MCH Epidemiology: Mapping the Future Who and What

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MCH Epidemiology Mapping the Future
Who and What?

• William M. Sappenfield, MD, MPH
• State MCH Epidemiologist
• Florida Department of Health

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CSTE Major Workforce Initiatives

• Who
• Epidemiology Capacity Assessment (ECA)
• What
• Applied Epidemiology Competencies

3
About

• Professional association of epidemiologists at
  the state, territorial and local levels
• Associate members in federal service, academia
  and related fields
• Formed in 1951
• Affiliate of ASTHO
• Funding from state/individual dues and CDC
• National office in Atlanta

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Epidemiology Capacity Assessment (ECA)Who?
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Number Working as Epidemiologists in States, ECAs
(n37-40)
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Perceived State MCH Epidemiology and Surveillance
Capacity, ECAs (n37)
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CSTE/CDC Applied Epidemiology Competencies What?
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Development Process

• Conducted 3 meetings of expert panel (Oct 04, Mar
  05, May 06), multiple conference calls
• Presented at CSTE (Jun 05), APHA (Dec 05)
• Used web-based surveys to obtain expert panels
  and other practitioner/academic input
• Focused on crafting language to reflect unique
  aspects of epidemiologic practice
• Recognized that proficiency will differ depending
  on level of experience and job expectations

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Competency Framework for Public Health
Professionals

• Analytic Assessment
• Basic Public Health Sciences
• Communication
• Community Dimensions of Practice
• Cultural Competency
• Financial Planning and Management
• Leadership and Systems Thinking
• Policy Development/Program Planning
• Source Council on Linkages between Academia and
  Public Health Practice

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Skill Domain 1 Analytic/AssessmentTier 2
Competencies

• Identify public health problems
• Conduct surveillance
• Investigate acute and chronic conditions
• Apply ethical/legal principles to study design,
  data collection, dissemination, and use
• Manage data
• Analyze data
• Summarize results/draw conclusions
• Recommend evidence-based interventions and
  control measures
• Evaluate programs

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Example Analytic/AssessmentTier 2
Sub-Competencies

• Conduct surveillance
• Design surveillance for particular public health
  problem
• Identify surveillance data needs
• Implement new or revise existing surveillance
  system
• Interpret key findings
• Conduct evaluation of surveillance systems

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Four Tiers of Practice

• Tier 1 (entry level or basic)
• Recent MPH graduate/MA epidemiology or
• Bachelors degree with some epidemiology
  experience
• Tier 2 (mid-level epidemiologist / team leader)
• MPH or MA epidemiology with 2 years experience
• Doctoral epidemiologist
• Non-epidemiology professional degree plus
  epidemiology training
• Tier 3A (supervisory, management)
• Tier 2 with additional experience
• Tier 3B (senior scientist, researcher)
• Tier 2 with additional experience

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Analytic Domain Tier 1
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Intended Uses of the Competencies

• Practitioners
• Assessing current skills
• Creating career development plans
• Planning specific training and educational
  activities
• Employers
• Creating career ladders for employees
• Developing position descriptions and job
  qualifications
• Developing training plans for employees
• Assessing epidemiologic capacity of an
  organization
• Educators
• Designing education programs to meet public
  health agency needs
• Incorporating critical elements of epi practice
  into coursework

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Dissemination Plans

• Oral presentations at national meetings
• Full document CSTE website, CDC website MMWR
• Quick reference fact sheets
• Toolkit (online, hardcopy)
• Public Health Reports Special Issue on
  Competency-Based Epidemiologic Training

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MCH EPI Conclusions on Who What

• State capacity is both increasing decreasing.
• Applied competencies have been defined soon to
  be applied. And, applicable to MCH EPI.
• CSTE is monitoring, defining, equipping EPI.
• MCH EPI needs to be involved in the process.