Public Health Turnover Threatens Community Health and Safety
According to a recent analysis of data from the Public Health Workforce Interests and Needs Survey (PH WINS), nearly half of state and local public health employees left their jobs between 2017 and 2021, exacerbating an existing workforce shortage and causing a critical lack of skills and experience that puts communities at risk.
The study, published today in Health Affairs, compared intent to leave or retire in 2017 with actual separations through 2021 among state and local public health staff at agencies that participated in the PH WINS survey in both years. The study authors found that 46% of state and local employees left their organizations during that time – a number that rose to 74% among employees under age 35 and 77% among employees with less than five years. experience.
Public Health is one of those subjects which gain little attention in medical school. Med School students assign it a low priority, such as basket weaving in high school. It is a bit like being an anesthesiologist with long periods of inactivity, boredom, and occasional moments of sheer panic.
COVID-19 amply demonstrated how Public Health works, a slow recognition of an impending catastrophe and a slow ramp-up of an inadequate workforce. The workforce in good times is inadequate. It is just not an exciting field of healthcare. In fact, the deficit is so bad that the National Guard is often 'called up" by Governors to serve. The private sector and large health institutions have the resources to address the huge increase of patients in emergency departments.
In such situations, testing and vaccination must be accomplished a remote mobile workforce is activated.
The added burden of personnel and medical devices (PPE), and pharmaceuticals (vaccines) requires emergency funding by state and federal governments.
During such events, other agencies and specialty officials are called in to supplement forward-facing personnel, such as the CDC, DEA, WHO, and the USPHS. Politicians usually become involved as well because it enables them a public forum for recognition. This is not always a good thing, since their announcement has political implications and divides the goals of science to gain political advantage. This became apparent during the Covid Pandemic.
The future of Public Health lies in the balance.
Understanding the size and composition of the state and local governmental public health workforce in the United States is critical for promoting and protecting the health of the public. Using pandemic-era data from the Public Health Workforce Interests and Needs Survey fielded in 2017 and 2021, this study compared intent to leave or retire in 2017 with actual separations through 2021 among state and local public health agency staff. We also examined how employee age, region, and intent to leave correlated with separations and considered the effect on the workforce if trends were to continue. In our analytic sample, nearly half of all employees in state and local public health agencies left between 2017 and 2021, a proportion that rose to three-quarters for those ages thirty-five and younger or with shorter tenures. If separation trends continue, by 2025 this would represent more than 100,000 staff leaving their organizations, or as much as half of the governmental public health workforce in total. Given the likelihood of increasing outbreaks and future global pandemics, strategies to improve recruitment and retention must be prioritized.
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