Conducting Workforce Development in Illinois: An update and how-to refresher 2nd Annual Rural Public Health Institute, August, 2013 Guddi Kapadia, UIC SPH, MCPHP Bob Teel, IDPH Christina Welter, UIC SPH, MCPHP Learning Objectives • Articulate the current status of public health workforce development in Illinois • Outline the steps to designing a workforce development process within an organization • Illustrate how to use a workforce training resource, TRAIN • Practice creating a workforce development plan using TRAIN resources • Share additional resources available in Illinois to help public health agencies advance their workforce development process Background • Monumental change calls for increased worker skills sets. • The NACCHO 2010 profile revealed that only about half of LHDs have developed training plans for all of their staff. • ASTHO found that only 60% of state health agencies report using core competencies. • Many barriers exist to workforce development. • Voluntary Public Health Accreditation is one solution. NACCHO Accreditation Readiness Initiative 1) Convene an Illinois Workforce Accreditation Readiness Workgroup; 2) Publish a workforce development gap and opportunities report; 3) Assess workers’ competencies at three health departments; 4) Develop workforce development plans for the three LHDs and provide resources for trainings; and 5) Develop an Illinois Accreditation Workforce Development Toolkit, including an online how-to course linked to competency assessment and workforce development plan templates and online training opportunities. Definitions Overview of the study Assessing the state of workforce development in Illinois: Practice perspectives from the field A few findings • There is commitment to providing training to workers. • Often training offered responded to mandates; not enough training is offered on current, cutting-edge topics • Increase academic and practice partnerships • Workforce development opportunities are perceived to be fragmented • Variability exists in how governmental public health perceives and conducts workforce development assessment and planning • Promote a statewide competency assessment and training plan through a standard workforce development approach statewide A few recommendations 1) Creating a statewide public health workforce development taskforce 2) Developing a system for communicating about workforce development needs, training, and trends and opportunities; and 3) Comparing the PHAB standards for workforce development to the possible needs of workers in the context of ACA implementation. Step 1: Committee/Workgroup Create a Workforce Development Committee/Task Group/Work Group/Team Why? • Commitment of the agency • Leadership buy in • Input and engagement of full agency Step 1: Committee/Workgroup • Who? – Administrative leadership – Directors/Leads of Units/Divisions of the Agency – Human Resources/Legal/Union lead – Trainers/Educators • What? – Determine the focus and purpose of the group Step 2: Assessment • Analyze the need for the entire agency • Tools – Council on Linkages Core Competencies • Paper process • ITRAIN • Create own electronic – SurveyMonkey, Qualtrics • Ask for help – MCPHP • Organizational questions Step 2: Assessment • Identify the group that will be assessed – Agency, Unit/Division, Roles • Associate Tiers to Staff • Execute assessment – Timeline – Not a reflection of their performance/part of their employee review – Importance to the agency and individual Step 3: Identifying Needs • Competency Assessment Needs – Top three competencies identified as having the greatest need • Grant Needs – Are there deliverables that require certain skills or knowledge for all/subsets of staff • Environmental Needs – Are there skills or knowledge to better serve the community needs? i.e. ACA, H1N1, STDs • Agency Needs – What more would the agency like to do – to apply for future funding, better serve the community, etc. Step 4: Additional Details • Who will be trained? – Entire agency, units, roles • Based on purpose of this process from step 1 • Resources – Money!!$$!! – Time – Partners – PHTC, PERLC, PHI • Timeline – Annual – Semi-annual Step 5: Prioritize Needs • Consensus Method • Funding & Time line • Leadership’s requirement Step 6: Identify Training • iTRAIN • Partners – PHTC, PERLC, PHI • Conferences – APHA, Northern/Southern Rural Step 7: Create a Training Plan • Who will be trained in what by when to meet what need/competency. • Ex) Chronic Disease Prevention Unit – All staff will be required to complete the following trainings by June, 2014 – Arthritis: The Public Health Approach – Competency:Describes how policy options can influence public health programs How to do this? • Independently: – Many tools – NACCHO, this tool, iTRAIN • MCPHP