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Timothy J. Murphy and Jeffrey S. Neistadt Mentor: CAPT Michael E. Herring, R.E.H.S., MPH

Improving Public Health Services and Saving Resources: Hiring Graduates from Accredited Environmental Health Programs. Timothy J. Murphy and Jeffrey S. Neistadt Mentor: CAPT Michael E. Herring, R.E.H.S., MPH. Problem Statement.

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Timothy J. Murphy and Jeffrey S. Neistadt Mentor: CAPT Michael E. Herring, R.E.H.S., MPH

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  1. Improving Public Health Services and Saving Resources: Hiring Graduates from Accredited Environmental Health Programs Timothy J. Murphy and Jeffrey S. Neistadt Mentor: CAPT Michael E. Herring, R.E.H.S., MPH

  2. Problem Statement • Why are we not able to fully and adequately develop the current environmental public health workforce in lieu of the fact that we have 29 accredited undergraduate university programs

  3. Increased Responsibilities Increased Certifications Industry Competition Incidence of Disease Graduation Rates Time Increase Behavior Over Time

  4. EHAC Enrollment and Graduation Rates

  5. Fixes That Backfire Training and workload for competentemployees Increased work loadcauses… Increased costs (money, time) totrain non-competent Burnout of competent personnel B Inadequate No. of competent employees Resources available to hire competent employees R As turnover increases, hiring of non-competentincreases due to need to hire ASAP B Attraction/retention of competent people from accredited EHP programs This further reduces resources to hire competentemployees To attract quality employees must have good pay, workload, training, employee morale

  6. Intended Results – Improved Workforce Development • How do we achieve this? • Demonstrate to hiring authorities (boards of health and health officers) that hiring graduates from accredited academic programs save agency resources. • Improvement in the knowledge, skills, and abilities of the entry level environmental public health workforce will lead to improved public health services.

  7. Cost Comparison for EHAC Graduates

  8. Cost Comparison for EHAC Graduates (2)

  9. Support of National Goals • 10 Essential Environmental Health Services • CDC Health Protection Goals • Healthy People 2010 • National Strategy to Revitalize Environmental Health Services • Environmental Health Competency Project

  10. Completed Project Objectives • Research and define competencies of environmental health accredited program graduates • Determine the knowledge, skills, and abilities of graduates from science based four and two year academic programs • Develop a list of competencies that the graduates of non-accredited programs do not possess as compared to graduates from accredited academic programs • Determine the resources required to increase the skill level of entry level employees from non-accredited academic programs • Develop a visual presentation depicting the difference in competencies and the cost of developing these competencies from graduates of 4-year accredited EPH programs versus non-accredited programs

  11. Project Objectives In Progress • Determine yearly change in enrollment at accredited environmental public health programs • Determine baseline salary data for entry level employees in the “environmental” field through the research of salary surveys • Create an awareness campaign on the different environmental public health career paths at a large, medium, and small sized local public health agencies – in progress • Verify current baseline data on which states offer reciprocity

  12. Next Steps • Create or redevelop an effective national licensing board for environmental health professionals. How? • Demonstrate to state environmental health licensing boards that the competencies possessed by accredited environmental public health graduates are consistent regardless of which state they graduated from • Create an awareness campaign to state sanitarian/EHS licensing boards proving this • Environmental health services are similar in all states, environmental health practices are based on state regulations

  13. Recommendations For Change • We as a profession must develop a strong, effective professional trade organization that advocates the following: • Hiring from accredited academic programs first when available • Reciprocity between state environmental health licensing boards which would easily allow movement of employees between states • An effective national licensing board for environmental health professionals • One profession = one license • A job placement service at the national level that links potential employers to graduates from all accredited academic programs

  14. Conclusion • Overall Results - Improved health of populations through increased environmental health interventions performed by competent environmental public health professionals at the local level.

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