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

Abstract #112601

Kaia Gallagher, PhD¹, Nancy Baughman Csuti, DrPH², Laurel Petralia², and Carol Breslau, MPA². (1) Center for Research Strategies, 225 East 16th Avenue, Suite 1150, Denver, CO 80203, (303) 860-1705, Kaia.Gallagher@crsllc.org, (2) The Colorado Trust, 1600 Sherman St, Denver, CO 80203

Throughout the United States, experts continue to predict shortages in the supply of health professionals by specific job categories, within underserved communities and relative to the needs of communities of color. In response, The Colorado Trust, a Colorado-based philantrophy, is initiating a $10 million, multi-pronged initiative to address health professions shortages throughout the state. The grant funding supports 20 separate health professional training programs in the state, focused on five professional categories: physicians, dentists, pharmacists, nurses, and mental health workers. Training programs vary in their emphasis on training health professionals to serve in rural communities and to address the needs of underserved populations including racial/ethnic minorities. This presentation will provide an overview of the multi-method evaluation design developed to address two fundamental questions: 1) Did the number of health professionals increase? and 2) What are the community and individual factors influencing health professional workforce increases? Evaluation tools will focus on assessing impacts at the training program level and among the individual health professionals who are trained. Students will be provided with pre/post survey instruments to assess their training objectives and ultimate career plans. Findings will focus on the relative effectiveness of different recruitment/retention strategies on modifying particular areas of manpower shortage.

Learning Objectives:

• Detail the nature of workforce shortages in Colorado across multiple health professions categories
• Identify challenges and barriers that this statewide training initiative will address
• Report on preliminary results and expected findings that can be applied to other workforce development initiatives

Keywords: Professional Training, Workforce

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.