Emerging lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic about the decisive competencies needed for the public health workforce: A qualitative study.

The global COVID-19 crisis exposed the critical need for a highly qualified public health workforce. This qualitative research aimed to examine public health workforce competencies needed to face COVID-19 challenges and identify the gaps between training programs and the competency demands of real-world disasters and pandemics. Through a sample of thirty-one participant qualitative interviews, we examined the perspectives of diverse stakeholders from lead public health organizations in Israel. Grounded Theory was used to analyze the data. Six themes emerged from the content analysis: public health workforce's low professional status and the uncertain future of the public health workforce; links between the community and Higher Education institutions; the centrality of communication competencies; need to improve health promotion; the role of leadership, management, and partnership, and innovation in public health coherence. Increasing the attractiveness of the profession, professional and financial support, and improving the working conditions to ensure a sustainable and resilient PH system were deemed necessary. This paper describes and cultivates new knowledge and leadership skills among public health professionals, and lays the groundwork for future public health leadership preparedness programs.

Bashkin O ，Otok R ，Leighton L ，Czabanowska K ，Barach P ，Davidovitch N ，Dopelt K ，Duplaga M ，Okenwa Emegwa L ，MacLeod F ，Neumark Y ，Raz MP ，Tulchinsky T ，Mor Z ... -  《Frontiers in Public Health》

Lessons From Leading During a Pandemic: An Exploratory Study of Public Health Leadership Insights on Training, Preparation, and Experiences From the Field During COVID-19.

The public health workforce encountered challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic that exposed areas for improvement in preparation for future public health threats. Key among these is well-trained public health leaders equipped with an array of crisis leadership skills. To examine the training background, assess the perceived preparedness, and garner recommendations for training of the future public health workforce from public health leaders who navigated the COVID-19 pandemic. This exploratory research gleaned information by utilizing an online questionnaire and interviews to provide lessons learned regarding improvements needed for public health leader preparedness. Three California public health departments representing urban, suburban, and rural populations. Thirty public health leaders who were directly involved in public health work for ≥3 years in a leadership/management role and involved in COVID-19-related work for at least 6 months participated. Questionnaire findings revealed gaps in crisis leadership, communication, and collaboration training. Interview results supported and expanded upon the quantitative findings, including the value of various competencies and recommendations to improve the preparedness of future public health leaders. The findings suggested that although many of the skills needed are competencies for accredited public health training programs, effective leadership during public health emergencies may require additional training beyond what is generally provided. Recommendations include integrating study findings into public health training programs to address competency gaps, leveraging results to enhance leadership skills, and promoting collaboration between public health departments and academic institutions to develop evidence-informed crisis leadership training. These findings inform strategies to ensure the preparedness of the public health workforce for future crises.

Singh AV ，Niu L ，Johnson CA ，Orr JE ，Palmer PH ... -  《-》

Digital Competencies and Training Approaches to Enhance the Capacity of Practitioners to Support the Digital Transformation of Public Health: Rapid Review of Current Recommendations.

The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted gaps in the public health workforce's capacity to deploy digital technologies while upholding ethical, social justice, and health equity principles. Existing public health competency frameworks have not been updated to reflect the prominent role digital technologies play in contemporary public health, and public health training institutions are seeking to integrate digital technologies in their curricula. As a first step in a multiphase study exploring recommendations for updates to public health competency frameworks within the Canadian public health context, we conducted a rapid review of literature aiming to identify recommendations for digital competencies, training approaches, and inter- or transdisciplinary partnerships that can enhance public health practitioners' capacity to support the digital transformation of public health. Following the World Health Organization's (2017) guidelines for rapid reviews, a systematic search was conducted on Ovid MEDLINE, Ovid Embase, ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), and Web of Science for peer-reviewed articles. We also searched Google Scholar and various public health agency and public health association websites for gray literature using search terms related to public health, digital health, practice competencies, and training approaches. We included articles with explicit practice competencies and training recommendations related to digital technologies among public health practitioners published between January 2010 and December 2022. We excluded articles describing these concepts in passing or from a solely clinical perspective. Our search returned 2023 titles and abstracts, of which only 12 studies met the inclusion criteria. We found recommendations for new competencies to enable public health practitioners to appropriately use digital technologies that cut across all existing categories of the core competencies for public health framework of the Public Health Agency of Canada. We also identified a new competency category related to data, data systems management, and governance. Training approaches identified include adapted degree-awarding programs like combined public health and informatics or data science degree programs and ongoing professional certifications with integration of practice-based learning in multi- and interdisciplinary training. Disciplines suggested as important to facilitate practice competency and training recommendations included public health, public health informatics, data, information and computer sciences, biostatistics, health communication, and business. Despite the growth of digital technologies in public health, recommendations about practice competencies and training approaches necessary to effectively support the digital transformation of public health remain limited in the literature. Where available, evidence suggests the workforce requires new competencies that cut across and extend existing public health competencies, including new competencies related to the use and protection of new digital data sources, alongside facilitating health communication and promotion functions using digital media. Recommendations also emphasize the need for training approaches that focus on interdisciplinarity through adapted degree-awarding public health training programs and ongoing professional development.

Ramachandran S ，Chang HJ ，Worthington C ，Kushniruk A ，Ibáñez-Carrasco F ，Davies H ，McKee G ，Brown A ，Gilbert M ，Iyamu I ... -  《-》

Public health competences through the lens of the COVID-19 pandemic: what matters for health workforce preparedness for global health emergencies.

The COVID-19 pandemic is raising new questions on public health competences and leadership and on health workforce preparedness for global public health emergencies. The present commentary aims to highlight demand and opportunities for innovation through the disruptions caused by the COVID-19 crisis. We review the public health competency framework recently launched by WHO and ASPHER through the lens of COVID-19. The framework provides guidance for aligning public health and global health competences across sectors and professional groups. Five critical competency areas can be identified in relation to public health emergencies: (1) flexibility, adaptation, motivation, communication, (2) research, analytical sensitivity, ethics, diversity, (3) epidemiology, (4) preparedness and (5) employability. However, this may not be enough. New models of public health leadership and changes in the health workforce are needed, which transform the silos of professions and policy. Such transformations would include learning, working, leading and governing differently and must stretch far beyond the public health workforce. To achieve transformative capacity, critical public health competences must be considered for all healthcare workers on all levels of policymaking, thus becoming the 'heart' of health workforce resilience and pandemic preparedness.

Czabanowska K ，Kuhlmann E 《-》

Lessons Learned From the Public Health Workforce's Experiences With the COVID-19 Response.

Scales SE ，Patrick E ，Stone KW ，Kintziger KW ，Jagger MA ，Horney JA ... -  《-》