Informatics for Public Health Professions at the Front Lines

As information technology (IT) evolves and more health care, public health, and patient personal health data are networked, the need for informatics expertise escalates.  Public health informatics (PHI), which facilitates the use of technology, focuses on improving access to and use of information for decision making to improve the public’s health. Fast-paced changes in public health create a demand for timely, accurate and useful information for this decision-making. However, access to informatics training for public health professionals has not been as rapid as needed. The need for front-line public health professionals to have basic skills and knowledge in informatics and the best practices to provide appropriate and affordable training may not be well understood.

By gaining a better understanding of front-line public health professionals’ information and informatics training needs we will be able to develop appropriate informatics training. To determine training best practices, we must examine informatics training that has impacted public health professionals.  Finally, to provide access to training, we must consider models from other disciplines and application of informatics approaches to facilitate access to public health informatics training.

This panel will feature three talks focusing on different activities to enhance public health professionals’ informatics skills and knowledge and discuss current needs and activities in informatics training to produce a state-of-the art briefing paper. 

First, Dr. Magnuson or Mr. Modesitt will describe results of a needs-assessment conducted of front-line state and local public health professionals in Oregon to determine interest in and perceived need for informatics training. Next, Ms. Snow will describe efforts by the Utah Public Health Association to provide basics of informatics and information use. Finally, Dr. Hersh will describe an adaption of a web-based medical informatics course for public health professionals and future opportunities for advancing the application of informatics approaches.