Nebraska (state and local health departments or other organizations) does not currently have a set of competencies for agencies to use for their health promotion workforce. Training and development of the workforce is one part of a comprehensive strategy for improving the performance of an agency. Identifying gaps in knowledge, skills, and abilities through the assessment of both organizational and individual needs, and addressing those gaps through targeted training and development opportunities is an important part of this work. To enhance the skills of the workforce, health promotion competencies will be adopted and trainings will be coordinated around these competencies. The health promotion subgroup identified evaluation and use of evidence-based approaches as particularly important competencies to include.

Nebraska SHIP Priority 3: The Nebraska public health system has expanded health promotion capacity to deliver public health prevention programs and services across the lifespan.

For this SHIP goal, several activities were planned for implementation:

• Assess and develop health promotion workforce competencies.
• Develop a training plan to support health promotion competencies.
• Develop and implement a recruitment and retention plan for health promotion workforce.

While training is provided to a breadth of state and local health department staff and public health workforce, the main objective and performance measures for this SHIP activity focus on the state health department (the DHHS Division of Public Health).

The DHHS Division of Public Health facilitated a workforce development survey and produced a final Workforce Development Plan in 2014. Each Unit was then provided their respective information and were prompted to provide training plans relevant to their staff needs.

This process began with the Office of Public Health Practice at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, College of Public Health (COPH), who conducted a comprehensive assessment of the workforce education and training needs of the DHHS, Division of Public Health. Two surveys, one for administrative support staff and one for all other staff, were developed by a committee that included representation from all Units within the Division of Public Health and from the COPH, Office of Public Health Practice. The surveys were based on a 2010 modified version of the Council on Linkages between Academia and Public Health Practice. After they were piloted and finalized, online surveys were sent to Division of Public Health staff and administrative staff in November 2013.

The results of the survey were used to identify priority workforce education and training needs. Improving the skills and competencies of the Division’s workforce is essential in building a high performance public health system. Fundamental to this work is identifying gaps in knowledge and skills through the assessment of needs and addressing those gaps through targeted training and development opportunities. Health departments must have a competent workforce with the skills and experience needed to perform duties and to carry out each department’s respective mission. This document provides a comprehensive workforce development plan for the Nebraska DHHS Division of Public Health.

*The Office of Public Health Practice also conducted an assessment of workforce education and training needs for local health departments, providing them with their respective results. Local health departments pursued training plans as desired or as determined appropriate.