Public Health Workforce Perceived Impact of Emerging Issues in Public Health

Background: In an era where public health has been viewed as a global, multi-disciplinary field, the public health workforce has remained united to unfailingly holding fast to the mission of protecting, promoting, and improving the health of the public. However, the practice of public health is consistently evolving, and the workforce is continually facing a mirage of challenges. In order to overcome these challenges, practitioners need to be up-to-date on the necessary knowledge and skills to effectively deliver the core public health services. Purpose: The purpose of this research was to explore the perceived impact of emerging trends in public health on the day-to-day work of state and local public health workforces, as well as, if the workforce environment was associated with variations in perceived individual impact. Also, this research examines the extent to which the awareness of the emerging public health tends mediated the relationship between workforce environment and the perceived individual impact levels was examined. Methods: Multinomial logistic regression and mediation was performed to analyze data from the 2017 PH WINS, a cross-sectional survey utilizing a nationally representative sample of the public health workforce. Results: The majority of the state and local public health workforce perceived that their day-to-day work was at least marginally impacted by the emerging public health trends. Workforce environment has significant positive association with the perception of being significantly impacted by the emerging trends during their day-to-day work; cross-jurisdictional sharing (AOR=1.020, p=0.002), QI (AOR=1.035, p= Conclusion: This study was consistent with prior studies that reported that organizational climate and culture have an effect upon the workplace environment, as well as, work engagement and meaningfulness. As practitioners shift into the role of chief health strategists, it may become necessary for all of them to have formal training in public health foundations and tools to efficiently deliver the essential public health services to their communities