From the Guidelines
Public health programmes for medical officers and nursing staff in the healthcare sector should prioritize digital competencies and training approaches to enhance their capacity to support the digital transformation of public health, as recommended by the most recent study in 2024 1.
Key Programmes
- Continuing Medical Education (CME) programs: offer regular updates on medical advancements, treatment protocols, and disease management, typically requiring 30-50 credit hours annually
- Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) training: provides essential skills in preventing healthcare-associated infections through proper hand hygiene, personal protective equipment use, and sterilization techniques
- Maternal and Child Health programs: train healthcare workers in antenatal care, safe delivery practices, immunization schedules, and growth monitoring
- Disease-specific programs: focus on managing conditions like tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, and non-communicable diseases
- Mental Health Integration programs: train primary care providers to identify and manage common mental health conditions
- Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Response training: prepares healthcare workers for mass casualty events
- Leadership and Management programs: develop administrative skills for healthcare professionals in supervisory roles
Digital Competencies
- Practice competencies: essential knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary for the practice of public health that transcend disciplines and specific programs 1
- Digital transformation of public health: requires new competencies related to the use and protection of new digital data sources, alongside facilitating health communication and promotion functions using digital media 1
- Interdisciplinarity: adapted degree-awarding public health training programs and ongoing professional development are necessary to support the digital transformation of public health 1
Training Approaches
- Adapted degree-awarding programs: expanded public health core training on digital technologies, practice-informed training, and specialized master’s- and doctoral-level training in specific digital technology–related fields 1
- Ongoing training and professional development: competency-based learning on digital technologies through short courses, workshops, and certification programs in partnerships with academic institutions 1
From the Research
Public Health Programmes for Medical Officers and Nursing Staff
- The End-of-Life Nursing Education Consortium provided educational support to faculty teaching in nursing schools in Kenya to advance palliative care efforts in the country 2.
- Interventions to maintain HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria service delivery during public health emergencies in low- and middle-income countries include policy-level, health facility-level, and community-level interventions 3.
- Health system strengthening should be addressed in an integrated approach that includes HIV-, tuberculosis-, and malaria-specific interventions 4.
Training Needs for Governmental Public Health Workforce
- The largest area of training need for the governmental public health workforce is in budgeting and financial management, with a large gap also identified in systems and strategic thinking 5.
- The most important skills required by local public health departments for responding to community needs and improving health outcomes include data, evaluation, and quality improvement, community engagement and facilitation, systems thinking and leadership, and policy and advocacy 6.
Public Health Programmes for Medical and Health Sector
- Disease-specific interventions have had a considerable impact on improving health systems, but weak health systems, inadequate human resources, and poor laboratory infrastructure continue to be major obstacles to expanding health services 4.
- Investment in strategic information and public health laboratory network capacity strengthening are key actions to expand services to successfully address HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria in heavily impacted countries 4.
- The Public Health Workforce Interests and Needs Survey (PH WINS) provides a national benchmark for gaps in crosscutting skills in state and local health departments 5.