it is a useful strategy for providing public health services under some circumstances. Educating public health practitioners and students about CJS strategies in public health is recommended.

Addressing psychological, mental health and other behavioural healthcare needs of the underserved populations in the United States: the role of local health departments.

AIMS: (1) To assess the extent to which local health departments (LHDs) implement and evaluate strategies to target the behavioural healthcare needs for the underserved populations and (2) to identify factors that are associated with these undertakings. METHODS: Data for this study were drawn from the 2013 National Profile of Local Health Departments Study conducted by National Association of County and City Health Officials. A total of 505 LHDs completed the Module 2 questionnaire of the Profile Study, in which LHDs were asked whether they implemented strategies and evaluated strategies to target the behavioural healthcare needs of the underserved populations. To assess LHDs' level of engagement in assuring access to behavioural healthcare services, descriptive statistics were computed, whereas the factors associated with assuring access to these services were examined by using logistic regression analyses. To account for complex survey design, we used SVY routine in Stata 11. RESULTS: Only about 24.9% of LHDs in small jurisdiction (<50,000 population) and 35.3% of LHDs in medium-size jurisdiction implemented/evaluated strategies to target the behavioural healthcare services needs of underserved populations in their jurisdiction in 2013. Logistic regression model results showed that LHDs having city/multicity jurisdiction (adjusted odds ratio (AOR) = .16, 95% confidence interval (CI): .04-.77), centralised governance (AOR = .12, 95% CI: .02-.85), and those located in South Region (AOR = .25, 95% CI: .08-.74) or the West Region (AOR = .36, 95% CI: 14-.94), were less likely to have implemented/evaluated strategies to target the behavioural healthcare needs of the underserved. CONCLUSIONS: The extent to which the LHDs implemented or evaluated strategies to target the behavioural healthcare needs of the underserved population varied by geographic regions and jurisdiction types. Different community needs or different state Medicaid programmes may have accounted for these variations. LHDs could play an important role in improving equity in access to care, including behavioural healthcare services in the communities.

Characteristics of physician relocation following Hurricane Katrina.

INTRODUCTION: On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina made landfall along the US Gulf Coast, resulting in the evacuation of >1.5 million people, including nearly 6000 physicians. This article examines the relocation patterns of physicians following the storm, determines the impact that the disaster had on their lives and practices, and identifies lessons learned. METHODS: An Internet-based survey was conducted among licensed physicians reporting addresses within Federal Emergency Management Agency-designated disaster zones in Louisiana and Mississippi. Descriptive data analysis was used to describe respondent characteristics. Multivariate logistic regression was performed to identify the factors associated with physician nonreturn to original practice. For those remaining relocated out of state, bivariate analysis with chi or Fisher exact test was used to determine factors associated with plans to return to original practice. RESULTS: A total of 312 eligible responses were collected. Among disaster zone respondents, 85.6% lived in Louisiana and 14.4% resided in Mississippi before the hurricane struck. By spring 2006, 75.6% (n = 236) of the respondents had returned to their original homes, whereas 24.4% (n = 76) remained displaced. Factors associated with nonreturn to original employment included family or general medicine practice (OR 0.42, 95% CI 0.17-1.04; P = .059) and severe or complete damage to the workplace (OR 0.24, 95% CI 0.13-0.42; P < .001). CONCLUSIONS: A sizeable proportion of physicians remain displaced after Hurricane Katrina, along with a lasting decrease in the number of physicians serving in the areas affected by the disaster. Programs designed to address identified physician needs in the aftermath of the storm may give confidence to displaced physicians to return.

Self-reported competency of public health nurses and faculty in Illinois.

Having a public health workforce with a high level of competency is a prerequisite for having an effective public health system. The purpose of these two studies was to assess the competency level of practicing public health nurses (PHNs; n=168) from 50 local health agencies and public health nursing faculty (n=46) from 31 nursing programs in Illinois. The questionnaire consisted of nine reliable scales using self-reported levels of competence in each PHN competency domain. Overall, PHNs reported only feeling competent in one domain: "linking people to services." Although PHN faculty felt competent across the nine domains, they did not report feeling competent to teach any of the domains. Thus, PHNs and public health nursing faculty need education and training to meet the professionally established level of competence.