Public health workforce recruitment, retention and promotion in the Civil Service system

APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Patricia Sweeney, JD, MPH, RN, Department of Health Policy and Management, University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health, 3109 Forbes Ave. Suite 210, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, 412.383.2231, psweeney@pitt.edu

Present conditions are severely straining the public health system's ability to maintain a sufficient workforce. Nationwide, state and local health departments compete with private industry to recruit scarce job applicants. Meeting the challenges of contemporary public health practice requires that the public health workforce possess certain core and discipline specific competencies. Yet, employment within the governmental public health system is governed by “civil service” laws which were established a century ago in an effort to avoid nepotism and corruption. They were not created to ensure essential-service based public-health workforce competencies. Therefore to support the delivery of the essential public health services, it is critical to determine the extent to which core public health and discipline specific competencies are utilized as criteria for selection and promotion for public health positions, and to ascertain the affect of civil service laws upon the state health department personnel processes. To determine this, a two phase study was conducted. In the first phase, state health departments identified entry level registered nurse and senior epidemiologist as the two positions most difficult to recruit. In phase two, state human resource directors identified the criteria used to hire and promote candidates for these positions. Analysis of survey responses and the personnel evaluation tools submitted by state health departments denoted that while the departments' personnel processes assess for discipline specific competencies generally, they do not adequately assess job candidates' possession of core public health competencies. Furthermore, rigid centralized state civil service laws significantly impede improvement of these processes.

Learning Objectives:

At the conclusion of the session the participant will be able to

1. Describe the variations among state public health department hiring and promotion procedures.
2. Articulate the basis and scope of civil service laws governing state health department personnel systems.
3. Recognize the use of core public health and discipline specific competencies in state public health department hiring processes.
4. Describe the impact of state civil service system on the state public health personnel procedures.
5. Construct recommendations to enable incoroporation of competencies into the state public health department personnel processes.

Keywords: Workforce, Public Health Administration

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No

New Approaches and Measures to Address the Workforce Crises

The 134th Annual Meeting & Exposition (November 4-8, 2006) of APHA