Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #105898

Anjum Hajat, MPH¹, Lisa Macon Harrison, BSPH, MPH (c)¹, Erin E. Rothney, MPH¹, and Pia D.M. MacDonald, PhD, MPH². (1) North Carolina Center for Public Health Preparedness, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Campus Box 8165, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-8165, 919-843-5559, lisa_harrison@unc.edu, (2) Department of Epidemiology / North Carolina Center for Public Health Preparedness, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Campus Box 8165, Chapel Hill, NC 27599

In recent years, resources and priorities for training public health workers in emergency preparedness and response have increased. This presentation will discuss the self-identified emergency preparedness training needs of local public health workers in North Carolina among different occupations and geographic regions. It will also provide an overview of the demographic characteristics of the workforce. The North Carolina Center for Public Health Preparedness (NCCPHP) in the North Carolina Institute for Public Health at the University of North Carolina School of Public Health worked with the North Carolina Division of Public Health to conduct this assessment. NCCPHP carried out an online workforce training needs assessment with 6482 of 8306 local public health workers across North Carolina from June 2003 to October 2004 (response rate 78%). The assessment tool was based on the existing emergency preparedness and core public health competencies for public health workers (from Columbia University). Statewide, 57% of workers indicated the need for more training in recognizing signs and symptoms of exposure to chemical agents. This need prevailed across regions and occupations. In addition, several occupational classifications and 3 regions wanted further training in identifying the signs and symptoms of biological agents and 3 occupational classifications wanted training in incident command systems. The need for preparedness training was greatest among health educators, nurses and nutritionists. North Carolina's workforce assessment provides data for evidence-based decision making about emergency preparedness training. The local public health workforce has requested additional training in identifying chemical and bioterrorism agents among other priority training needs.

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