Capacity building for evidence-based decision making in local health departments: scaling up an effective training approach.

Background: There are few studies describing how to scale up effective capacity-building approaches for public health practitioners. This study tested local-level evidence-based decision making (EBDM) capacity-building efforts in four U.S.

The Preparedness and Emergency Response Learning Centers: advancing standardized evaluation of public health preparedness and response trainings.

Introduction: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention funded Preparedness and Emergency Response Learning Centers (PERLCs) across the United States. The PERLCs provide training to state, local, and tribal public health organizations to meet workforce development needs in the areas of public health preparedness and response, specialized training, education, and consultation.

Methods/activity: Using Donald Kirkpatrick's training evaluation model, the PERLC network established 4 evaluation working groups that developed evaluation criteria to address each level of the model.

Charting a course to competency: an approach to mapping public health core competencies to existing trainings.

Consistent with other professional fields, the goals of public health training have moved from a focus on knowledge transfer to the development of skills or competencies. At least six national competency sets have been developed in the past decade pertaining to public health professionals. State and local public health agencies are increasingly using competency sets as frameworks for staff development and assessment.

Health care workers' ability and willingness to report to work during public health emergencies.

Objectives: We conducted a county-wide survey to assess the ability and willingness of health care workers to report to work during a pandemic influenza and a severe earthquake and to identify barriers and strategies that would help them report to work.

Methods: A stratified random sample of 9211 health care workers was selected from the Washington state licensure database and from health care agencies. We assessed correlates between self-reported ability and willingness to report to work and demographic and employer-related variables under two scenarios, influenza pandemic and a severe earthquake.

Assessing regional public health preparedness: a new tool for considering cross-border issues.

Objective: To provide regional, state, and local public health officials a conceptual framework and checklist for assessing regional public health emergency preparedness, specifically in regard to cross-border public health preparedness needs.

Methods: The project had four phases that are as follows: defining the scope, conducting a literature review, soliciting expert opinion, and creating the assessment framework and checklist. A conceptual framework was developed to define the scope of the project on the basis of the kinds of resources likely to be shared across borders in a public health response (eg, data, supplies, staff), in support of the public health functions likely to be important in a health emergency (eg, epidemiology, laboratory).

Assessment of public health workforce bioterrorism and emergency preparedness readiness among tribes in Washington State: a collaborative approach among the Northwest Center for Public Health Practice, the Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board, and the Washington State Department of Health.

This article examines the collaboration, methodology, results, and lessons learned stemming from the experience of a unique university, state, and tribal collaborative model for public health emergency preparedness assessment activities. This collaborative model may be applicable to other public health preparedness efforts, as well as the broader range of general public health or workforce development partnerships between state, local, and tribal health departments and academic institutions.

Evaluation of a community-based handgun safe-storage campaign.

Objective: Safe storage of firearms has been recommended as a means of preventing gun-related pediatric injuries, yet few interventions have led to significant improvements in storage practices. This study examined a multifaceted community education campaign to promote safe handgun storage and the campaign's impact on firearm locking and loading practices in households with children.

Methods: Beginning in 1997, a safe-storage campaign consisting of television and radio announcements, educational materials, billboards, and discount coupons for lock boxes was conducted in King County, Washington.