White Alice E, Torok Michelle R, Smith Kirk E, Booth Hillary, Scallan Walter Elaine
Department of Epidemiology, Colorado School of Public Health, Aurora, CO, USA.
Foodborne, Waterborne, Vectorborne, and Zoonotic Diseases Section, Minnesota Department of Health, St. Paul, MN, USA.
Public Health Rep. 2024 May-Jun;139(3):342-350. doi: 10.1177/00333549231186776. Epub 2023 Aug 14.
Food safety progress depends on the ability of public health agencies to detect and investigate foodborne disease outbreaks. The Integrated Food Safety Centers of Excellence identify and implement best practices and serve as resources for public health professionals who investigate enteric disease outbreaks. To target the needs of this diverse workforce, the Integrated Food Safety Centers of Excellence developed and assessed a professional tier framework and competencies.
We described the characteristics of public health professionals who investigate enteric disease outbreaks in the epidemiology role in a conceptual tiered framework. We mapped core competencies to each tier and disseminated a survey to practitioners at local (June 2019) and state (August 2018) US public health agencies to evaluate the importance and frequency of each competency.
We developed 15 competencies on surveillance, outbreak detection, interview skills, investigation team, specimen testing, data analysis, hypothesis generation, study design, communication, enteric disease biology, control measures, legal authority, quality improvement, environmental health, and reporting to surveillance. The 286 survey respondents selected interview skills, surveillance, control measures, and hypothesis generation as the competencies most important to their work and most frequently performed.
The Integrated Food Safety Centers of Excellence created the first published workforce framework and competencies for public health professionals who detect and investigate enteric disease outbreaks in the epidemiology role, in collaboration with local, state, and federal public health agencies and national organizations. These tools have been integrated into existing programs and can be used to develop training curricula, assess workforce competency over time, and identify priorities for continuing education and training.
食品安全工作的进展取决于公共卫生机构检测和调查食源性疾病暴发的能力。卓越综合食品安全中心确定并实施最佳实践，并为调查肠道疾病暴发的公共卫生专业人员提供资源。为满足这支多样化工作队伍的需求，卓越综合食品安全中心制定并评估了一个专业层级框架和能力标准。
我们在一个概念性分层框架中描述了在流行病学岗位上调查肠道疾病暴发的公共卫生专业人员的特征。我们将核心能力标准映射到每个层级，并向美国地方（2019年6月）和州（2018年8月）公共卫生机构的从业者发放了一份调查问卷，以评估每项能力标准的重要性和执行频率。
我们制定了15项能力标准，涵盖监测、暴发检测、访谈技巧、调查团队、样本检测、数据分析、假设生成、研究设计、沟通、肠道疾病生物学、控制措施、法律权限、质量改进、环境卫生以及向监测部门报告等方面。286名调查受访者将访谈技巧、监测、控制措施和假设生成选为对其工作最重要且执行最频繁的能力标准。
卓越综合食品安全中心与地方、州和联邦公共卫生机构以及国家组织合作，为在流行病学岗位上检测和调查肠道疾病暴发的公共卫生专业人员创建了首个已发表的工作队伍框架和能力标准。这些工具已被纳入现有项目，可用于开发培训课程、长期评估工作队伍能力，以及确定继续教育和培训的重点。
