Lisa M. Tilley, MS¹, John Cella, MPA¹, Sharron Goode-Grant, MSA¹, Dan Johnson, MAR², M. Ann Ricksecker, MPH³, and Geneva Vaughan-Harris, PhD¹. (1) AIDS Activities Coordinating Office, Philadelphia Department of Public Health, 1101 Market Street, 9th Floor, Philadelphia, PA 19107, 215-685-5644, lisa.tilley@phila.gov, (2) AACO, City of Philadelphia, 1101 Market Street, 9th Floor, Philadelphia, PA 19107, (3) PA/Mid-Atlantic AIDS ETC, Health Federation of Philadelphia, 1211 Chestnut Street, Suite 700, Philadelphia, PA 19107

Public Health workforce development through on-site staff training is a critical element in the promotion of public health core competencies.

The AIDS unit of a city health department developed a staff-training program as part of a multi-tiered core competencies process. The staff members receiving training are program analysts responsible for assisting service providers funded by the health department to offer HIV care and prevention. Training is designed to a) provide staff with information and knowledge to assist service providers b) increase self-efficacy regarding five essential services that define the specific core competencies for the staff.

Training topics were developed in response to the results of an inclusive, peer driven core competencies assessment process and from on-going staff feedback. The training schedule was built around existing weekly staff meeting and includes cross-unit information sharing and an evaluation component.

Key components that made this effort possible: 1) support from the overall unit administration, 2) an inclusive process of determining the training topics 3) the ability to commit some regularly scheduled staff meetings to specific trainings, 4) an interest on the part of the staff involved in improving their performance on their core competencies, and 5) strong leadership from an internal team which fostered communication and feedback within the workplace.

Learning Objectives: