737: Solutions to Hiring Barriers, Data Modernization Webinar

SUMMER JOHNSON: 

This is the award-winning Public Health Review Morning Edition for Tuesday, August 27, 2024. I'm Summer Johnson. Now today's news from the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials.

VALERIE YEAGER: 

One of the challenges that we commonly hear from public health agencies is about the speed and the success of the recruitment process.

JOHNSON: 

Dr. Valerie Yeager with the Center for Health Policy at Indiana University recently collaborated with Dr. Heather Krasna on an article in Health Affairs. The article tackles overcoming hiring barriers in public health. Yeager says public health has to catch up to other industries and modern hiring practices.

YEAGER: 

One of the changes that health departments can work towards is advocating for updating what are often antiquated application processes as a starting point. That may mean using standard recruitment technologies, such as applicant tracking systems, to improve the candidate experience if possible.

JOHNSON: 

She says the small changes can make a big difference, and she says the application process should be as simple as possible for a candidate.

YEAGER: 

For many organizations within governmental public health, the process requires the applicant to cut and paste, or even type in everything, that is already in their resume. So it lengthens and makes the process tedious.

JOHNSON: 

Another barrier, confusion of what position people are actually applying for.

YEAGER: 

Sometimes the titles of positions are vague, or they mean something to the organization, but they aren't clear to an applicant that that is the job that they would actually want. So, finding the right language to describe a job and making sure, even if you have to use jargon in your title of the position.

JOHNSON: 

These are just a few of the examples, but you can find the entire Health Affairs article by using the link in the show notes.

In recent weeks, this newscast has covered the new public Health Data Modernization Implementation Center program, and an upcoming webinar will address questions from the public health community. Willysha Jenkins is with the Public Health Accreditation Board.

WILLYSHA JENKINS: 

So, the webinar is really going to highlight the services we intend to offer, the benefits of the program, the mechanisms to participate, and really also hear from the public health agencies and representatives on you know, their input on whether this is a program that they intend to participate in.

JOHNSON: 

Jenkins says the siloed approach to data integration in public health is preventing our ability to get in front of the issues.

JENKINS: 

This fragmentation makes it really difficult to gain a comprehensive view of public health trends, and it can really hinder the ability to conduct thorough, multifaceted analyzes, which is really what's needed to address the problems we're facing today.

JOHNSON: 

And Jenkins believes this program can make a real difference.

JENKINS: 

At an infrastructural level, it's leveraging the subject matter expertise and strategic resources of the three national partners. The foundation is strengthened from there by the extensive experience and knowledge of our implementation centers, who are powerhouses in the data modernization domain.

JOHNSON: 

You can sign up for the webinar, which takes place tomorrow, August 28th at 2pm Eastern Time by using the link in the show notes.

Also today, an ASTHO blog article recaps a two day in person workshop that brought together leadership from island areas that focused on leadership, workforce development, risk communications, and more. You can access the information from that workshop by using the link in the show notes.

Finally this morning, get the latest public health news delivered directly to your inbox each and every week. ASTHO's Public Health Weekly newsletter is a great resource for any public health professional. Click the link in the show notes to sign up.

That'll do it for today. We're back tomorrow morning with more ASTHO news and information.

I'm Summer Johnson. You're listening to the award-winning Public Health Review Morning Edition.

Have a great day.