Healthy Homes Initiative: Developing Competencies

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Healthy Homes Initiative Developing Competencies

• January 22 23, 2004
• Baltimore, MD
• CAPT Patrick O. Bohan, USPHS (Ret)

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Why Are We in Business?

• Reduce morbidity and mortality due to injuries
  and environmentally related disease

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Competency Definition

• A cluster of related knowledge, skills , and
  attitudes that affects a major part of ones job,
  that correlates with performance on the job, that
  can be measured against well-accepted standards,
  and that can be improved via training and
  development.

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CDC/APHA Cooperative Agreement

• NEHA
• AAS
• NACCHO
• NALBOH
• ASTHO
• APHL

• NRHA
• CSTE
• NCLEHA
• NAFP
• ASPH
• AEHAP

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Core Competency Categories

• Assessment
• Management
• Communication

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Assessment

• Information Gathering
• Data Analysis and Interpretation
• Evaluation

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Management

• Problem Solving
• Economic and Political Issues
• Organizational Knowledge and Behavior
• Project Management

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Management

• Computer and Information Technology
• Reporting, Documentation, and Record-Keeping
• Collaboration

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Communication

• Educate
• Communicate
• Conflict Resolution
• Marketing

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Healthy Housing

• Assumptions
• At least two levels professional and technician
• Limited scope based on existing HUD documents
• Ability to demonstrate results
• Differences between rural and urban needs
• Avoid duplication of efforts

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Healthy Housing

• Propose using a public health type of an approach
  to identifying competencies

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Essential Services of Environmental Health

• Could be used as a model to work through the
  competency identification process

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Three Core Functions of Public Health

• Assessment
• Policy Development
• Assurance

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1Monitor health status or critical factors to
identify healthy home problems

• StandardA system to collect and analyze
  relevant environmental, public health data, and
  critical factors

• Competencies
• Define problem
• Identify and evaluate data sources
• Collect, summarize and interpret data
• Assess and communicate risk

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2 Diagnose and investigate housing related
health problems and conditions

• Standard
• Comprehensive surveillance system
• Protocols for immediate investigation/
• response
• Laboratory support

• Competencies
• Apply basic public health sciences
• Analyze data
• Articulate policy implications
• Implement strategy
• Communicate effectively

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3 Educate and empower people about healthy home
issues

• StandardRegular communication with the public,
  policy leaders and media on environmental health
  risk, status, and needs in the community

• Competencies
• Effectively communicate information in culturally
  appropriate language and settings
• Human motivational skills

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4 Mobilize community to identify and solve
healthy home problems

• Standard
• Existence of active strategy for constituency and
  partnership development

• Competencies
• Provide meaningful data
• Community-building skills
• Maintain linkages with key stakeholders
• Use legal/political system to effect change

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5 Develop policies and plans that support
healthy home efforts

• Standard
• Healthy homes entity ensures effective delivery
  of services, adequate resources, community
  participation, proper exercise of legal authority

• Competencies
• Problem identification
• Evaluation of policy options
• Development and implementation of laws,
  regulations, policies and programs

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6 Enforce laws/regulations that protect health
and ensure safety

• Standard
• Capacity to review and evaluate the impact of
  laws and regulations on the community and improve
  the effectiveness of enforcement

• Competencies
• Program performance monitoring
• Evaluation skills for individual and program
  effectiveness
• Ability to use the legal and political system

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7 Link people to services assure provision of
healthy home services

• StandardCapacity to assess adequacy of
  services, identify and address service gaps, and
  refer to existing services

• Competencies
• Knowledge of basic public health sciences
• Assessment and evaluation
• Communication
• Knowledge of community systems/resource

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8 Assure a competent healthy home workforce

• Standard
• Existence of a defined workforce plan, including
  competencies, size, and composition, and ongoing
  staff and leadership development

• Competencies
• Public health sciences and core functions
• Specific environmental health technical skills
• Interpersonal skills
• Desire for life-long learning

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9 Evaluate effectiveness and accessibility of
services

• Standard
• Continual improvement through use of specific
  performance indicators, including community
  environmental and health data, and community
  satisfaction

• Competencies
• Ability to establish relevant indicators and
  analyze appropriate data
• Evaluation
• Community survey skills

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10 Research for new insights and innovative
solutions

• Standard
• the capacity to establish ongoing mutual
  relationships to strengthen appropriate
  scientific research and practice and develop a
  culture of innovation

• Competencies
• Communications
• Basic research methods
• Knowledge of public and private community
  organizations
• Quality improvement skills

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Healthy Housing Competencies

• Systems approach to investigations
• Relationship between housing conditions and
  health
• Basic housing construction and codes

• Occupancy standards
• Germ theory
• Chemical/physical factors of disease
• Vectors and their signs
• Sampling protocols