Minnesota Hospitals' Plans for Implementing Statewide Guidance on Allocation of Scarce Critical Care Resources During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Objectives: To assess hospitals' plans for implementing Minnesota's statewide guidance for allocating scarce critical care resources during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Patients And Methods: Individuals from 23 hospitals across Minnesota were invited to complete a 25-item survey between July 20, 2020, and September 18, 2020 to understand how hospitals in the state intended to operationalize statewide clinical triage instructions for scarce resources (including mechanical ventilation) and written ethics guidance on the allocation of critical care resources in the event crisis standards of care triggered triage.

Results: Of individuals invited from 23 hospitals, 14 hospitals completed the survey (60.

Exploring the geospatial variations in the public health workforce: implications for diversifying the supply of potential workers in governmental settings.

The US public health workforce has markedly declined, falling from 500 000 individuals in 1980 to 239 000 by 2022, a trend exacerbated by economic instability and an aging demographic. There was a temporary surge in staffing through emergency hires during the COVID-19 pandemic, but the permanence of these positions remains uncertain. Concurrently, public health degree conferrals have sharply increased, creating a mismatch between the growing number of graduates and the actual needs of health departments.

Accredited Public Health Department Characteristics Associated With Workforce Gaps Identified in Workforce Development Plans.

Objective: When pursuing accreditation by the Public Health Accreditation Board, local health departments (LHDs) must submit a workforce development plan (WDP). The purpose of this study was to examine LHD characteristics associated with workforce gaps identified and strategies implemented by LHDs.

Design: We conducted a qualitative content analysis of all WDPs submitted to the Public Health Accreditation Board between March 2016 and November 2021.

Training in Public Health Informatics and Technology Leveraging a Multi-institutional Partnership Model and Emphasizing Experiential Learning.

Background And Objective:  Though public health is an information-intense profession, there is a paucity of workforce with Public Health Informatics and Technology (PHIT) skills, which was evident during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. This need is addressed through the PHIT workforce program (2021-2025) by the Office of the National Coordinator for training and to increase racial and ethnic diversity in the PHIT workforce. The objective is to share details on the Training in Informatics for Underrepresented Minorities in Public Health (TRIUMPH) consortium, funded by the PHIT workforce program.

Strategic Workforce Analysis: Identifying Skills and Gaps Among Frontline Public Health Workers Amidst Transformation.

Objective: Recent shifts in public health (PH) include consistent budget cuts, workforce attrition, and loss of vital skills and institutional knowledge followed by heightened pandemic-driven attention, new responsibilities, and renewed funding. This study investigates whether frontline employees working in different types of public health departments have different educational characteristics and whether these characteristics are associated with differentials in skill gaps toward informing targeted interventions to nurture a competitive workforce.

Methods: Utilizing 2021 Public Health Workforce Interests and Needs Survey (PH WINS) data, we document variations in educational qualifications, skill gaps, and workforce characteristics among frontline workers in different sizes of health departments and examine attributes associated with skill gaps: level and field of education, years of experience, program areas, and job classifications using a negative binomial model.

Minnesota Public Health Corps: A New Model For Building The Governmental Public Health Workforce.

Governmental public health agencies in the US are understaffed, and ongoing shortages will have a detrimental effect on their ability to provide basic public health services and protections. Public Health AmeriCorps was established in 2022 to support efforts to create a stronger and more diverse public health workforce nationwide. The Minnesota Public Health Corps, one of the largest Public Health AmeriCorps models, is a capacity-building program that places AmeriCorps members directly into governmental public health settings across the state.

Not Only How Much But How: The Importance Of Diversifying Funding Streams In A Reimagined Public Health System.

Revenue diversification may be a synergistic strategy for transforming public health, yet few national or trend data are available. This study quantified and identified patterns in revenue diversification in public health before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. We used National Association of County and City Health Officials' National Profile of Local Health Departments study data for 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2022 to calculate a yearly diversification index for local health departments.

Federal Student Loan Debt in Public Health and the Opportunities for Loan Repayment Programs.

Objectives: A need persists for graduates with public health training in government public health roles; however, earnings for these positions tend to be lower when compared with earnings for people with undergraduate or graduate training who are working in other sectors, such as private health care or pharmaceuticals. This study assessed federal student loan debt associated with education for public health, with an aim to quantify the need that may be met through the federal Public Health Workforce Loan Repayment Program (PHWLRP), which is one tool that policy makers have proposed to incentivize people with public health training to pursue employment in government public health.

Methods: We analyzed federal student loan data provided by the National Center for Education Statistics College Scorecard for the 2018-2019 academic year.

Public health workforce survey data (2016-2021) related to employee turnover: proposed methods for harmonization and triangulation.

Introduction: Public health workforce numbers are unsustainable at best and dire at worst: based on 2017 and 2019 data, 80,000 FTEs needed to be hired by health departments to provide basic public health foundational services COVID-19 hit, suggesting that the situation is worse after the mass exodus of public health officials due to the pandemic. As such, a better understanding of public health workforce turnover is critical to improving recruitment and retention in the discipline.

Methods: This methods report details how the authors harmonized four public health workforce surveys-the Public Health Workforce Interests and Needs Survey (PH WINS), the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) Profile, the NACCHO Forces of Change survey, and the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO) Profile-in order to examine employee turnover.

Contemporary Public Health Finance: Varied Definitions, Patterns, and Implications.

The financing of public health systems and services relies on a complex and fragmented web of partners and funding priorities. Both underfunding and "dys-funding" contribute to preventable mortality, increases in disease frequency and severity, and hindered social and economic growth. These issues were both illuminated and magnified by the COVID-19 pandemic and associated responses.

Using a web platform for equitable distribution of COVID-19 monoclonal antibodies: a case study in resource allocation.

While medical countermeasures in COVID-19 have largely focused on vaccinations, monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) were early outpatient treatment options for COVID-positive patients. In Minnesota, a centralized access platform was developed to offer access to mAbs that linked over 31,000 patients to care during its operation. The website allowed patients, their representative, or providers to screen the patient for mAbs against Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) criteria and connect them with a treatment site if provisionally eligible.

Standard Occupational Classification Codes: Gaps in Federal Data on the Public Health Workforce.

To determine whether US Department of Labor standard occupational classification (SOC) codes can be used for public health workforce research. We reviewed past attempts at SOC matching for public health occupations and then used the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health Industry and Occupation Computerized Coding System (NIOCCS) to match the actual job titles for 26 516 respondents to the 2021 Public Health Workforce Interests and Needs Survey (PH WINS) with SOC codes, grouped by respondents' choice of job category in PH WINS. We assessed the accuracy of the NIOCCS matches and excluded matches under a cutpoint using the Youden Index.

The Need for Responsive Workforce Development During the Pandemic and Beyond: A Case Study of the Regional Public Health Training Centers.

Context: The COVID-19 pandemic underscored the importance of a strong public health infrastructure for protecting and supporting the health of communities. This includes ensuring an adaptive workforce capable of leading through rapidly changing circumstances, communicating effectively, and applying systems thinking to leverage cross-sector partnerships that help promote health equity. The 10 Regional Public Health Training Centers (PHTCs) advance the capacity of the current and future public health workforce through skill development and technical assistance in these and other strategic areas.

Examining Excess Mortality Among Critical Workers in Minnesota During 2020-2021: An Occupational Analysis.

To understand the occupational risk associated with COVID-19 among civilian critical workers (aged 16-65 years) in Minnesota. We estimated excess mortality in 2020 to 2021 for critical occupations in different racial groups and vaccine rollout phases using death certificates and occupational employment rates for 2017 to 2021. Excess mortality during the COVID-19 pandemic was higher for workers in critical occupations than for noncritical workers.

What Are Public Health Agencies Planning for Workforce Development? A Content Analysis of Workforce Development Plans of Accredited Public Health Departments.

Objective: Recruiting and retaining public health employees and ensuring they have the skills necessary to respond are vital for meeting public health needs. As the first study examining health department (HD) workforce development plans (WDPs), this study presents gaps and strategies identified in WDPs across 201 accredited HDs (168 initial/33 reaccreditation plans).

Design: This cross-sectional study employed qualitative review and content analysis of WDPs submitted to the Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB) between March 2016 and November 2021.

Recruiting New Talent for Public Health Jobs With Evidence-Based Job Descriptions and Attractive Job Postings.

Context: With $7.4 billion from the American Rescue Plan funding new hires in the public health workforce, health departments could benefit from well-written, accurate job descriptions and job postings/advertisements to attract candidates.

Program: We wrote accurate job descriptions for 24 jobs common in governmental public health settings.

Engaging Public Health Alumni in the Tracking of Career Trends: Results From a Large-Scale Experiment on Survey Fielding Mode.

Objective: We sought to understand the relative impact of fielding mode on response rate among public health alumni.

Methods: As part of the 2021 Career Trends Survey of alumni from the University of Minnesota School of Public Health, we designed a fielding mode experiment to ascertain whether a paper survey, a postcard with a custom survey link ("postcard push-to-web"), a mobile telephone call or text (mobile), or an email invitation would garner the highest response rates. Invitations were randomly assigned from available contact information.

Staffing Local Health Departments in Minnesota-Needs, Priorities, and Concerns.

Context: The roles and responsibilities of local health departments (LHDs), as well as the hiring challenges they face, have changed since the pandemic started.

Objectives: To explore (1) staffing needs and priorities of LHDs in Minnesota, and (2) financial and community-level factors impeding health departments from maintaining optimal staffing.

Design, Setting, And Participants: A cross-sectional online survey was administered via Qualtrics in July 2022 to city and county health departments in Minnesota (97% participation rate).

A Systematic Review on Professional Regulation and Credentialing of Public Health Workforce.

The public health workforce (PHW) counts a great variety of professionals, and how services are delivered differs in every country. The complexity and the diversity of PHW professions also reflect structural problems of supply and demand of PHW in various organizations and health care systems. Therefore, credentialing, regulation, and formal recognition are essential for a competent and responsive PHW to address public health challenges.

COVID-19 Revealed Shortcomings Of The US Public Health System And The Need To Strengthen Funding And Accountability.

The US governmental public health system, which includes federal, state, and local agencies, is seen by many observers as having a money problem, stemming from a lack of resources. During the COVID-19 pandemic, this lack of resources has had unfortunate consequences for the communities that public health practice leaders are expected to protect. Yet the money problem is complex and involves understanding the nature of chronic public health underinvestment, identifying what money is spent in public health and what the country gets for it, and determining how much money is needed to do the work of public health in the future.

Voluntary Separations and COVID-19: A Snapshot of Turnover Intention in the Federal Workforce in the First Year of the Pandemic.

Voluntary separations can exact heavy tolls on organizations that affect their efficiency or effectiveness. This historical retrospective investigates how the COVID-19 pandemic may have influenced federal employees' intention to leave for reasons other than retirement. We examined the 2020 Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey (FEVS) with a particular focus on agencies likely heavily impacted by the pandemic, including the Departments of Agriculture (USDA), Health and Human Services (HHS), Homeland Security (DHS) and the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).