Self-assessment in the measurement of public health workforce preparedness for bioterrorism or other public health disasters.
Publication/Presentation Date
1-1-2005
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to examine effective ways to evaluate public health workers' competence for preparedness.
METHODS: The Public Health Ready project, developed by the National Association of County and City Public Health Officials and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is a pilot program designed to prepare local public health agencies to respond to emergency events. Workers at a Public Health Ready site (N=265) rated their need for training and their competence in meeting generic emergency response goals. Cluster analysis of cases was conducted on the self-assessed need for training.
RESULTS: Three groups of workers emerged, differing in their overall ratings of need for training. A given worker tended to report similar needs for training across all training goals.
CONCLUSIONS: In this study, workers' ratings of need for training may reflect an overall interest in training rather than need for training in a particular area. Caution should be exercised in interpretation when generic goals and self-assessment are used to measure need for training. Future assessments of training needs may be more effective if they use objective measures of specific local plans.
Volume
120
Issue
2
First Page
186
Last Page
191
ISSN
0033-3549
Published In/Presented At
Kerby, D. S., Brand, M. W., Johnson, D. L., & Ghouri, F. S. (2005). Self-assessment in the measurement of public health workforce preparedness for bioterrorism or other public health disasters. Public health reports (Washington, D.C. : 1974), 120(2), 186–191. https://doi.org/10.1177/003335490512000213
Disciplines
Medicine and Health Sciences
PubMedID
15842121
Department(s)
Department of Medicine
Document Type
Article