Environmental Health Professionals Training Needs Assessment Report Michigan Public Health Training Center | Office of Public Health Practice University of Michigan School of Public Health September 2014
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank Chris Klawuhn, Michigan Environmental Health Association (MEHA) Past President; Carolyn Hobbs, MEHA President; and Meghan Swain, Executive Director, Michigan Assocation for Local Public Health (MALPH); Associate Dean for Practice Phyllis Meadows, University of Michigan School of Public Health, Office of Public Health Practice; and Meredith Burke, University of Michigan, Research Assistant. We gratefully acknowledge funding provided by the Health Resources and Services Administration, Bureau of Health Workforce via a grant to the Michigan Public Health Training Center.
Contents
Executive Summary ..................................................................................................................................... 1 Key Findings ............................................................................................................................................. 1 Recommendations ................................................................................................................................... 3 Introduction ................................................................................................................................................. 2 Methods ...................................................................................................................................................... 2 Results ......................................................................................................................................................... 2 Participants .............................................................................................................................................. 2 Training Needs ......................................................................................................................................... 4 Training Accessibility ............................................................................................................................... 9 Limitations ................................................................................................................................................. 10 Discussion: Training Recommendations .................................................................................................... 11 Appendices ................................................................................................................................................ 13 A. Survey Instrument .......................................................................................................................... 13 B. Summary of Responses .................................................................................................................. 28 C. Additional Comments ..................................................................................................................... 24
Corresponding author:
Michigan Public Health Training Center:
Patricia D. Koman, MPP Senior Program Manager Environmental Health Sciences and Office of Public Health Practice University of Michigan School of Public Health Email:
[email protected] Phone: 734.764.0552
Phoebe Goldberg, MPH, CHES Interim Program Manager Office of Public Health Practice University of Michigan School of Public Health Email:
[email protected] Phone: (734) 763-‐6526
Executive Summary The University of Michigan (U-‐M) Office of Public Health Practice (OPHP) and its Michigan Public Health Training Center (Michigan PHTC) are committed to strengthening the knowledge and skills of Michigan’s current and future public health workforce. We recognize environmental health professionals as a key component of the public health workforce; thus, we sought to determine and serve their key training needs.
In the spring 2014, the OPHP and the Michigan PHTC partnered with the Michigan Environmental Health Association (MEHA) and Michigan Association of Local Public Health (MALPH) to conduct a survey to answer the question, "What are the training needs of Michigan’s environmental health professionals?" Environmental health professionals’ self-‐assessment allows the U-‐M OPHP and the Michigan PHTC MEHA, and MALPH to better serve Michigan’s public health workforce. The goal is to provide more targeted course offerings and professional development to the environmental health community to help them become more prepared in skill areas that they feel are important to their work. Additionally, the assessment seeks to identify and rank training areas for Michigan’s environmental health workforce. This assessment identified environmental health professionals’ self-‐reported training needs pertaining to the eight Core Competencies for Public Health Professionals: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.
Cultural Competency Skills Leadership and Systems Thinking Skills Financial Planning and Management Skills Analytical/Assessment Skills Policy Development/Program Planning Skills Communication Skills Community Dimensions of Practice Skills Public Health Science Skills
In total, participants identified their level of training need for 38 different technical and professional development topics
421 MEHA members were asked about their experience working in the public health workforce through an electronic anonymous survey. Respondents rated their level of training need over the next year and a half in specific skills/topics related to environmental health practice: (1) technical training needs and (2) professional development training needs. The survey also included questions about training accessibility and preferences in order to identify which training formats and methods best fit environmental health professionals’ needs.
Key Findings Skills and topics for which training is most needed overall focus largely on professional development rather than technical skills. Respondents’ self-‐ reported need for professional development skills (overall average 2.44 on scale of 1 to 4, with 4 indicating high need) was higher than their self-‐ reported need for technical training (overall average 2.22 on scale of 1 to 4). However, 6 of the top 10 rated needs were technical training areas. Almost a quarter of respondents (22%) indicated that needed communication and leadership training is not offered (n = 128). Existing state-‐level trainings seem to meet many of the respondents’ current needs. 1
Environmental health professionals desire leadership and communication training over technical training in general. However, the top three training topics included technical topics: (1) Food Protection and Regulation, (2) Customer Service -‐ Dealing with Difficult People, and (3) Emerging Pathogens
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Respondents included those from all levels of staff: Executive leaders, supervisors, and technical staff. In total, we received unduplicated responses from 138 MEHA members (33% response rate). o The majority of respondents (65%) work for local public health agencies, followed by those who work for other local government (12%) and for state government (12%). The remaining respondents work in academia (3%), private industry (2%), and other areas (4%). Table ES-‐1 displays 6 technical and 10 professional development training needs for which at least 30% of respondents identified high or moderate need for training. The table is organized by the number of respondents (count) identifying a high or moderate need for the specific topic.
Table ES-‐1: Top Training Needs Based on Indication of High Need (n=130)
Rank% Rank Training%Need 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 12 13 14 15
Count
Food%Protection%and%Regulation Customer%Service%and%Dealing%with%Difficult%People Emerging%Pathogens%(H1N1,%Noro%virus) Leadership Understanding%MDCH/State%Government%Policies Environmental%Public%Health%Tracking%and%Informatics OnRsite%Sewage%Treatment Coaching%Staff%for%Performance Water%Well%Installations Expert%Witness%or%Testifying%in%Court Negotiation Supervision GoalRsetting Interpersonal%Communication Protecting%Children's%Environmental%Health Working%in%MultiRDisciplinary%Teams
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87 84 82 75 70 68 67 66 65 64 63 62 62 60 59 58
Mean% Score 2.95 2.79 2.78 2.72 2.59 2.63 2.53 2.49 2.50 2.49 2.53 2.49 2.45 2.46 2.41 2.39
As shown in Table ES-‐2, of the 38 specific training areas, 5 technical and 3 professional development items differed by type of organization. Typically, industrial and academic organizations reported less need for some types of technical training than local public health organizations in these areas. When training needs are examined by type of organization, position within the organization or region of the state, only a few differences were noted (11 out of 38 areas). This suggests that specific sub-‐group tailoring of training may not be necessary. This section highlights exceptions in which there were differences (at a 90% confidence level) by type of organization of respondent, position within the organization or geographic region.
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Table ES-‐ 2. Training Needs That Differ by Type of Organization, Position within an Organization, or Geographic Region* Training Needs Differ by Type of Organization Technical
Professional Development
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Water well installation Emergency Response On-‐site-‐sewage Child Health Public Health tracking and informatics
Leadership Expert Witness State processes Coaching **
Training Needs Differ by Position within Organization Technical
Professional Development
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Public health tracking and informatics
Multi-‐disciplinary teams Coaching State processes
Training Needs Differ by Geographic Region Technical
Professional Development
• Emergency response • Supervision • Emerging pathogens • Leadership • Public health tracking and informatics • Coaching ** *Differences at the 90 percent confidence level based on a chi-‐squared statistic (p-‐value