By Nancy Maddox, MPH
Recent news from the Florida Department of Health (DOH) offers hope that upper echelon government leaders are waking up to a looming public health workforce crisis.
A Florida DOH brief notes that the agency is approaching a “’perfect storm’ in maintaining a competent workforce,” given a wave of retirements, noncompetitive wages, an ill-prepared pool of applicants and job-related stresses that compound hiring difficulties.
The brief wisely notes, “In times of funding constraints and reductions, there is an even greater need for a better educated workforce that is always learning the most efficient and effective methods of running state government.”
They do seem to understand the situation.
In response to these concerns, the agency has created a special workforce development office to assess and improve workforce competencies. In fact, the office’s task list includes some of the activities carried out by APHL’s own training programs and National Center for Public Health Laboratory Leadership (albeit for a broader state public health workforce), so we know it is on the right track:
• Establishing succession plans, mentoring programs and an in-house leadership program.
• Maintaining a catalogue of state trainers and training resources.
• Sharing best practices across divisions.
• Developing self-paced training modules.
• Coordinating development of a first-in-the-nation clinical management practice institute and training program and a first-in-the-nation financial administration certification program.
We hope the state’s efforts will translate into real improvements for the Florida Bureau of Laboratories.
Those interested in more information can contact Shannon Hughes, workforce development director, at 850.245.4444, ext. 3409 or Shannon_Hughes@doh.state.fl.us.
Showing posts with label workforce. Show all posts
Showing posts with label workforce. Show all posts
Monday, February 1, 2010
Friday, January 22, 2010
Laboratory Workforce News: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly
By Nancy Maddox, MPH
The Good
U.S. News & World Report recently named “lab technician” one of America’s best careers for 2010.
Lab technician was one of 11 healthcare careers recommended for “traumatized job seekers and anxious students.” The magazine notes that “job growth is expected to be faster than average, with the number of clinical lab workers rising about 16 percent” and additional openings available to replace retiring workers.
The Bad
ASCP reports in its January 1 ePolicy News update that the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, is mulling the closure of its 20-year-old clinical science program—despite the program’s status as the only of its kind in the state, and despite graduates 100% success rate securing positions within three months. ASCP indicated that it planned to approach program administrators to “shed light on the laboratory workforce shortage.”
The Ugly
Unfortunately, the U.S. News & World Report article mentions lab technician opportunities in private diagnostic laboratories and physicians’ offices and fails to mention opportunities in public health.
Ditto for the entry on clinical laboratory technologists and technicians in the current edition of the Occupational Outlook Handbook put out by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The Good
U.S. News & World Report recently named “lab technician” one of America’s best careers for 2010.
Lab technician was one of 11 healthcare careers recommended for “traumatized job seekers and anxious students.” The magazine notes that “job growth is expected to be faster than average, with the number of clinical lab workers rising about 16 percent” and additional openings available to replace retiring workers.
The Bad
ASCP reports in its January 1 ePolicy News update that the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, is mulling the closure of its 20-year-old clinical science program—despite the program’s status as the only of its kind in the state, and despite graduates 100% success rate securing positions within three months. ASCP indicated that it planned to approach program administrators to “shed light on the laboratory workforce shortage.”
The Ugly
Unfortunately, the U.S. News & World Report article mentions lab technician opportunities in private diagnostic laboratories and physicians’ offices and fails to mention opportunities in public health.
Ditto for the entry on clinical laboratory technologists and technicians in the current edition of the Occupational Outlook Handbook put out by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Flu Appropriation
The House of Representatives pushed through a $350 million appropriation for desperately-needed federal funding for state and local government public health organizations.
This funding will help combat many of the cuts government public health labs have had to make during the current recession. A recent APHL survey found that in 2008 alone, labs laid off or left unfilled almost 430 full-time positions, and expected to see another 230 positions empty in 2009. This proposed budget appropriation will go a long way to restoring vital lab capacity—it is critically important that labs retain and reclaim their highly trained workforce.
Despite severe workforce gaps, in the past few weeks, government labs still managed to test thousands of samples and keep the H1N1 outbreak just that—an outbreak—and not a pandemic. However, we’re not out of the woods yet. While things have certainly quieted down in the media, the H1N1 outbreak underscores the need to strengthen public health surveillance and detection of any novel flu strains that may appear.
Yet, that proposed $350 million in funding may still die—unless the Senate acts quickly and decisively. As it stands now, the full Senate will not begin actively debating the proposed appropriation until next week. If the Senate does not match the House with this funding, public health infrastructure will continue to erode in the wake of continued budget cuts.
This funding will help combat many of the cuts government public health labs have had to make during the current recession. A recent APHL survey found that in 2008 alone, labs laid off or left unfilled almost 430 full-time positions, and expected to see another 230 positions empty in 2009. This proposed budget appropriation will go a long way to restoring vital lab capacity—it is critically important that labs retain and reclaim their highly trained workforce.
Despite severe workforce gaps, in the past few weeks, government labs still managed to test thousands of samples and keep the H1N1 outbreak just that—an outbreak—and not a pandemic. However, we’re not out of the woods yet. While things have certainly quieted down in the media, the H1N1 outbreak underscores the need to strengthen public health surveillance and detection of any novel flu strains that may appear.
Yet, that proposed $350 million in funding may still die—unless the Senate acts quickly and decisively. As it stands now, the full Senate will not begin actively debating the proposed appropriation until next week. If the Senate does not match the House with this funding, public health infrastructure will continue to erode in the wake of continued budget cuts.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Hardworking Workforce
Over the past year, public health laboratories, their budgets ravaged by state and local cuts, have lost funding for operations, instrumentation and staff. Since January 1, 2008, an APHL survey shows the extent of the damage: labs have lost close to 500 full-time positions out of a total workforce of only 6500, and more losses are anticipated. Entire laboratory programs have been eliminated, because there were simply no funds to sustain them.
Yet, despite a bleak outlook and limited resources, laboratories, when thrust into the latest crisis with the H1N1 outbreak, have responded with skill, ingenuity and grit. In the first week of the outbreak, they subtyped nearly 300 suspect specimens for referral to CDC for final confirmation.
This week public health labs in some 65 locations across the country will assume responsibility for confirmatory (definitive) testing for the novel H1N1 virus, thus accelerating delivery of test results and implementation of disease-control measures. This eases some of the pressure on CDC laboratories but the demand for testing remains intense at the state and local level. Laboratory scientists, administrators, IT specialists and other staff are all racing to keep pace, working late into the night and on weekends.
This level of response isn’t surprising, however. We saw it earlier this year during the Salmonella outbreak when thousands of human and environmental samples poured into PulseNet labs for testing. We saw it in 2008 during the Iowa floods, when laboratorians worked to keep up with the increased demand in water testing. And we saw the same response after hurricanes Ike and Katrina pummeled the Gulf coasts, during the Anthrax attacks in 2002 and following the World Trade Center attack in 2001, to name a few examples.
The staff working flat out in our labs have opted to stay in the field of public health to help people. If money was a primary motivating factor, they would have left long ago! Instead they work to guarantee that emerging diseases and other health threats are detected promptly and that health officials have the information they require to mount an effective response.
It is a testimony to their dedication and hard work that they are continuing testing for other key public health functions—newborn screening, drinking water testing and analysis of foodborne pathogens, for instance—while managing the burgeoning load of H1N1 testing.
Yet, despite a bleak outlook and limited resources, laboratories, when thrust into the latest crisis with the H1N1 outbreak, have responded with skill, ingenuity and grit. In the first week of the outbreak, they subtyped nearly 300 suspect specimens for referral to CDC for final confirmation.
This week public health labs in some 65 locations across the country will assume responsibility for confirmatory (definitive) testing for the novel H1N1 virus, thus accelerating delivery of test results and implementation of disease-control measures. This eases some of the pressure on CDC laboratories but the demand for testing remains intense at the state and local level. Laboratory scientists, administrators, IT specialists and other staff are all racing to keep pace, working late into the night and on weekends.
This level of response isn’t surprising, however. We saw it earlier this year during the Salmonella outbreak when thousands of human and environmental samples poured into PulseNet labs for testing. We saw it in 2008 during the Iowa floods, when laboratorians worked to keep up with the increased demand in water testing. And we saw the same response after hurricanes Ike and Katrina pummeled the Gulf coasts, during the Anthrax attacks in 2002 and following the World Trade Center attack in 2001, to name a few examples.
The staff working flat out in our labs have opted to stay in the field of public health to help people. If money was a primary motivating factor, they would have left long ago! Instead they work to guarantee that emerging diseases and other health threats are detected promptly and that health officials have the information they require to mount an effective response.
It is a testimony to their dedication and hard work that they are continuing testing for other key public health functions—newborn screening, drinking water testing and analysis of foodborne pathogens, for instance—while managing the burgeoning load of H1N1 testing.
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