Methods and Tools for Teaching Health Profession Students How to Perform Community Health Needs Assessments

Public health and health administration programs play a critical role in training future health profession leaders to be strategic and efficacious in this current dynamic environment. As the health care system rapidly transitions from a fee-for-service environment to a value-based delivery system, the role of population health management is a critical concept. A key tool for managing the health of populations requires a health system to discern the community’s problems and resources with the intent of developing, implementing, and evaluating strategies to improve the health of those who live there. The purpose of this work was to (1) engage health educators in a dialogue about the best ways to teach students how to perform a community health needs assessment (CHNA) for the improvement of a population’s health; (2) identify key CHNA data sets; and (3) identify current models and tools, course content, and resources appropriate for undergraduate and graduate health courses when teaching the CHNA process. Authors facilitated group work with participants attending an Educational Session at the annual meeting of the Association of University Programs in Health Administration. This research provides educators with resources to allow them to teach students about CHNAs and how to utilize them when they work for health care organizations