informatics competencies for public health professionals...informatics competencies for public...

Patrick W. O’Carroll, MD, MPH

and the

Public Health InformaticsCompetencies Working Group

Informatics Competenciesfor Public Health Professionals

August 2002

Northwest Center for Public Health PracticeUniversity of Washington School of Public Health and Community Medicine

Northwest Center for Public Health PracticeUniversity of Washington School of Public Health and Community Medicine

1107 NE 45th Street, Suite 400, Seattle, Washington 98105206.685.1130 • Fax 206.616.9415 • www.nwcphp.org

This work was done with support from the Office of Workforce Policy andPlanning, Public Health Practice Program Office (PHPPO), U.S. Centers forDisease Control and Prevention (CDC). We are grateful for the support andleadership of Dr. Maureen Lichtveld, Associate Director for WorkforceDevelopment, PHPPO, CDC.

Judith Yarrow, of the Health Policy Analysis Program, University of WashingtonSchool of Public Health and Community Medicine, designed this publication.The cover illustration, “Digital Hygiea,” was developed by Dr. Patrick W.O’Carroll of CDC and Judith Yarrow.

The design of this document is copyrighted by Northwest Center for PublicHealth Practice. The contents of this document are in the public domain, butwe request that you cite or acknowledge any use of this material. Suggestedcitation: O’Carroll PW and the Public Health Informatics Competency WorkingGroup. Informatics Competencies for Public Health Professionals. Seattle,WA: Northwest Center for Public Health Practice, 2002.

This document is available online at www.nwcphp.org/phi/comps/.

Please send all comments, suggestions, and questions to Dr. O’Carroll, [email protected].

© 2002, Northwest Center for Public Health PracticeAll rights reserved.Printed in the United States of America.

Contents

Executive Summary .............................................................................. 5

Introduction ......................................................................................... 6

Background .......................................................................................................6

Definitions..........................................................................................................6

Relationship to national public health workforce developmentinitiative and to core pubic health competencies ...............................7

Developing the Competencies ............................................................. 7

Initial Focus, Workforce Segmentation, and Assumptions..................... 8

Initial focus ........................................................................................................8

Workforce segmentation....................................................................................9

Assumptions ....................................................................................................10

Conceptual Framework ...................................................................... 11

Conclusion ......................................................................................... 13

References ......................................................................................... 14

Appendix A. Members of the Public Health InformaticsCompetencies Working Group ....................................... 15

Appendix B. Public Health Informatics Competencies ........................ 16

Appendix C. Public Health Informatics Competencies, withSuggested Proficiency Levels by Workforce Segment...... 19

August 2002 5

Executive SummaryPublic health informatics has been defined as the systematic application of information

and computer science and technology to public health practice, research, and learning. Inrecent years, a variety of training resources have been developed that address one or moreaspects of informatics. However, to date these resources have been developed in relative isolation,and no consensus has been established as to specific informatics competencies that variouspublic health professionals should have. To address this issue, the Centers for Disease Controland Prevention (CDC) initiated the formation of a working group of public health informaticiansand educators (see Appendix A for a list of working group members) to draft a consensus set ofpublic health informatics competencies. These informatics competencies are designed tocomplement the more general set of Core Competencies for Public Health Professionals, developedby the Council on Linkages Between Academia and Public Health Practice.

The Working Group developed and refined the competencies (presented in this documentin Appendices B and C) during 2001-2002. The Working Group intends the competencies tobe applicable to currently practicing public health professionals in the United States, thoughthey may be applicable to public health professionals in other countries as well. Three classes ofinformatics competencies are defined: those related to (a) the use of information per se forpublic health practice; (b) the use of information technology to increase one’s individualeffectiveness as a public health professional; and (c) the management of information technologyprojects to improve the effectiveness of the public health enterprise (e.g., the state or localhealth department). For each competency, expertise levels are suggested for three professionalworkforce segments: front-line staff, senior-level technical staff, and supervisory and managementstaff.

The informatics competencies presented here should provide a useful starting point in thedevelopment of new learning resources for public health professionals. Proficiency in thesecompetencies would directly assist today’s public health professionals to harness the power ofmodern information technology to the practice of public health.

Informatics Competenciesfor Public Health Professionals

6 Informatics Competencies for Public Health Professionals

Introduction

A. BackgroundInformation and computer science and technology are increasingly important to public

health practice, research, and learning. Consequently, public health professionals at all levelsshould be appropriately skilled in the applications of these sciences and technologies to publichealth.

In recent years, a variety of training courses and other learning resources have been developedthat address one or more aspects of the application of information technology to public health(CDC, 2002; Emory University, 2001; O’Carroll et al., 1998; O’Carroll et al., 2002; Universityof Illinois at Chicago, 2002; University of Washington, 2002). However, to date these coursesand learning resources have been developed in relative isolation, and no consensus has beenestablished as to specific informatics competencies that various public health professionals shouldobtain. To address this issue, a working group of public health informaticians and educatorswas formed (see Appendix A) to draft a consensus set of public health informatics competencies.The mission of this group was subsequently endorsed as a key component of a national agendafor public health informatics (Yasnoff et al., 2001).

At a minimum, these competencies are intended to provide a well-considered startingpoint for those interested in developing new informatics training resources. We hope theymight also serve as a basis for the development of a general curriculum framework and, ultimately,one or more model public health informatics curricula.

B. Definitions1. Public Health Informatics. We use the definition of public health informatics provided

by Yasnoff et al. (2000): [Public health informatics is defined as] the systematic applicationof information and computer science and technology to public health practice, research,and learning.

In broad terms, today’s public health professionals must be able to use information effectively;to use information technology effectively; and to manage information technology projectseffectively. Ideally, public health leaders should also have the skill and vision to apply informationscience and technology to re-engineer certain elements of public health practice altogether,when such fundamental changes are appropriate and made feasible by modern information

technology. The National Electronic DiseaseSurveillance System (NEDSS) project is a goodexample of how information technology can beapplied to re-engineer a basic public health process.When completed, NEDSS will result in relativelyautomated public health surveillance, including theautomated detection of apparent outbreaks andother anomalous disease patterns (NEDSS WorkingGroup, 2001). All of these capacities—the use ofinformation, the use of information technology, the

Public health informaticsThe systematic application of information and computerscience and technology to public health practice, research,and learning.

August 2002 7

management of information technology projects, and the innovative application of informationtechnology to re-engineer public health practice—may be considered elements of public healthinformatics.

2. Competencies. We define a public health informatics competency as: A public healthworker’s observable or measurable performance, skill, or knowledge related to thesystematic application of information and computer science and technology to publichealth.

C. Relationship to national public health workforce developmentinitiative, and to core public health competencies

The Working Group developed these informatics competencies within the larger contextof the Global and National Implementation Plan for Public Health Workforce Development.This plan is the result of an ambitious public health workforce initiative being guided by thePublic Health Workforce Development Collaborative (see www.phppo.cdc.gov/owpp/timelineComp.asp). Begun in March 1999, this initiative is being developed through a dynamicand diverse partnership of public health professionals in government, academic, and practicecommunities (Lichtveld et al., 2001).

These informatics competencies were designed to complement the consensus set of CoreCompetencies for Public Health Professionals, developed by the Council on Linkages BetweenAcademia and Public Health Practice (hereafter, the Council on Linkages, or simply the Council).These core competencies, adopted by the Council in April 2001, represent ten years of work inthis area by the Council along with numerous other organizations and individuals in publichealth academic and practice settings. For a full discussion of core competencies for publichealth professionals, see www.trainingfinder.org/competencies/.

Developing the Competencies

CDC asked the Northwest Center for Public Health Preparedness at the University ofWashington (UW) School of Public Health and Community Medicine to lead a nationaleffort to develop public health informatics competencies in the context of the Global andNational Implementation Plan for Public Health Workforce Development. Dr. Patrick O’Carrollat the University of Washington and Dr. Janise Richards at CDC were appointed to lead thiseffort.

Drs. O’Carroll and Richards assembled a list of key public health professionals who wereknown to be involved in training and research in public health informatics, as well as otherinterested public health professionals with expertise in competency development. Theseindividuals were invited to attend an initial meeting to launch the effort, and to discuss andprovide the basic scope and framework for this project.

The initial meeting was held as a workshop on May 15, 2001, in Atlanta, Georgia, inconjunction with the 2001 Spring Congress of the American Medical Informatics Association(AMIA). More than 30 public health, informatics, and education experts met to begin to


define competencies for public health informatics. In the brief time available, the group focusedon establishing the nature of the project, who it was intended to serve, and initial brainstormingto list some competencies, knowledge, skills, and abilities that might be used to develop trainingin public health informatics. This group agreed to serve as the core of a Working Group for thepurposes of further developing the informatics competencies. (See Appendix A for a list ofWorking Group members.)

Working primarily through e-mail communication over the ensuing months, Drs. O’Carrolland Richards expanded the original Working Group to include new members who had aninterest in the project and relevant expertise. They also developed a preliminary draft of thecompetencies, which was distributed to the Working Group in July 2001.

Based on feedback received through October 18, 2001, Drs. O’Carroll and Richardsdeveloped a second draft of the public health competencies document, which they sent to theWorking Group at that time.

The Working Group met on October 21, 2001, in conjunction with the annual meeting ofthe American Public Health Association meeting in Atlanta, Georgia. At that meeting, theyreviewed feedback on the first draft and discussed outstanding issues related to the second draft.

Drs. O’Carroll and Richards sent a third draft to the Working Group in June 2002,incorporating changes and a reorganization of the competencies suggested at the October 2001meeting. After incorporating suggestions from this review by the Working Group, a final set ofinformatics competencies for public health professionals was delivered in August 2002 toDr. Maureen Lichtveld, Associate Director for Workforce Development, Public Health PracticeProgram Office, CDC, for incorporation into the work of the Public Health WorkforceDevelopment Collaborative.

Initial Focus, Workforce Segmentation,and Assumptions

A. Initial focusThe Working Group decided that our initial focus would be on the development of

informatics competencies for the current U.S. public health workforce. These competencies areintended to guide the development of new informatics learning resources for today’s publichealth workforce.

However, as a group we also noted the need to articulate a detailed set of graduate-levelpublic health informatics competencies to guide the development of training by degree-grantingacademic programs. Such programs are likely to develop and deliver informatics training that isboth broader and deeper than is possible or appropriate for the general public health workforce.Although we do not attempt to define graduate-level public health informatics competencies inthis document, such a definition remains a high priority for future work.

To a large extent, informatics competencies for the U.S. public health workforce should beapplicable to the developing world as well. Established informatics principles and practices

August 2002 9

would remain the same, although wide international disparities in hardware, software,telecommunications, applications, and data exchange standards may limit the relevance andachievability of some of the competencies. Although we have worked to develop standards thatare universally useful and adaptable with regard to technology and its advances, the WorkingGroup expects that the informatics competencies detailed in the appendices will be reviewed,modified, and adapted by many countries and interest groups.

B. Workforce segmentationFor purposes of defining specific sets of public health informatics competencies, we used

the three workforce segments defined by the Council on Linkages, as follows:

1. Front Line Staff: Individuals who carry out the bulk of day-to-day tasks (e.g., sanitarians,counselors, nurses and other clinicians, investigators, lab technicians, health educators).Responsibilities may include basic data collection and analysis, fieldwork, programplanning, outreach activities, programmatic support, and other organizational tasks.

2. Senior Level Staff (Senior Level Technical Staff): Individualswith a specialized staff function but not serving as managers (e.g.epidemiologists, attorneys, biostatisticians, health planners, healthpolicy analysts). They have increased technical knowledge ofprinciples in areas such as epidemiology, program planning andevaluation, data collection, budget development, grant writing,and so on, and may be responsible for coordination and oversightof pieces of projects or programs.

3. Supervisory and Management Staff: Individuals responsible formajor programs or functions of an organization, with staff whoreport to them. Increased skills can be expected in programdevelopment, program implementation, program evaluation,community relations, writing, public speaking, managingtimelines and work plans, presenting arguments andrecommendations on policy issues.

—Council on Linkages. http://trainingfinder.org/competencies/background.htm

We consider that the term public health professionals (a) refers collectively to public healthworkers in these three workforce segments, and (b) includes all of the public health workforcewith the exception of exclusively clerical and administrative staff. Note that we explicitly includeinformation technology professionals—e.g., computer scientists, programmers, systems analysts,database designers, and network engineers—in the Senior Level Technical Staff workforce segment.

Several informatics competencies apply to the entire public health workforce, includingclerical and administrative staff. All of the informatics competencies apply in some degree to allthree segments of the professional workforce. For each informatics competency in our list, weindicate the proposed level of skill (aware, knowledgeable, or proficient) for each segment of

We prefer the term “Senior Level TechnicalStaff” to “Senior Level Staff”, because webelieve the former term better reflects thedefinition supplied by the Council onLinkages. Although we use the term “SeniorLevel Technical Staff” in the remainder of thisdocument, the definition of this work forcecategory is unchanged from that of theCouncil on Linkages.


the public health workforce. We define these skill levels in the same manner as the Council onLinkages (see www.trainingfinder.org/competencies/background.htm#definitions).

Although the three-segment workforce classification is useful in proposing varying levelsof skill for each competency, it does not begin to capture the true diversity of the public healthworkforce (consisting as it does of nurses, physicians, environmental health specialists,epidemiologists, biostatisticians, laboratorians, managers, social workers, nutritionists, healtheducators, and many others). Because of the complexity of the public health workforce, ourproposed levels of competency are necessarily imprecise. They should be considered simply assuggested starting points, to be adapted as appropriate to the specific training needs of a givenprofessional in a given work setting.

Finally, we should note a special class of public health professional—the Chief InformationOfficer, or CIO. These persons work as policy advisors and leaders at the highest level of apublic health agency, bringing special expertise in the areas of information architecture,information resource management planning, enterprise-level information systems development

and integration, and organizational changemanagement as it relates to the incorporation ofinformation technology. Chief Information Officers arerelatively new to public health. State public healthagencies have only recently begun to hire CIOs, andfew if any local health departments have anyone servingin such a capacity. In this document, we do not attemptto define the full set of informatics competencies for aCIO. Rather, in keeping with our focus on the currentpublic health workforce, we defer specification of publichealth informatics competencies for CIO-level staff toa later time.

C. Assumptions1. We assume that general informatics competencies (e.g., database design) are applicable

to all informatics specialty areas, i.e., public health informatics, nursing informatics,clinical informatics, and any other informatics subspecialties. In addition to these generalinformatics competencies, there are other competencies unique to public healthinformatics. We have included both general and specific informatics competencies inour list.

2. We feel that some of the Council on Linkages’ core competencies can properly beconsidered informatics competencies as well (e.g., Evaluates the integrity and comparabilityof data and identifies gaps in data sources). We have included these core competenciesamong our informatics competencies (the “Class 1” competencies in Appendices B andC), while acknowledging their dual role as core competencies.

3. We assume that competencies for clinical informatics are outside the scope of our work,although we recognize that many public health agencies deliver some clinical care. For

Chief Information OfficerThis special class of public health professionals works aspolicy advisors and leaders at the highest level of a publichealth agency, bringing special expertise in the areas ofinformation architecture, information resource managementplanning, enterprise-level information systems developmentand integration, and organizational change management.

August 2002 11

information related to clinical informatics competencies, we refer the reader to theInternational Medical Informatics Association (www.imia.org/endorsed.html); theAmerican Medical Informatics Association (www.amia.org); and the Association ofAmerican Medical Colleges (www.aamc.org/meded/msop/).

The development of electronic repositories of clinical data in many patient care settingspresents a tremendous opportunity for public health—for real-time morbidity surveillance, forthe delivery of patient-specific prevention information, and for a variety of other activities atthe intersection of clinical care and public health. We strongly encourage public healthinformaticians to engage with those developing clinical information systems, to ensure thatnew clinical information systems can be appropriately integrated with public health systems.

Conceptual FrameworkWe suggest three general classes of public health informatics competencies:1. Competencies related to the use of information per se for public health practice

2. Competencies related to the use of information technology to increase one’s individualeffectiveness as a public health professional

3. Competencies related to the development, deployment, and maintenance ofinformation systems to improve the effectiveness of the public health enterprise (e.g., thestate or local health department)

The first class of informatics competencies has to do with thescientifically sound and ethical use, assessment, analysis,interpretation, and dissemination of data and information. As notedin the Assumptions section, we believe that these competencies arealready well stated in the Council on Linkages’ Core Competenciesfor Public Health Professionals, and so we have included verbatimthe applicable core competencies in our list of informaticscompetencies. However, because training in competency areasrelated to data analysis and interpretation has long been an integralpart of public health education—in courses in epidemiology,surveillance, biostatistics, and so forth—we do not provide example learning objectives forthese competencies. To the Council on Linkages’ list of core competencies, we do add a singleadditional Class 1 informatics competency: the systematic management of public healthinformation as a key strategic resource of a public health organization.

Regarding the second class of informatics competencies, related to the effective use ofinformation technology: all public health professionals should be competent at some level inthis regard, but this class of competencies is particularly important for front-line and senior-level technical professionals (on whom senior management officials often depend for accurate,timely, science-based information and guidance). The third class of competencies, dealing with

Three Classes of Competencies• Use of Information• Use of information technology• Development, deployment, and

maintenance of Information systems


information systems development, is particularly relevant to senior-level technical andsupervisory/management staff, who are involved in decision-making about information systemsdevelopment and design, as well as in the management of information technology projects.

Within each ofthese latter two classesof competencies, levelsof ability may beconsidered to vary fromfamiliarity with basicconcepts and tech-niques to proficiency inthe application of keyinformatics principlesand practices. Forexample, it may beadequate to ensure thatall front-line staff arecapable of basic use ofthe World Wide Web—opening a browser,navigating to aparticular URL, and soforth—whereas forsenior-level staff, wewould expect a moreadvanced capacity touse the Web expertly,for example, to locate,assemble, evaluate, and

interpret authoritative information and data relating to their particular program or organizationalfunction (see Figure 1).

Similarly, in the systems development arena (see Figure 1) we might seek to ensure that allfront-line staff are aware of the important role they can play in suggesting ideas for systemdevelopment, and in participating in that development. (Note that “systems development”includes contracting and purchasing of systems and system components as well as developmentof customized computer programs and databases.) For senior-level technical staff, we mightwant to ensure that they have a basic understanding of well-established processes used ininformation systems development (e.g., requirements specification), and understand the natureof the roles they ought to play in those processes. For supervisory and management staff, however,who make decisions about information technology projects and ultimately have managementresponsibility for such projects, we would expect a higher level of proficiency related to theapplication of systems development processes and proven techniques of information technologyproject management.

Figure 1. Levels of Expertise in Informatics by Workforce Segment and Classof Competency

August 2002 13

Conclusion

We hope this set of informatics competencies will be useful in the development of newlearning resources for public health professionals. Given the tremendous range in the size andcapacity of local and state health departments, we do not expect all public health professionalsto be proficient in all of these informatics competencies in all public health settings. Nevertheless,we believe that these competencies are realistic and attainable for most public health professionalsin mid- to large-sized health departments. We firmly believe that proficiency in these informaticscompetencies would directly assist today’s public health professionals to harness the power ofmodern information technology to the practice of public health.

Finally, in keeping with the usage of the software development world, this list of competenciesmay be considered a “version one” product. We expect that with experience and broader input,these competencies will be modified and improved. To provide feedback in this regard, pleasecontact the Northwest Center for Public Health Practice at (206) 685-1130 [email protected], or contact Dr. O’Carroll directly at [email protected].


ReferencesCDC. Public Health Informatics Fellowship Program, 2002. http://www.cdc.gov/epo/

dphsi/informat.htm.

Emory University Rollins School of Public Health. The MSPH program in PublicHealth Informatics. Fall 2001. http://www.sph.emory.edu/bios/phi.html.

Lichtveld MY, Cioffi JP, Baker EL, Bailey SB, Gebbie K, Henderson JV, Jones DL,Kurz RS, Margolis S, Miner K, Thielen L, Tilson H. Partnership for Front-LineSuccess: A Call for a National Action Agenda on Workforce Development. J PublicHealth Management Practice 2001; 7(4):1-9.

National Electronic Disease Surveillance System Working Group. National ElectronicDisease Surveillance System (NEDSS): a standards-based approach to connect publichealth and clinical medicine. J Public Health Management Practice 2001 Nov; 7(6):43-50.

O’Carroll PW, Yasnoff WA, Ward E, Ripp L, Martin E. Public Health Informatics andInformation Systems. New York: Springer-Verlag New York, Inc. (in press, availableNov 2002).

O’Carroll PW, Yasnoff WA, Wilhoite W. Public Health Informatics: a CDC coursefor public health program managers. Proceedings of the 1998 AMIA Annual FallSymposium (formerly SCAMC); 1998:472-476.

University of Illinois at Chicago. Earn a Masters Degree or Certificate Online in PublicHealth Informatics. 2002. http://www.uic.edu/sph/phi/.

University of Washington, 2002. The Biomedical and Health Informatics GraduateProgram at the University of Washington. http://www.informatics.washington.edu.

Yasnoff WA, O’Carroll PW, Koo D, Linkins RW, Kilbourne E. Public HealthInformatics: Improving and transforming public health in the information age.J Public Health Management Practice 2000; 6(6):67-75.

Yasnoff WA, Overhage JM, Humphreys BL, LaVenture M, Goodman KW, GatewoodL, Ross DA, Reid J, Hammond WE, Dwyer D, Huff SM, Gotham I, Kukafka R,Loonsk JW, Wagner MM. A National Agenda for Public Health Informatics. J PublicHealth Management Practice 2001; 7(6):1-21.

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Appendix AMembers of the Public Health Informatics CompetenciesWorking Group Name AffiliationLorraine Alexander University of North Carolina School of Public Health, Center for Public Health PreparednessNancy Allee University of Michigan School of Public HealthJ. Jackson Barnette University of Iowa College of Public HealthBetty Bekemeier University of Washington School of Public Health and Community MedicineDonald Bialek Harvard School of Public HealthCarol Brown National Association of County and City Health OfficialsMilton Corn National Library of MedicineKevin Croke University of Illinois - Chicago School of Public HealthVirginia Dato University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health, Center for Public Health PracticeJac Davies Washington State Department of HealthPatricia Drehobl CDC, National Center for Infectious DiseasesSherrilynne Fuller University of Washington Health Sciences LibrariesRoland Gamache Indiana State Department of HealthCarol Gassert Health Resources and Services AdministrationKristine Gebbie Columbia University School of Nursing, Center for Health PolicyRobert Glandon Ingham County Health DepartmentTimothy Green CDC, Epidemiology Program OfficeNeil Hann Robert Wood Johnson National Excellence Collaborative onInformation Technology, OklahomaDenise Hase Northeast Colorado Health DepartmentRobert T. Kambic Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public HealthBryant T. Karras University of Washington School of Public Health and Community MedicineAlana Knudson-Buresh Association of State and Territorial Health OfficialsDenise Koo CDC, Epidemiology Program OfficeRita Kukafka Columbia University Mailman School of Public HealthMaureen Lichtveld CDC, Public Health Practice Program Office (PHPPO)Charles E. Matiella National Association of County and City Health OfficialsKristine Maxymiv Association of State and Territorial Health OfficialsRoss McKenzie Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public HealthAlan Melnick Oregon Health & Science University, Departments of Public Health and Family Medicine;

and Health Officer, Clackamas County, OregonEdward K. Mensah University of Illinois-Chicago School of Public HealthJacqueline Merrill Columbia University School of Nursing, Center for Health PolicyKathy Miner Emory University Rollins School of Public HealthMaggie Moran Public Health - Seattle & King CountySteve Morse Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, Center for Public Health PreparednessBabette Neuberger University of Illinois – Chicago School of Public HealthPatrick O’Carroll CDC, PHPPO; and University of Washington, Northwest Center for Public Health PreparednessMark Oberle University of Washington School of Public Health and Community MedicineNeil Rambo University of Washington Health Sciences LibrariesSteve Rauch University of Washington School of Public Health and Community MedicineJanise Richards CDC, Epidemiology Program OfficeHelga Rippen American College of Preventive Medicine, Information Technology CommitteeDave Ross All Kids CountVicki Stover-Hertzberg Emory University Rollins School of Public HealthG. David Williamson Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry

William A. Yasnoff Senior Advisor, National Health Information Infrastructure, DHHS


Class 1. Effective Use of INFORMATION

Domain/ COMPETENCYTopical Area

1. Determines appropriate uses and limitations of both quantitative and qualitative data 2. Evaluates the integrity and comparability of data and identifies gaps in data sources 3. Applies ethical principles to the collection, maintenance, use, and dissemination of

data and information 4. Partners with communities to attach meaning to collected quantitative and qualitative

data 5. Makes relevant inferences from quantitative and qualitative data 6. Obtains and interprets information regarding risks and benefits to the community 7. Applies data collection processes, information technology applications, and computer

systems storage/retrieval strategies 8. Recognizes how the data illuminates ethical, political, scientific, economic, and overall

public health issues

9. Collects, summarizes, and interprets information relevant to an issue10. Utilizes current techniques in decision analysis and health planning

11. Communicates effectively both in writing and orally, or in other ways12. Uses the media, advanced technologies, and community networks to communicate

information13. Effectively presents accurate demographic, statistical, programmatic, and scientific

information for professional and lay audiences

14. Develops, implements, and evaluates a community public health assessment

15. Defines, assesses, and understands the health status of populations, determinants ofhealth and illness, factors contributing to health promotion and disease prevention,and factors influencing the use of health services

16. Identifies and applies basic research methods used in public health17. Applies the basic public health sciences including behavioral and social sciences,

biostatistics, epidemiology, environmental public health, and prevention of chronicand infectious diseases and injuries

18. Identifies and retrieves current relevant scientific evidence19. Identifies the limitations of research and the importance of observations and

interrelationships

With one exception, the competencies in this Class were drawn verbatim from the “Core Competencies for PublicHealth Professionals” compendium developed by the Council on Linkages Between Academia and Public Health Practice.These core competencies may be thought of as informatics competencies as well, and thus are included here. Thesingle additional competency in this Class is competency #24, in bold, in the Leadership and Systems Thinkingdomain.

Analytic AssessmentSkills

Policy Dev’t/ ProgramPlanning

Communication Skills

CommunityDimensions of

Practice

Basic Public HealthSciences

Appendix BPublic Health Informatics Competencies

August 2002 17

20. Manages information systems for collection, retrieval, and use of data for decision-making

21. Conducts cost-effectiveness, cost-benefit, and cost utility analyses

22. Identifies internal and external issues that may impact delivery of essential public healthservices (i.e. strategic planning)

23. Promotes team and organizational learning24. Manages the information of the public health organization as a key strategic resource

and mission tool

1. Utilizes personal computers and other office information technologies for workingwith documents and other computerized files

2. Utilizes modern information technology tools for the full range of electroniccommunication appropriate to one’s duties and programmatic area

3. Appropriately selects and utilizes state-of-the-art software tools in support of publichealth data acquisition, entry, management, analysis, planning, and reporting

4. Utilizes modern information technology tools to identify, locate, access, assess, andappropriately interpret and use on-line public health-related information and data

5. Utilizes information technology so as to ensure the integrity and protection of electronicfiles and computer systems

6. Applies all relevant procedures (policies) and technical means (security) to ensure thatconfidential information is appropriately protected

7. Utilizes modern distance-learning technologies to support life-long learning appropriateto programmatic needs

8. Utilizes modern information science and technology as a strategic tool to promotepublic health (e.g., through community education, behavior modification, collaborativepolicy development, issue advocacy and community mobilization)

9. Combines data and information from multiple sources, to create new information tosupport public health decision-making

Class 2: Effective Use of INFORMATION TECHNOLOGYThis class of competencies has to do with the ability to use various kinds of information technology to improve one’sindividual professional effectiveness. Certain basic competencies in this Class are relevant to all public health workers(including purely clerical and administrative staff ). All of the competencies in this Class are relevant in some degreeto all public health professionals.


Financial Planningand Management

Leadership andSystems Thinking

Digital literacy

ElectronicCommunications

Selection and use ofI.T. tools

On-line informationutilization

Data and SystemProtection

Distance Learning

Strategic use of I.T. topromote health

Information andknowledge

development


1. Composes and manages systems development teams in a manner that demonstrates arecognition of the appropriate roles and domains for computer scientists, epidemiologists,policy makers and programmers and other IT specialists in information systemsdevelopment

2. Leads and advocates for, or otherwise actively participates in, the development ofintegrated, cost-effective public health information systems within the public healthenterprise, ensuring that new applications and information systems are built inconformance with a larger (enterprise-level) information architecture

3. Recognizes, participates in, and applies accepted models and processes for developinginformation systems and for managing information resources

4. Actively, effectively engages and communicates with information technology specialistsas well as public health colleagues regarding proven information technologies and theirpotential application to public health practice

5. Participates in the development of new and enhanced databases for public health, andapplies principles of good database design

6. Utilizes (or ensures the utilization of ) data standards for storage and transmission, andis able to find the relevant standards specifications as needed

7. Applies and participates in developing confidentiality and privacy policies for theenterprise, and ensures the development of adequate security systems to support theimplementation of those policies

8. Utilizes proven informatics principles and practices when managing informationtechnology projects

9. Utilizes proven informatics principles and practices when managing informationtechnology staff and other IT specialists

10. Procures appropriate cost-effective, information technologies for the public healthenterprise

11. Uses information technology to assure openness of public health agency processes andresponsiveness to the electorate and the public

12. Monitors informatics research findings and public health information systemsdevelopment efforts, and applies these findings and experiences as appropriate to publichealth practice

Class 3: Effective Management of INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY PROJECTSThis class of competencies has to do with the ability to effectively develop and manage information systems toimprove the effectiveness of a public health enterprise. The focus here is not limited to improving one’s individualprofessional effectiveness, although that is often a natural consequence of effective systems development. Instead, thefocus is on harnessing the power of modern information technology to improve the functioning and scope of thepublic health agency.


System development

Cross-disciplinarycommunication

Databases

Standards

Confidentiality andSecurity Systems

Project management

Human resourcesmanagement

Procurement

Accountability

Research

August 2002 19

Appendix C

Public Health Informatics Competencies with Suggested Proficiency Levelsby Workforce Segment

In the following table, levels of proficiency (aware, knowledgeable, or proficient) are suggested for each informaticscompetency, for various segments of the public health workforce. Aware indicates a basic level of mastery of thecompetency, in which individuals are able to identify the concept or skill but have a relatively limited ability toperform the skill. Knowledgeable indicates an intermediate level of mastery of the competency, in which individualsare able to apply and describe the skill. Proficient indicates an advanced level of mastery of the competency, in whichindividuals are able to synthesize, critique, or teach the skill.

Because of the complexity of the public health workforce and the settings in which public health is practiced,our proposed levels of proficiency are necessarily imprecise. They should be considered simply as suggested startingpoints, to be adapted as appropriate to the specific training needs of a given professional in a given work setting.

Pub

lic H

ealt

h In

form

atic

s Co

mp

eten

cies

wit

h Su

gges

ted

Pro

fici

ency

Lev

els

by

Wo

rkfo

rce

Segm

ent

Clas

s 1.

Eff

ecti

ve U

se o

f IN

FORM

ATI

ON

Not

e: W

ith

one

exce

ptio

n, th

e co

mpe

tenc

ies

in th

is C

lass

wer

e dr

awn

verba

tim fr

om th

e "

Cor

e C

ompe

tenc

ies

for

Publ

ic H

ealth

Pro

fess

iona

ls"

com

pend

ium

dev

elop

ed b

y th

e C

ounc

il on

Lin

kage

s B

etw

een

Aca

dem

ia a

nd P

ublic

Hea

lth P

ract

ice

(see

ww

w.tr

aini

ngfin

der.o

rg/c

ompe

tenc

ies/

list.h

tm).

The

se c

ore

com

pete

ncie

s m

ay b

e th

ough

t of a

s in

form

atic

s co

mpe

tenc

ies

as w

ell,

and

thus

are

incl

uded

her

e. T

he s

ingl

e ad

diti

onal

com

pete

ncy

in th

is C

lass

is c

ompe

tenc

y #2

4, i

n bo

ld, i

n th

e Le

aders

hip a

nd S

ystem

s Thi

nkin

g do

mai

n .

PUBL

IC H

EALT

H P

ROFE

SSIO

NA

LS

Do

mai

n/

Top

ical

Are

a CO

MPE

TEN

CY

Fro

nt L

ine

Staf

fSe

nio

r-Le

vel

Tech

nica

l Sta

ffSu

per

viso

ry &

M

anag

emen

t

Ana

lyti

c A

sses

smen

t Sk

ills

1.

Det

erm

ines

app

ropr

iate

use

s an

d lim

itat

ions

of b

oth

quan

tita

tive

and

qua

litat

ive

data

A

war

e to

kn

owle

dgea

ble

Prof

icie

nt

Prof

icie

nt

2.

E

valu

ates

the

inte

grit

y an

d co

mpa

rabi

lity

of d

ata

and

iden

tifie

s ga

ps in

dat

a so

urce

s

Aw

are

Prof

icie

nt

Prof

icie

nt

3.

A

pplie

s et

hica

l pri

ncip

les

to th

e co

llect

ion,

mai

nten

ance

, use

, and

dis

sem

inat

ion

of d

ata

and

info

rmat

ion

K

now

ledg

eabl

e to

pr

ofic

ient

Pr

ofic

ient

Pr

ofic

ient

4.

Pa

rtne

rs w

ith

com

mun

itie

s to

att

ach

mea

ning

to c

olle

cted

qua

ntit

ativ

e an

d qu

alit

ativ

e da

ta

Aw

are

to

know

ledg

eabl

e Pr

ofic

ient

Pr

ofic

ient

5.

M

akes

rel

evan

t inf

eren

ces

from

qua

ntita

tive

and

qua

litat

ive

data

A

war

e to

kn

owle

dgea

ble

Prof

icie

nt

Prof

icie

nt

6.

O

btai

ns a

nd in

terp

rets

info

rmat

ion

rega

rdin

g ri

sks

and

bene

fits

to th

e co

mm

unit

y

Aw

are

to

know

ledg

eabl

e Pr

ofic

ient

Pr

ofic

ient

7.

A

pplie

s da

ta c

olle

ctio

n pr

oces

ses,

info

rmat

ion

tech

nolo

gy a

pplic

atio

ns, a

nd c

ompu

ter

syst

ems

stor

age/

retr

ieva

l str

ateg

ies

A

war

e to

kn

owle

dgea

ble

Kno

wle

dgea

ble

to

prof

icie

nt

Kno

wle

dgea

ble

to

prof

icie

nt

8.

R

ecog

nize

s ho

w t

he d

ata

illum

inat

es e

thic

al, p

olit

ical

, sci

enti

fic, e

cono

mic

, and

ove

rall

publ

ic

heal

th is

sues

A

war

e K

now

ledg

eabl

e to

pr

ofic

ient

Prof

icie

nt

August 2002 21

August 2002


Polic

y D

ev't

/ Pr

ogr

am P

lann

ing

9.

Col

lect

s, s

umm

ariz

es, a

nd in

terp

rets

info

rmat

ion

rele

vant

to a

n is

sue

Kno

wle

dgea

ble

Prof

icie

nt

Prof

icie

nt

10

. U

tiliz

es c

urre

nt te

chni

ques

in d

ecis

ion

anal

ysis

and

hea

lth p

lann

ing

Aw

are

Kno

wle

dgea

ble

to

prof

icie

nt

Prof

icie

nt

Com

mun

icat

ion

Skill

s 11

. C

omm

unic

ates

eff

ecti

vely

bot

h in

wri

ting

and

ora

lly, o

r in

oth

er w

ays

Prof

icie

nt

Prof

icie

nt

Prof

icie

nt

12

. U

ses

the

med

ia, a

dvan

ced

tech

nolo

gies

, and

com

mun

ity

netw

orks

to c

omm

unic

ate

info

rmat

ion

Aw

are

to

know

ledg

eabl

e Pr

ofic

ient

Pr

ofic

ient

13

. E

ffec

tive

ly p

rese

nts

accu

rate

dem

ogra

phic

, sta

tist

ical

, pro

gram

mat

ic, a

nd s

cien

tific

info

rmat

ion

for

prof

essi

onal

and

lay

audi

ence

s

Kno

wle

dgea

ble

Prof

icie

nt

Prof

icie

nt

Com

mun

ity

Dim

ensi

ons

of

Prac

tice

14

. D

evel

ops,

impl

emen

ts, a

nd e

valu

ates

a c

omm

unit

y pu

blic

hea

lth a

sses

smen

t K

now

ledg

eabl

e Pr

ofic

ient

Pr

ofic

ient

Basi

c Pu

blic

H

ealt

h Sc

ienc

es

15.

Def

ines

, ass

esse

s, a

nd u

nder

stan

ds th

e he

alth

sta

tus

of p

opul

atio

ns, d

eter

min

ants

of h

ealth

and

ill

ness

, fac

tors

con

trib

utin

g to

hea

lth p

rom

otio

n an

d di

seas

e pr

even

tion

, and

fact

ors

influ

enci

ng

the

use

of h

ealth

ser

vice

s

Kno

wle

dgea

ble

Pr

ofic

ient

Pr

ofic

ient

16

. Id

enti

fies

and

appl

ies

basi

c re

sear

ch m

etho

ds u

sed

in p

ublic

hea

lth

Aw

are

Pr

ofic

ient

Pr

ofic

ient

17

. A

pplie

s th

e ba

sic

publ

ic h

ealth

sci

ence

s in

clud

ing

beha

vior

al a

nd s

ocia

l sci

ence

s, b

iost

atis

tics

, ep

idem

iolo

gy, e

nvir

onm

enta

l pub

lic h

ealth

, and

pre

vent

ion

of c

hron

ic a

nd in

fect

ious

dis

ease

s an

d in

juri

es

Kno

wle

dgea

ble

Pr

ofic

ient

Pr

ofic

ient

18

. Id

enti

fies

and

retr

ieve

s cu

rren

t rel

evan

t sci

enti

fic e

vide

nce

K

now

ledg

eabl

e

Prof

icie

nt

Prof

icie

nt

19

. Id

enti

fies

the

limit

atio

ns o

f res

earc

h an

d th

e im

port

ance

of o

bser

vati

ons

and

inte

rrel

atio

nshi

ps

Kno

wle

dgea

ble

Pr

ofic

ient

Pr

ofic

ient

PUBL

IC H

EALT

H P

ROFE

SSIO

NA

LS

Do

mai

n/

Top

ical

Are

a CO

MPE

TEN

CY

Fro

nt L

ine

Staf

fSe

nio

r-Le

vel

Tech

nica

l Sta

ffSu

per

viso

ry &

M

anag

emen

t

August 2002 23

Informatics for Public Health Professionals


PUBL

IC H

EALT

H P

ROFE

SSIO

NA

LS

Do

mai

n/

Top

ical

Are

a CO

MPE

TEN

CY

Fro

nt L

ine

Staf

fSe

nio

r-Le

vel

Tech

nica

l Sta

ffSu

per

viso

ry &

M

anag

emen

t

Fina

ncia

l Pla

nnin

g an

d M

anag

emen

t 20

. M

anag

es in

form

atio

n sy

stem

s fo

r co

llect

ion,

ret

riev

al, a

nd u

se o

f dat

a fo

r de

cisi

on-m

akin

g

Aw

are

Kno

wle

dgea

ble

to

prof

icie

nt

Prof

icie

nt

21

. C

ondu

cts

cost

-eff

ecti

vene

ss, c

ost-

bene

fit, a

nd c

ost

utili

ty a

naly

ses

A

war

e K

now

ledg

eabl

e Pr

ofic

ient

Lead

ersh

ip

and

Sys

tem

s Th

inki

ng

22.

Iden

tifie

s in

tern

al a

nd e

xter

nal i

ssue

s th

at m

ay im

pact

del

iver

y of

ess

enti

al p

ublic

hea

lth s

ervi

ces

(i.e

. str

ateg

ic p

lann

ing)

A

war

e K

now

ledg

eabl

e to

pr

ofic

ient

Pr

ofic

ient

23

. Pr

omot

es te

am a

nd o

rgan

izat

iona

l lea

rnin

g

Kno

wle

dgea

ble

Kno

wle

dgea

ble

to

prof

icie

nt

Prof

icie

nt

24

. M

anag

es th

e in

form

atio

n of

the

publ

ic h

ealth

org

aniz

atio

n as

a k

ey s

trat

egic

reso

urce

an

d m

issi

on to

ol

Kno

wle

dgea

ble

Pr

ofic

ient

Pr

ofic

ient


Pub

lic H

ealt

h In

form

atic

s Co

mp

eten

cies

Clas

s 2:

Eff

ecti

ve U

se o

f IN

FORM

ATI

ON

TEC

HN

OLO

GY

Thi

s cl

ass

of c

ompe

tenc

ies

has

to d

o w

ith

the

abili

ty to

use

var

ious

kin

ds o

f inf

orm

atio

n te

chno

logy

to im

prov

e on

e's

indi

vidu

al p

rofe

ssio

nal e

ffec

tive

ness

. Cer

tain

bas

ic

com

pete

ncie

s in

this

Cla

ss a

re r

elev

ant t

o al

l pub

lic h

ealth

wor

kers

(in

clud

ing

pure

ly c

leri

cal a

nd a

dmin

istr

ativ

e st

aff)

. All

of th

e co

mpe

tenc

ies

in th

is C

lass

are

rel

evan

t in

som

e de

gree

to a

ll pu

blic

hea

lth p

rofe

ssio

nals

.

PUBL

IC H

EALT

H P

ROFE

SSIO

NA

LS

Do

mai

n/

Top

ical

Are

a CO

MPE

TEN

CY

Cler

ical

/ A

dm

in

Fro

nt L

ine

Staf

fSe

nio

r-Le

vel

Tech

nica

l Su

per

viso

ry &

M

anag

emen

t Ex

amp

le L

earn

ing

Ob

ject

ives

(p

erso

n w

ill b

e ab

le t

o…

)

Rela

ted

Co

unci

l on

Link

ages

' Co

re

Com

pet

enci

es

Dig

ital

lite

racy

1.

Uti

lizes

per

sona

l co

mpu

ters

and

oth

er

offic

e in

form

atio

n te

chno

logi

es fo

r w

orki

ng

wit

h do

cum

ents

and

ot

her

com

pute

rize

d fil

es

Prof

icie

nt

Prof

icie

nt

Prof

icie

nt

• rec

ogni

ze a

nd u

nder

stan

d th

e fu

ncti

on

of th

e m

ain

com

pone

nts

of a

co

mpu

ter

• lau

nch

a co

mpu

ter

appl

icat

ion

• sav

e w

ork

to a

com

pute

r fil

e, a

nd lo

cate

an

d op

en a

file

on

a co

mpu

ter

disk

dr

ive

• pri

nt a

file

• c

opy

a fil

e fo

r us

e on

ano

ther

com

pute

r• u

se a

sta

ndar

d w

ord

proc

essi

ng p

rogr

am

to c

reat

e an

d ed

it a

form

atte

d do

cum

ent u

sing

tabl

es a

nd g

raph

ics

• u

se a

fax

mac

hine

to

send

a fa

csim

ile

copy

of a

doc

umen

t

• All

(ind

irec

tly)

Elec

tro

nic

Com

mun

icat

ions

2.

Uti

lizes

mod

ern

info

rmat

ion

tech

nolo

gy

tool

s fo

r th

e fu

ll ra

nge

of

elec

tron

ic

com

mun

icat

ion

appr

opri

ate

to o

ne's

duti

es a

nd p

rogr

amm

atic

ar

ea.

Kno

wle

dgea

ble

Prof

icie

nt

Prof

icie

nt

• sen

d an

d re

ceiv

e e-

mai

l (u

sing

ap

prop

riat

e e-

mai

l eti

quet

te)

• ope

n an

d sa

ve b

inar

y at

tach

men

ts to

e-

mai

l mes

sage

s, a

nd a

ttac

h fil

es to

ou

tgoi

ng e

-mai

l mes

sage

s • c

olla

bora

te e

lect

roni

cally

wit

h pe

ers,

e.

g., b

y id

enti

fyin

g, s

ubsc

ribi

ng to

, an

d pa

rtic

ipat

ing

in p

rogr

am-

appr

opri

ate

elec

tron

ic "

lists

" (e

-mai

l-ba

sed

disc

ussi

on g

roup

s) o

r ot

her

colla

bora

tive

app

licat

ions

• s

end

heal

th a

lert

s to

pre

-est

ablis

hed

grou

ps u

sing

e-m

ail,

broa

dcas

t fax

, an

d ot

her

appr

opri

ate

tech

nolo

gies

• All

(ind

irec

tly)

but e

spec

ially

: • C

omm

unic

atio

n

• Cul

tura

l Com

pete

ncy

•C

omm

unit

y D

imen

sion

s o f

Pr

acti

ce

• Lea

ders

hip

and

Syst

ems

Thi

nkin

g

Prof

icie

nt

Prof

icie

nt

August 2002 25



PUBL

IC H

EALT

H P

ROFE

SSIO

NA

LS

Do

mai

n/

Top

ical

Are

a CO

MPE

TEN

CY

Cler

ical

/ A

dm

in

Fro

nt L

ine

Staf

fSe

nio

r-Le

vel

Tech

nica

l Su

per

viso

ry &

M

anag

emen

t Ex

amp

le L

earn

ing

Ob

ject

ives

(p

erso

n w

ill b

e ab

le t

o…

)

Rela

ted

Co

unci

l on

Link

ages

' Co

re

Com

pet

enci

es

Sele

ctio

n an

d u

se

of

I.T. t

oo

ls

3.

App

ropr

iate

ly s

elec

ts a

nd

utili

zes

stat

e-of

-the

-art

so

ftw

are

tool

s in

sup

port

of

pub

lic h

ealth

dat

a ac

quis

itio

n, e

ntry

, m

anag

emen

t, an

alys

is,

plan

ning

, and

rep

orti

ng.

n/a

Aw

are

Prof

icie

nt

Kno

wle

dgea

ble

• d

escr

ibe

the

proc

ess

of lo

cati

ng,

asse

ssin

g, a

nd c

ompa

ring

ava

ilabl

e so

ftw

are

tool

s fo

r a

part

icul

ar fu

ncti

on• a

pply

kno

wle

dge

of th

e pu

blic

hea

lth

wor

kfor

ce a

nd s

yste

m c

apac

ity

to

sele

ct th

e m

ost a

ppro

pria

te s

oftw

are

tool

s.

• eff

ecti

vely

use

sof

twar

e to

ols

appr

opri

ate

to o

ne's

posi

tion

, inc

ludi

ng (

for

exam

ple)

ele

ctro

nic

spre

adsh

eets

, da

taba

se a

pplic

atio

ns, a

nd

pres

enta

tion

sof

twar

e.

• des

crib

e th

e co

mm

on a

pplic

atio

ns o

f st

atis

tica

l sof

twar

e to

pub

lic h

ealth

pr

acti

ce, a

nd d

emon

stra

te a

t lea

st

basi

c fa

mili

arit

y w

ith

one

or m

ore

stat

isti

cal s

oftw

are

pack

ages

. • d

escr

ibe

the

utili

ty o

f GIS

to p

ublic

he

alth

dat

a an

alys

is a

nd d

ispl

ay, a

nd

dem

onst

rate

at l

east

bas

ic fa

mili

arit

y w

ith

at le

ast o

ne G

IS s

oftw

are

syst

em.

• All

(ind

irec

tly)

but e

spec

ially

: • A

naly

tic/

Ass

essm

ent

• Com

mun

icat

ion

• Bas

ic P

H S

cien

ces

• Fin

anci

al P

lann

ing

and

Man

agem

ent

On-

line

info

rmat

ion

utili

zati

on

4.

Uti

lizes

mod

ern

info

rmat

ion

tech

nolo

gy

tool

s to

iden

tify

, loc

ate,

ac

cess

, ass

ess,

and

ap

prop

riat

ely

inte

rpre

t an

d us

e on

-lin

e pu

blic

he

alth

-rel

ated

in

form

atio

n an

d da

ta.

Kno

wle

dgea

ble

Kno

wle

dgea

ble

to

Prof

icie

nt

Prof

icie

nt

Kno

wle

dgea

ble

to

Prof

icie

nt

• use

bro

wse

r so

ftw

are

to n

avig

ate

the

Wor

ld-W

ide

Web

• u

se g

ener

al-p

urpo

se o

n-lin

e se

arch

en

gine

s to

sea

rch

the

Web

• i

dent

ify s

peci

al-p

urpo

se s

earc

h en

gine

s (e

.g.,

PubM

ed, C

DC

WO

ND

ER)

rele

vant

to th

eir

spec

ific

prog

ram

, and

us

e th

ose

sear

ch e

ngin

es to

ret

riev

e pu

blic

hea

lth-s

peci

fic in

form

atio

n an

d da

ta

• ass

ess

the

valid

ity,

aut

hori

tati

vene

ss,

and

appr

opri

ate

uses

of d

ata

and

info

rmat

ion

retr

ieve

d fr

om o

n-lin

e so

urce

s

• Ana

lyti

c/ A

sses

smen

t • P

olic

y D

ev't/

Pro

gram

Pl

anni

ng

• Cul

tura

l Com

pete

ncy

• Bas

ic P

H S

cien

ces

• Fin

anci

al P

lann

ing

and

Man

agem

ent

• Lea

ders

hip

and

Syst

ems

Thi

nkin

g

August 2002



PUBL

IC H

EALT

H P

ROFE

SSIO

NA

LS

Do

mai

n/

Top

ical

Are

a CO

MPE

TEN

CY

Cler

ical

/ A

dm

in

Fro

nt L

ine

Staf

fSe

nio

r-Le

vel

Tech

nica

l Su

per

viso

ry &

M

anag

emen

t Ex

amp

le L

earn

ing

Ob

ject

ives

(p

erso

n w

ill b

e ab

le t

o…

)

Rela

ted

Co

unci

l on

Link

ages

' Co

re

Com

pet

enci

es

Dat

a an

d S

yste

m

Pro

tect

ion

5.

Uti

lizes

info

rmat

ion

tech

nolo

gy s

o as

to e

nsur

e th

e in

tegr

ity

and

prot

ecti

on o

f ele

ctro

nic

files

and

com

pute

r sy

stem

s

Kno

wle

dgea

ble

Kno

wle

dgea

ble

to

Prof

icie

nt

Prof

icie

nt

Kno

wle

dgea

ble

to

Prof

icie

nt

• app

ropr

iate

ly u

se a

nd m

aint

ain

viru

s-sc

anni

ng s

oftw

are

inst

alle

d at

thei

r or

gani

zati

on

• mak

e ti

mel

y an

d ap

prop

riat

e ba

ck-u

ps

of im

port

ant e

lect

roni

c fil

es

• use

dat

a ve

rific

atio

n an

d va

lidat

ion

proc

edur

es a

s ne

cess

ary

whe

n do

ing

data

ent

ry/e

diti

ng

• des

crib

e th

e re

leva

nt p

olic

ies

and

proc

edur

es n

eede

d fo

r re

cove

ry in

cas

e of

an

IT-r

elat

ed d

isas

ter

• des

crib

e th

e pr

oper

use

, tes

ting

, and

m

aint

enan

ce o

f bac

kup

serv

ers,

pow

er

sour

ces,

and

com

mun

icat

ions

faci

litie

s an

d th

e ra

tion

ale

behi

nd t

hese

pr

oced

ures

• d

escr

ibe

the

proc

edur

es fo

r as

suri

ng t

hat

the

info

rmat

ion

ente

red

or d

ispl

ayed

on

a w

eb s

ite

is s

ecur

e (e

.g. u

se a

nd

reco

gnit

ion

of s

ecur

e w

eb s

ites

, br

owse

r co

nfig

urat

ion

for

adeq

uate

en

cryp

tion

)

• All

(ind

irec

tly)

6.

App

lies

all r

elev

ant

proc

edur

es (

polic

ies)

and

te

chni

cal m

eans

(se

curi

ty)

to e

nsur

e th

at

conf

iden

tial

info

rmat

ion

is a

ppro

pria

tely

pr

otec

ted.

Aw

are

K

now

ledg

eabl

e

Prof

icie

nt

Prof

icie

nt

• des

crib

e th

e co

nfid

enti

alit

y po

licie

s as

soci

ated

wit

h ea

ch d

ata

sour

ce fo

r w

hich

the

use

r ha

s ac

cess

• e

xpla

in t

he o

ffic

ially

app

rove

d (i

.e.

depa

rtm

enta

l) p

roce

dure

s fo

r as

suri

ng

that

the

conf

iden

tial

ity

of r

estr

icte

d in

form

atio

n re

sour

ces

is n

ot b

reac

hed

• use

sec

urit

y to

ols

and

proc

edur

es

appr

opri

atel

y an

d ef

fect

ivel

y to

pr

otec

t acc

ess

to r

estr

icte

d in

form

atio

n (e

.g.,

adeq

uate

leng

th,

non-

dict

iona

ry, n

on-p

rope

r-na

me

pass

wor

ds a

nd o

ther

aut

hent

icat

ion

met

hods

)

• All

(ind

irec

tly)

but e

spec

ially

: • A

naly

tic/

Ass

essm

ent

• Pol

icy

Dev

elop

men

t/

Prog

ram

Pla

nnin

g • C

omm

unic

atio

n • C

ultu

ral C

ompe

tenc

y • B

asic

PH

Sci

ence

s • F

inan

cial

Pla

nnin

g an

d M

anag

emen

t • L

eade

rshi

p an

d Sy

stem

s T

hink

ing

Dis

tanc

e Le

arni

ng

7.

Uti

lizes

mod

ern

dist

ance

-le

arni

ng te

chno

logi

es to

su

ppor

t life

-lon

g le

arni

ng

appr

opri

ate

to

prog

ram

mat

ic n

eeds

Aw

are

K

now

ledg

eabl

e to

Pr

ofic

ient

K

now

ledg

eabl

e to

Pr

ofic

ient

K

now

ledg

eabl

e to

Pr

ofic

ient

• d

isco

ver

avai

labl

e on

-lin

e le

arni

ng

oppo

rtun

itie

s • i

dent

ify th

e pu

blic

hea

lth

dist

ance

le

arni

ng c

oord

inat

or fo

r th

eir

stat

e • f

ind,

reg

iste

r fo

r, a

nd p

arti

cipa

te in

bo

th s

ynch

rono

us a

nd a

sync

hron

ous

Inte

rnet

-bas

ed le

arni

ng o

ppor

tuni

ties

• p

arti

cipa

te in

sat

ellit

e br

oadc

ast-

base

d le

arni

ng a

t or

near

the

ir w

ork-

site

• All

(ind

irec

tly)

August 2002 27



PUBL

IC H

EALT

H P

ROFE

SSIO

NA

LS

Do

mai

n/

Top

ical

Are

a CO

MPE

TEN

CY

Cler

ical

/ A

dm

in

Fro

nt L

ine

Staf

fSe

nio

r-Le

vel

Tech

nica

l Su

per

viso

ry &

M

anag

emen

t Ex

amp

le L

earn

ing

Ob

ject

ives

(p

erso

n w

ill b

e ab

le t

o…

)

Rela

ted

Co

unci

l on

Link

ages

' Co

re

Com

pet

enci

es

Stra

tegi

c us

e o

f I.T

. to

pro

mo

te h

ealt

h.

8.

Uti

lizes

mod

ern

info

rmat

ion

scie

nce

and

tech

nolo

gy a

s a

stra

tegi

c to

ol to

pro

mot

e pu

blic

he

alth

(e.

g., t

hrou

gh

com

mun

ity

educ

atio

n,

beha

vior

mod

ifica

tion

, co

llabo

rati

ve p

olic

y de

velo

pmen

t, is

sue

advo

cacy

and

com

mun

ity

mob

iliza

tion

).

n/a

Prof

icie

nt

Prof

icie

nt

• des

ign

and

depl

oy a

n ag

ency

/org

aniz

atio

n W

eb s

ite

that

he

lps

user

s fin

d he

alth

-rel

ated

in

form

atio

n (e

.g.,

dise

ase/

inju

ry

prev

enti

on r

ecom

men

dati

ons,

va

ccin

atio

n sc

hedu

les,

com

mun

ity

heal

th s

tati

stic

s, e

tc.)

. • d

evel

op s

trat

egie

s to

des

ign

and

targ

et

prev

enti

on m

essa

ges

to s

peci

fic

popu

lati

ons.

• e

mpl

oy in

form

atio

n te

chno

logi

es (

e.g.

, e-

mai

l, W

eb, l

ists

ervs

) to

bro

adca

st

heal

th-r

elat

ed n

ews,

ale

rts,

and

ad

viso

ries

to c

omm

unit

y m

embe

rs,

legi

slat

ors

and

othe

r po

licy

mak

ers,

ne

ws

med

ia, a

nd o

ther

s.

• em

ploy

col

labo

rati

ve in

form

atio

n te

chno

logi

es to

bro

aden

inpu

t int

o th

e po

licy-

mak

ing

proc

ess

(e.g

., e-

mai

l di

scus

sion

list

s am

ong

publ

ic h

ealth

le

ader

s, a

nd w

eb-b

ased

inpu

t fro

m

com

mun

ity

mem

bers

on

pend

ing

polic

y de

cisi

ons)

• r

ecog

nize

opp

ortu

niti

es to

app

ly o

r de

velo

p ne

w in

form

atio

n sy

stem

s in

su

ppor

t of p

ublic

hea

lth

• Pol

icy

Dev

elop

men

t/

Prog

ram

Pla

nnin

g • C

omm

unic

atio

n • C

ultu

ral C

ompe

tenc

y •C

omm

unit

y D

imen

sion

s o f

Pr

acti

ce

• Fin

anci

al P

lann

ing

and

Man

agem

ent

• Lea

ders

hip

and

Syst

ems

Thi

nkin

g

Info

rmat

ion

and

kn

ow

led

ge

dev

elo

pm

ent

9.

Com

bine

s da

ta a

nd

info

rmat

ion

from

m

ulti

ple

sour

ces,

to c

reat

e ne

w in

form

atio

n to

su

ppor

t pub

lic h

ealth

de

cisi

on-m

akin

g

n/a

Prof

icie

nt

Kno

wle

dgea

ble

• ide

ntify

the

wid

e ar

ray

of in

form

atio

n so

urce

s th

at a

re p

oten

tial

ly r

elev

ant t

o pu

blic

hea

lth (

e.g.

, clin

ical

, lab

or,

polic

e an

d cr

imin

al ju

stic

e,

envi

ronm

enta

l, an

d so

cial

ser

vice

s da

ta)

• fin

d on

-lin

e da

ta a

nd in

form

atio

n fr

om

mul

tipl

e so

urce

s • a

ppro

pria

tely

com

bine

, int

erpr

et, a

nd

utili

ze d

ata

and

info

rmat

ion

from

m

ulti

ple

sour

ces

to c

reat

e ne

w

info

rmat

ion

and

know

ledg

e

• Ana

lyti

c/A

sses

smen

t • P

olic

y D

evel

opm

ent/

Pr

ogra

m P

lann

ing

• Bas

ic P

H S

cien

ces

Aw

are

Aw

are

August 2002



Pub

lic H

ealt

h In

form

atic

s Co

mp

eten

cies

Cl

ass

3: E

ffec

tive

Man

agem

ent

of

INFO

RMA

TIO

N T

ECH

NO

LOG

Y PR

OJE

CTS

Thi

s cl

ass

of c

ompe

tenc

ies

has

to d

o w

ith

the

abili

ty to

eff

ecti

vely

dev

elop

and

man

age

info

rmat

ion

syst

ems

to im

prov

e th

e ef

fect

iven

ess

of a

pub

lic h

ealth

ent

erpr

ise.

The

fo

cus

here

is n

ot li

mit

ed to

impr

ovin

g on

e's

indi

vidu

al p

rofe

ssio

nal e

ffec

tive

ness

, alth

ough

that

is o

ften

a n

atur

al c

onse

quen

ce o

f eff

ecti

ve s

yste

ms

deve

lopm

ent.

Inst

ead,

the

focu

s is

on

harn

essi

ng th

e po

wer

of m

oder

n in

form

atio

n te

chno

logy

to im

prov

e th

e fu

ncti

onin

g an

d sc

ope

of th

e pu

blic

hea

lth a

genc

y.

PUBL

IC H

EALT

H P

ROFE

SSIO

NA

LS

Do

mai

n/

Top

ical

Are

a CO

MPE

TEN

CY

Cler

ical

/ A

dm

in

Fro

nt L

ine

Staf

f Se

nio

r-Le

vel

Tech

nica

l Su

per

viso

ry &

M

anag

emen

t Ex

amp

le L

earn

ing

Ob

ject

ives

(p

erso

n w

ill b

e ab

le t

o…

)

Rela

ted

Co

unci

l on

Link

ages

' Co

re

Com

pet

enci

es

Syst

em

dev

elo

pm

ent

1. C

ompo

ses

and

man

ages

sy

stem

s de

velo

pmen

t tea

ms

in a

man

ner

that

de

mon

stra

tes

a re

cogn

itio

n of

the

appr

opri

ate

role

s an

d do

mai

ns fo

r co

mpu

ter

scie

ntis

ts, e

pide

mio

logi

sts,

po

licy

mak

ers

and

prog

ram

mer

s an

d ot

her

IT

spec

ialis

ts in

info

rmat

ion

syst

ems

deve

lopm

ent

n/a

Kno

wle

dgea

ble

Prof

icie

nt

Prof

icie

nt

• des

crib

e th

e fu

ncti

on o

f eac

h of

the

di

scip

lines

in a

mul

tidi

scip

linar

y pr

ojec

t tea

m d

evel

opin

g a

publ

ic

heal

th in

form

atio

n sy

stem

• e

xpla

in t

he c

riti

cal i

mpo

rtan

ce o

f usi

ng

inte

rdis

cipl

inar

y te

ams

to d

evel

op I

.T.

proj

ects

, and

of e

nsur

ing

good

co

mm

unic

atio

ns b

etw

een

tech

nica

l an

d pr

ogra

m s

taff

• e

xpla

in t

he tr

aini

ng a

nd e

xper

ienc

e ex

pect

ed o

f per

sons

from

eac

h of

the

do

mai

ns

• eff

ecti

vely

ass

embl

e an

d le

ad a

m

ulti

disc

iplin

ary

team

of p

rofe

ssio

nals

to

bui

ld p

ublic

hea

lth

info

rmat

ion

syst

ems

• Fin

anci

al P

lann

ing

and

Man

agem

ent

• Lea

ders

hip

and

Syst

ems

Thi

nkin

g

2. L

eads

and

adv

ocat

es fo

r, o

r ot

herw

ise

acti

vely

pa

rtic

ipat

es in

, the

de

velo

pmen

t of i

nteg

rate

d,

cost

-eff

ecti

ve p

ublic

hea

lth

info

rmat

ion

syst

ems

wit

hin

the

publ

ic h

ealth

ent

erpr

ise,

en

suri

ng t

hat n

ew

appl

icat

ions

and

in

form

atio

n sy

stem

s ar

e bu

ilt in

con

form

ance

wit

h a

larg

er (

ente

rpri

se-l

evel

) in

form

atio

n ar

chit

ectu

re.

n/a

Kno

wle

dgea

ble

Prof

icie

nt

• rec

ogni

ze a

nd e

xpla

in th

e co

sts

and

bene

fits

of in

form

atio

n sy

stem

s • d

escr

ibe

the

elem

ents

of i

nfor

mat

ion

arch

itec

ture

• e

xpla

in t

he v

alue

of a

n in

form

atio

n ar

chit

ectu

re to

the

pub

lic h

ealth

en

terp

rise

• d

escr

ibe,

dev

elop

and

impl

emen

t a

proc

ess

by w

hich

an

orga

niza

tion

de

velo

ps a

coh

eren

t in

form

atio

n ar

chit

ectu

re

• des

crib

e pr

oven

org

aniz

atio

nal m

odel

s fo

r ef

fect

ive

man

agem

ent o

f I.T

. pr

ojec

ts

• Com

mun

icat

ion

• Fin

anci

al P

lann

ing

and

Man

agem

ent

• Lea

ders

hip

and

Syst

ems

Thi

nkin

g

Aw

are

August 2002 29



PUBL

IC H

EALT

H P

ROFE

SSIO

NA

LS

Do

mai

n/

Top

ical

Are

a CO

MPE

TEN

CY

Cler

ical

/ A

dm

in

Fro

nt L

ine

Staf

fSe

nio

r-Le

vel

Tech

nica

l Su

per

viso

ry &

M

anag

emen

t Ex

amp

le L

earn

ing

Ob

ject

ives

(p

erso

n w

ill b

e ab

le t

o…

)

Rela

ted

Co

unci

l on

Link

ages

' Co

re

Com

pet

enci

es

3. R

ecog

nize

s, p

arti

cipa

tes

in,

and

appl

ies

acce

pted

m

odel

s an

d pr

oces

ses

for

deve

lopi

ng in

form

atio

n sy

stem

s an

d fo

r m

anag

ing

info

rmat

ion

reso

urce

s

n/a

Aw

are

Kno

wle

dgea

ble

Prof

icie

nt

• des

crib

e th

e na

ture

of r

equi

rem

ents

sp

ecifi

cati

on, a

nd e

xpla

in it

s im

port

ance

in s

yste

ms

deve

lopm

ent

• man

age

a re

quir

emen

ts s

peci

ficat

ion

proc

ess,

ens

urin

g th

at a

ll ap

prop

riat

e st

akeh

olde

rs a

re a

ctiv

ely

invo

lved

th

roug

hout

the

pro

cess

• d

efin

e th

e ro

le o

f fun

ctio

nal

deco

mpo

siti

on a

s it

rel

ates

to b

uild

ing

busi

ness

mod

els;

exp

lain

how

thes

e m

odel

s re

late

to b

uild

ing

info

rmat

ion

syst

ems

spec

ifica

lly a

nd to

in

form

atio

n re

sour

ce m

anag

emen

t pl

anni

ng g

ener

ally

• u

nder

stan

d th

e im

port

ance

of a

pply

ing

stan

dard

ele

men

ts (

e.g.

, bro

adly

ac

cept

ed u

sers

inte

rfac

es,

com

mun

icat

ions

pro

toco

ls, d

ata

form

ats,

etc

.) w

hene

ver

poss

ible

in

syst

em d

evel

opm

ent

• lis

t ex

ampl

es w

hen

expe

rtis

e fr

om o

ther

di

scip

lines

(e.

g., s

yste

ms

anal

ysis

, or

data

base

des

ign)

is n

eede

d in

the

deve

lopm

ent p

roce

ss

• pro

mot

e th

e us

e of

wid

ely

acce

pted

to

ols

(suc

h as

rap

id p

roto

typi

ng)

for

requ

irem

ents

spe

cific

atio

n an

d de

velo

pmen

t • m

anag

e th

e in

form

ed d

evel

opm

ent o

f bu

sine

ss, i

nfor

mat

ion,

and

in

form

atio

n te

chno

logy

mod

els

in

supp

ort o

f inf

orm

atio

n re

sour

ce

man

agem

ent p

lann

ing

• Fin

anci

al P

lann

ing

and

Man

agem

ent

• Lea

ders

hip

and

Syst

ems

Thi

nkin

g

August 2002



PUBL

IC H

EALT

H P

ROFE

SSIO

NA

LS

Do

mai

n/

Top

ical

Are

a CO

MPE

TEN

CY

Cler

ical

/ A

dm

in

Fro

nt L

ine

Staf

fSe

nio

r-Le

vel

Tech

nica

l Su

per

viso

ry &

M

anag

emen

t Ex

amp

le L

earn

ing

Ob

ject

ives

(p

erso

n w

ill b

e ab

le t

o…

)

Rela

ted

Co

unci

l on

Link

ages

' Co

re

Com

pet

enci

es

Cro

ss-d

isci

plin

ary

com

mun

icat

ion

4. A

ctiv

ely,

eff

ecti

vely

eng

ages

an

d co

mm

unic

ates

wit

h in

form

atio

n te

chno

logy

sp

ecia

lists

as

wel

l as

publ

ic

heal

th c

olle

ague

s re

gard

ing

prov

en in

form

atio

n te

chno

logi

es a

nd th

eir

pote

ntia

l app

licat

ion

to

publ

ic h

ealth

pra

ctic

e.

Aw

are

Prof

icie

nt

Prof

icie

nt

• des

crib

e at

a b

asic

leve

l the

fu

ndam

enta

ls o

f com

pute

r ne

twor

king

, inc

ludi

ng th

e co

st a

nd

supp

ort i

mpl

icat

ions

of v

ario

us

netw

orki

ng s

olut

ions

• d

escr

ibe

at a

bas

ic le

vel t

he e

ssen

tial

un

derp

inni

ngs

of t

he I

nter

net a

nd t

he

Wor

ld W

ide

Web

• d

escr

ibe

at a

bas

ic le

vel c

omm

on

tech

nolo

gies

em

ploy

ed to

ens

ure

com

pute

r sy

stem

s' s

ecur

ity,

and

the

mea

ning

of t

he te

rms

auth

enti

cati

on,

encr

ypti

on, n

on-r

epud

iati

on, a

nd

othe

r co

ncep

ts b

asic

to c

ompu

ter

secu

rity

• d

escr

ibe

nasc

ent i

nfor

mat

ion

tech

nolo

gies

(e.

g., p

erso

nal d

igit

al

assi

stan

ts a

nd w

irel

ess

netw

orki

ng),

an

d ho

w th

ey m

ight

be

empl

oyed

to

impr

ove

publ

ic h

ealth

pra

ctic

e.

• nam

e th

e m

ain

tech

nolo

gies

cur

rent

ly

avai

labl

e fo

r d

eliv

erin

g hi

gh-

band

wid

th d

ista

nce

lear

ning

mat

eria

ls

to th

e le

arne

r, a

nd d

escr

ibe

the

rela

tive

adv

anta

ges

and

(loc

al)

feas

ibili

ty o

f eac

h.

• Com

mun

icat

ion

• Lea

ders

hip

and

Syst

ems

Thi

nkin

g

Kno

wle

dgea

ble

August 2002 31



PUBL

IC H

EALT

H P

ROFE

SSIO

NA

LS

Do

mai

n/

Top

ical

Are

a CO

MPE

TEN

CY

Cler

ical

/ A

dm

in

Fro

nt L

ine

Staf

fSe

nio

r-Le

vel

Tech

nica

l Su

per

viso

ry &

M

anag

emen

t Ex

amp

le L

earn

ing

Ob

ject

ives

(p

erso

n w

ill b

e ab

le t

o…

)

Rela

ted

Co

unci

l on

Link

ages

' Co

re

Com

pet

enci

es

Dat

abas

es

5. P

arti

cipa

tes

in t

he

deve

lopm

ent o

f new

and

en

hanc

ed d

atab

ases

for

publ

ic h

ealth

, and

app

lies

prin

cipl

es o

f goo

d da

taba

se

desi

gn

n/a

Kno

wle

dgea

ble

Pr

ofic

ient

K

now

ledg

eabl

e to

Pr

ofic

ient

• e

xpla

in t

he b

asic

s of

com

mon

ly

empl

oyed

dat

abas

e m

anag

emen

t sy

stem

s, a

nd d

efin

e co

mm

on

rela

tion

al d

atab

ase

conc

epts

suc

h as

en

tity

, rel

atio

nshi

p, in

stan

ce,

attr

ibut

e, d

omai

n, a

nd n

orm

aliz

atio

n • u

nder

stan

d th

e na

ture

and

pur

pose

of

good

dat

abas

e de

sign

, and

how

to

part

icip

ate

in th

at d

esig

n pr

oces

s • d

escr

ibe

the

conc

ept a

nd c

hara

cter

isti

cs

of a

cor

rect

and

com

plet

e da

ta m

odel

• i

nter

pret

ent

ity-

rela

tion

ship

dia

gram

s • d

efin

e ap

prop

riat

e ro

les

for

thos

e in

volv

ed in

dat

abas

e de

sign

and

de

velo

pmen

t, in

clud

ing

the

publ

ic

heal

th s

cien

tist

and

oth

er s

ubje

ct

mat

ter

expe

rts;

sys

tem

s an

alys

t; pr

ogra

mm

er; d

atab

ase

adm

inis

trat

or;

proj

ect m

anag

er; e

t al.

• Ana

lyti

c/A

sses

smen

t • C

omm

unic

atio

n • F

inan

cial

Pla

nnin

g an

d M

anag

emen

t • L

eade

rshi

p an

d Sy

stem

s T

hink

ing

Stan

dar

ds

6. U

tiliz

es (

or e

nsur

es t

he

utili

zati

on o

f) d

ata

stan

dard

s fo

r st

orag

e an

d tr

ansm

issi

on, a

nd is

abl

e to

fin

d th

e re

leva

nt s

tand

ards

sp

ecifi

cati

ons

as n

eede

d.

A

war

e Pr

ofic

ient

K

now

ledg

eabl

e to

Pr

ofic

ient

• d

escr

ibe

the

basi

c pu

rpos

es o

f pub

lic

heal

th-r

elev

ant c

omm

unic

atio

ns

stan

dard

s (e

.g.,

HL

-7)

and

data

st

anda

rds

(e.g

., LO

INC

and

SN

OM

ED

) • e

xpla

in t

he im

port

ance

of t

he u

se o

f co

ntro

lled

voca

bula

ry

• exp

lain

how

uti

lizat

ion

of s

uch

stan

dard

s co

ntri

bute

s to

eff

ecti

ve

info

rmat

ion

syst

ems

deve

lopm

ent a

nd

inte

grat

ion

• Pol

icy

Dev

elop

men

t/

Prog

ram

Pla

nnin

g • C

omm

unic

atio

n • F

inan

cial

Pla

nnin

g an

d M

anag

emen

t • L

eade

rshi

p an

d Sy

stem

s T

hink

ing

Conf

iden

tial

ity

and

Se

curi

ty S

yste

ms

7. A

pplie

s an

d pa

rtic

ipat

es in

de

velo

ping

con

fiden

tial

ity

and

priv

acy

polic

ies

for

the

ente

rpri

se, a

nd e

nsur

es th

e de

velo

pmen

t of a

dequ

ate

secu

rity

sys

tem

s to

sup

port

th

e im

plem

enta

tion

of

thos

e po

licie

s.

n/a

A

war

e K

now

ledg

eabl

e Pr

ofic

ient

• d

escr

ibe

the

rela

tion

ship

bet

wee

n co

nfid

enti

alit

y/pr

ivac

y po

licie

s an

d co

mpu

ter

secu

rity

• d

efin

e a

secu

rity

sys

tem

, inc

ludi

ng b

oth

tech

nolo

gica

l and

non

-tec

hnol

ogic

al

com

pone

nts

• lis

t an

d ex

plai

n th

e pr

inci

ples

of F

air

Info

rmat

ion

Prac

tice

s • d

escr

ibe

HIP

AA

and

its

likel

y im

pact

on

the

publ

ic h

ealth

ent

erpr

ise

• Pol

icy

Dev

elop

men

t/

Prog

ram

Pla

nnin

g • C

omm

unic

atio

n • C

ultu

ral C

ompe

tenc

y •C

omm

unit

y D

imen

sion

s o f

Pr

acti

ce

• Bas

ic P

H S

cien

ces

• Fin

anci

al P

lann

ing

and

Man

agem

ent

• Lea

ders

hip

and

Syst

ems

Thi

nkin

g

n/a

August 2002



PUBL

IC H

EALT

H P

ROFE

SSIO

NA

LS

Do

mai

n/

Top

ical

Are

a CO

MPE

TEN

CY

Cler

ical

/ A

dm

in

Fro

nt L

ine

Staf

fSe

nio

r-Le

vel

Tech

nica

l Su

per

viso

ry &

M

anag

emen

t Ex

amp

le L

earn

ing

Ob

ject

ives

(p

erso

n w

ill b

e ab

le t

o…

)

Rela

ted

Co

unci

l on

Link

ages

' Co

re

Com

pet

enci

es

Pro

ject

m

anag

emen

t

8. U

tiliz

es p

rove

n in

form

atic

s pr

inci

ples

and

pra

ctic

es

whe

n m

anag

ing

info

rmat

ion

tech

nolo

gy

proj

ects

n/a

A

war

e K

now

ledg

eabl

ePr

ofic

ient

• d

efin

e th

e ar

ray

of d

iffer

ent k

inds

of

expe

rtis

e ne

eded

for

vari

ous

info

rmat

ion

syst

ems

deve

lopm

ent

proj

ects

• d

escr

ibe

the

impo

rtan

ce o

f tea

ms t

o in

form

atio

n sy

stem

dev

elop

men

t, an

d ho

w to

man

age

team

s of

peo

ple

wit

h di

vers

e sk

ill s

ets

and

prof

essi

onal

cu

lture

s • d

escr

ibe

stra

tegi

es to

ens

ure

that

end

us

ers

are

cons

iste

ntly

invo

lved

in

syst

ems

deve

lopm

ent f

rom

beg

inni

ng

to e

nd

• des

crib

e te

chni

ques

for

man

agin

g ex

pect

atio

ns s

yste

mat

ical

ly

thro

ugho

ut s

yste

m d

evel

opm

ent

• des

crib

e m

etho

ds u

sed

to "

over

-co

mm

unic

ate"

pro

gres

s am

ong

staf

f, po

tent

ial u

sers

, and

oth

er s

take

hold

ers

to s

ecur

e an

d m

aint

ain

supp

ort f

or t

he

proj

ect

• des

crib

e ho

w to

sel

ect p

rove

n te

chno

logi

es, a

nd e

xpla

in th

e im

port

ance

of a

void

ing

prop

riet

ary

solu

tion

s

• exp

lain

mec

hani

sms

to b

uild

in t

he

pote

ntia

l for

eva

luat

ion

of th

e im

pact

of

new

info

rmat

ion

tech

nolo

gies

• l

ist

tech

niqu

es to

incr

ease

inst

itut

iona

l us

e of

info

rmat

ion

syst

ems,

suc

h as

tr

aini

ng, i

ncen

tive

s, c

omm

unic

atio

n,

and

beha

vior

mod

ifica

tion

• i

nsis

t on

dem

onst

rati

ons

of p

rogr

ess,

an

d cl

ear

docu

men

tati

on o

f cod

e

• Pol

icy

Dev

elop

men

t/

Prog

ram

Pla

nnin

g • C

omm

unic

atio

n • F

inan

cial

Pla

nnin

g an

d M

anag

emen

t • L

eade

rshi

p an

d Sy

stem

s T

hink

ing

August 2002 33


PUBL

IC H

EALT

H P

ROFE

SSIO

NA

LS

Do

mai

n/

Top

ical

Are

a CO

MPE

TEN

CY

Cler

ical

/ A

dm

in

Fro

nt L

ine

Staf

fSe

nio

r-Le

vel

Tech

nica

l Su

per

viso

ry &

M

anag

emen

t Ex

amp

le L

earn

ing

Ob

ject

ives

(p

erso

n w

ill b

e ab

le t

o…

)

Rela

ted

Co

unci

l on

Link

ages

' Co

re

Com

pet

enci

es

Hum

an r

eso

urce

s m

anag

emen

t

9. U

tiliz

es p

rove

n in

form

atic

s pr

inci

ples

and

pra

ctic

es

whe

n m

anag

ing

info

rmat

ion

tech

nolo

gy

staf

f and

oth

er I

T

spec

ialis

ts.

n/a

Aw

are

Kno

wle

dgea

ble

Prof

icie

nt

• exp

lain

str

ateg

ies

to h

ire

staf

f wit

h ap

prop

riat

e sk

ills

for

appr

opri

ate

task

s (e

.g.,

"loo

k fo

r pr

oven

exp

erti

se")

•d

escr

ibe

stra

tegi

es fo

r en

suri

ng a

dequ

ate

I.T

. sup

port

giv

en t

he d

iffic

ulty

in

prov

idin

g m

arke

t-le

vel c

ompe

nsat

ion

in th

e pu

blic

hea

lth

sect

or

• des

crib

e w

hen

and

how

to e

ngag

e co

nsul

tant

s in

sys

tem

s de

velo

pmen

t • e

nsur

e th

at te

chni

cal s

taff

exp

lain

issu

es

in te

rms

com

preh

ensi

ble

by n

on-

tech

nolo

gist

s • h

andl

e "t

echn

ical

obf

usca

tion

" co

nstr

ucti

vely

• p

lan

for

loss

(to

out

side

mar

ket)

of

tech

nica

lly c

ompe

tent

sta

ff

• Com

mun

icat

ion

• Cul

tura

l Com

pete

ncy

• Fin

anci

al P

lann

ing

and

Man

agem

ent

• Lea

ders

hip

and

Syst

ems

Thi

nkin

g

Pro

cure

men

t

10.

Proc

ures

app

ropr

iate

co

st-e

ffec

tive

in

form

atio

n te

chno

logi

es

for

the

publ

ic h

ealth

en

terp

rise

n/a

Aw

are

Kno

wle

dgea

ble

Prof

icie

nt

• des

crib

e m

etho

ds fo

r lo

cati

ng a

vaila

ble

prod

ucts

and

ven

dors

in a

spe

cific

IT

ar

ea

• des

crib

e st

eps

in a

sses

sing

"bu

ild v

s.

buy"

opt

ions

• m

ake

rati

onal

ass

essm

ents

of a

nd

deci

sion

s ab

out

proc

urem

ent o

f m

oder

n in

form

atio

n te

chno

logi

es

• pha

se la

rge

proc

urem

ents

in a

man

ner

that

allo

ws

for

"ear

ly w

arni

ng s

igns

" of

pot

enti

al p

robl

ems.

• d

escr

ibe

the

cost

s an

d be

nefit

s of

in

form

atio

n sy

stem

s an

d th

e ap

proa

ches

to d

eter

min

ing

them

•e

xpla

in h

ow s

trat

egic

res

ourc

e al

loca

tion

de

cisi

ons

shou

ld b

e ap

proa

ched

and

re

solv

ed

• Fin

anci

al P

lann

ing

and

Man

agem

ent

Acc

oun

tab

ility

11.

Use

s in

form

atio

n te

chno

logy

to a

ssur

e op

enne

ss o

f pub

lic h

ealth

ag

ency

pro

cess

es a

nd

resp

onsi

vene

ss to

the

elec

tora

te a

nd th

e pu

blic

n/a

Prof

icie

nt

Kno

wle

dgea

ble

to

Prof

icie

nt

• use

the

Web

and

oth

er in

form

atio

n te

chno

logi

es to

inte

ract

ivel

y co

mm

unic

ate

agen

cy p

olic

ies,

invi

te

publ

ic c

omm

ent,

shar

e in

form

atio

n ab

out a

genc

y ac

tion

s in

the

co

mm

unit

y, a

nd s

o fo

rth.

• Com

mun

icat

ion

• Cul

tura

l Com

pete

ncy

•Com

mun

ity

Dim

ensi

ons

o f

Prac

tice

• F

inan

cial

Pla

nnin

g an

d M

anag

emen

t • L

eade

rshi

p an

d Sy

stem

s T

hink

ing

Aw

are

August 2002


PUBL

IC H

EALT

H P

ROFE

SSIO

NA

LS

Do

mai

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ted

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unci

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re

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pet

enci

es

Rese

arch

12.

Mon

itor

s in

form

atic

s re

sear

ch fi

ndin

gs a

nd

publ

ic h

ealth

in

form

atio

n sy

stem

s de

velo

pmen

t eff

orts

, and

ap

plie

s th

ese

findi

ngs

and

expe

rien

ces

as

appr

opri

ate

to p

ublic

he

alth

pra

ctic

e.

n/a

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icie

nt

Prof

icie

nt

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ntify

the

maj

or in

form

atio

n sy

stem

s de

velo

pmen

t eff

orts

cur

rent

ly u

nder

w

ay th

at a

re li

kely

to

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ct p

ublic

he

alth

pra

ctic

e • d

iscu

ss h

ow c

erta

in le

adin

g-ed

ge

tech

nolo

gies

(su

ch a

s ha

nd-h

eld

com

pute

rs [

PDA

s], w

irel

ess

netw

orki

ng, a

utom

ated

env

iron

men

tal

sens

ors,

sof

twar

e ag

ents

, et a

l.) m

ight

be

app

lied

to s

uppo

rt p

ublic

hea

lth

field

wor

k • r

egul

arly

sca

n/pe

riod

ical

ly r

evie

w

appr

opri

ate

scie

ntifi

c an

d pr

acti

ce

liter

atur

e fo

r IT

dev

elop

men

ts a

nd

appl

icat

ions

to p

ublic

hea

lth

• Ana

lyti

c/A

sses

smen

t • P

olic

y D

evel

opm

ent/

Pr

ogra

m P

lann

ing

• Lea

ders

hip

and

Syst

ems

Thi

nkin

g

Aw

are

August 2002 35

Notes

informatics competencies for public health professionals...informatics competencies for public...

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