Claremont Graduate University, Claremont, California (Drs Singh, Niu, Johnson, Orr, Palmer).
J Public Health Manag Pract. 2024;30(5):E201-E210. doi: 10.1097/PHH.0000000000002008. Epub 2024 Jul 22.
The public health workforce encountered challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic that exposed areas for improvement in preparation for future public health threats. Key among these is well-trained public health leaders equipped with an array of crisis leadership skills.
To examine the training background, assess the perceived preparedness, and garner recommendations for training of the future public health workforce from public health leaders who navigated the COVID-19 pandemic.
This exploratory research gleaned information by utilizing an online questionnaire and interviews to provide lessons learned regarding improvements needed for public health leader preparedness.
Three California public health departments representing urban, suburban, and rural populations.
Thirty public health leaders who were directly involved in public health work for ≥3 years in a leadership/management role and involved in COVID-19-related work for at least 6 months participated.
Questionnaire findings revealed gaps in crisis leadership, communication, and collaboration training. Interview results supported and expanded upon the quantitative findings, including the value of various competencies and recommendations to improve the preparedness of future public health leaders.
The findings suggested that although many of the skills needed are competencies for accredited public health training programs, effective leadership during public health emergencies may require additional training beyond what is generally provided. Recommendations include integrating study findings into public health training programs to address competency gaps, leveraging results to enhance leadership skills, and promoting collaboration between public health departments and academic institutions to develop evidence-informed crisis leadership training. These findings inform strategies to ensure the preparedness of the public health workforce for future crises.
公共卫生人员在 COVID-19 大流行期间遇到了挑战，这些挑战暴露了为应对未来公共卫生威胁而需要改进的领域。其中最重要的是，要有经过良好培训的公共卫生领导人，他们具备一系列危机领导技能。
从应对 COVID-19 大流行的公共卫生领导人那里，了解他们的培训背景、评估他们的应对准备情况，并为未来公共卫生人员的培训收集建议。
本探索性研究通过利用在线问卷和访谈收集信息，提供有关公共卫生领导人应对准备所需改进的经验教训。
三个加利福尼亚公共卫生部门，代表城市、郊区和农村人口。
30 名公共卫生领导人，他们在公共卫生领域直接工作了≥3 年，担任领导/管理职务，并参与了至少 6 个月的 COVID-19 相关工作。
问卷调查结果显示，危机领导力、沟通和协作培训方面存在差距。访谈结果支持并扩展了定量研究结果，包括各种能力的价值以及提高未来公共卫生领导人应对准备的建议。
调查结果表明，尽管许多所需的技能都是经过认证的公共卫生培训计划的能力，但在公共卫生紧急情况下进行有效的领导可能需要超出通常提供的额外培训。建议包括将研究结果纳入公共卫生培训计划，以解决能力差距，利用结果提高领导技能，并促进公共卫生部门和学术机构之间的合作，以制定基于证据的危机领导力培训。这些发现为确保公共卫生人员为未来的危机做好准备提供了策略。
