The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA

Abstract #68281

Carolyn J. Stemshorn, MPH, Group Health Community Foundation, Evaluation Team, 1730 Minor Ave, STE 1500, Seattle, WA 98101, (206)287-4382, stemshorn.c@ghc.org, Suzanne Swadener, RN, MHA, Northwest Center for Public Health Practice, 1107 NE 45th Street, STE 400, Seattle, WA 98105, David Pearson, PhD, Center for Community Health and Evaluation, Group Health Community Foundation, 1730 Minor Avenue, Suite 1500, Seattle, WA 98101, and Jack Thompson, MSW, Northwest Center for Public Health Practice, University of Washington, 1107 NE 45th Street, Suite 400, Seattle, WA 98105.

The Northwest Center for Public Health Practice (University of Washington) is a designated CDC Academic Center for Public Health Preparedness serving the six northwest states of Alaska, Wyoming, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington. The Northwest Center, in collaboration with the Evaluation Team at the Group Health Community Foundation and its partner states, designed and completed a region-wide evaluation to assess individual emergency preparedness and bioterrorism training needs of the public health workforce. This effort supports the states in fulfilling their requirements under the CDC-Bioterrorism Planning Cooperative Agreement. The survey tool is based on the Emergency Preparedness and Bioterrorism competencies developed by the Columbia School of Nursing. The assessment instrument will be administered in four states during the spring and summer of 2003.

After the data collection is completed the Northwest Center will provide technical assistance to states in analyzing and interrupting results. In addition, individual states have agreed to share their data to create a ‘regional report’ to benchmark results, track progress over time, and plan for regional training needs. The instrument will be re-administered in one to three years, after implementation of the states’ training plans, to assess improvements in the regional public health workforce’s ability to respond to public health emergency and bioterrorism events.

Learning Objectives:

By the end of the presentation, participants will be able to:
• describe how the EP-BT Training Needs Assessment Instrument was designed in collaboration with partner states,
• identify challenges and benefits of this collaborative assessment process between the Academic Centers of Public Health and state agencies, and
• describe plans for the follow-up assessment.

Keywords: Assessments, Bioterrorism

Related Web page: healthlinks.washington.edu/nwcphp/

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: Northwest Center for Public Health Practice, Group Health Community Foundation
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.