Public Health Training Needs Assessment - Report on Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene - March 2017

Sep 12, 2026

Uploaded by Logic

Public Health Training Needs Assessment report for the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene describes the approach used by the Mid-Atlantic Regional Public Health Training Center to evaluate training needs across the public health workforce. The project links assessment results to competency-based curriculum development and workforce performance improvement. It outlines a multi-tier survey and interview-informed plan, including tailored tiers and expanded questionnaires, then summarizes key findings related to engagement, accreditation readiness, and the need for broader representation.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryPresentations

FormatPDF

Pages177

Reading Time1 h 2 min

AccessFree to download

Purpose and Background

Methods

Assessment plan and questionnaires

Data tabulation and analysis

Results

Key findings: Engagement

Workforce assessment

Public Health Training Needs Assessment: Report on Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene March 2017 A member of he national Public Health Learning Network [I www.marphtc.pitt.edu](I www.marphtc.pitt.edu) Attribution Authors of this Report Local Performance Sites Coordinator Project Leadership This document is a product of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Public Health Training Center (MAR-PHTC) . The following individuals have co-authored this report: 􀁸 Patricia Documet, MD, DrPH, Evaluator, MAR-PHTC 􀁸 Brianna McDonough, MPH, Evaluation Analyst 􀁸 Janie Gordon, ScM, Project Coordinator, Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health (until January 2017) 􀁸 Craig Tower, PhD, Project Coordinator, Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health 􀁸 Elizabeth Van Nostrand, JD, Principal Investigator 􀁸 Linda Duchak, EdM, MCHES, Project Manager, MAR-PHTC Financial Support This project is supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under grant number UB6HP27882 Affordable Care Act (ACA) Public Health Training Centers. This information or content and conclusions are those of the author and should not be construed as the official position or policy of, nor should any endorsements be inferred by HRSA, HHS or the U.S. Government. Purpose and Background This is a report on the assessment of the progress in assessing the training needs of the public health workforce of the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (MDHMH) . MAR-PHTC’s purpose is to improve the performance effectiveness of the region’s public health system by enhancing the competencies of the workforce to deliver public health services. Training needs assessment guides competency-based curriculum development. Methods Following recommendations of the 2015 Environmental Scan, the Evaluation Team (ET), in partnership with the Project Manager and the Local Performance Sites (LPS) prepared an Assessment Plan for the Region. This included qualitative interviews with agency leaders (Engagement Interview) and two optional sections: a short open-ended survey for agency managers and a survey of the workforce. The ET drafted both instruments. For the latter, a “generic” instrument was to be used by all LPSs. It included two questions for each of the eight competencies put forth by the Council on Linkages between Academia and Public Health Practice and two question on informatics, MAR-PHTC’s area of expertise. In addition, the ET prepared standard questions on demographics as well as training modality and device preferences. LPSs could insert additional questions if they wished. The Assessment Plan contained three equivalent final questionnaires targeting the three traditional tiers: Tier 1 – Front Line Staff/Entry Level Tier 2 – Program Management/Supervisory Level Tier 3 – Senior Management/Executive Level At the request of the agency, a Tier 4 was added, to cover other employees. The definition of this Tier follows. Tier 4-Front line staff including receptionists, call-center and administrative support staff who interact with the public and/or other employees but who do not provide direct public health programming or services. Responsibilities may include referring callers to appropriate services or processing paperwork and scheduling. Employees who do not recognize their position in Tiers 1-3 are also Tier 4. Linda Duchak, the Program Manager for MAR-PHTC was the primary contact with the MDHMH. Normally, Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health (JHU) is the Local Performance Site (LPS) for Maryland. However, the responsibility was shifted to the Program Manager in this case, because JHU was already engaged in assessing other health departments, which used all of its allocated resources. The leadership comments on competencies are summarized under Results. The MDHMH declined to conduct the open-ended survey of managers

FAQs

What is the purpose of the assessment report for MDHMH?

The report supports competency-based curriculum development and aims to improve workforce performance effectiveness for the Maryland public health system.

How were training needs assessed across different workforce levels?

The assessment plan used equivalent final questionnaires targeting three tiers, with an optional Tier 4 added at the agency’s request to cover additional employee roles.

What survey and interview components were included in the assessment process?

The evaluation team conducted qualitative interviews with agency leaders and administered a workforce survey developed in Qualtrics, based on competency items plus additional questions submitted by MDHMH.

Sep 12, 2026

Uploaded by Logic