1887
Perspective Open Access
Like 0
This item has no PDF Download

Abstract

In 2009, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) developed a competency framework to support European Union countries and the European Commission in ensuring a competent public health workforce for Europe. The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic emphasised the importance of harmonised public health strategies and competencies across international boundaries, specifically for infectious diseases. This perspective presents the process to update the competency framework for applied infectious disease epidemiology, highlighting ECDC’s efforts to support countries with using the framework. ECDC commissioned the Association of Schools of Public Health in the European Region (ASPHER) to update the framework through publication and dissemination of a technical report and a self-assessment tool linked to training resources. A mixed methods approach to gather input from experts in relevant specialities included qualitative interviews with 42 experts, workshops with ECDC Technical Advisory Group and an online survey of 212 public health professionals across Europe and beyond. Modifications resulted in 157 core competencies in 23 domains, each mapping to one of six subject areas of importance in applied infectious disease epidemiology. The framework serves as a basis to update the curriculum of the ECDC Fellowship programme with two alternative paths: intervention epidemiology or public health microbiology.

Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2023.28.6.2200517
2023-02-09
2024-04-26
http://instance.metastore.ingenta.com/content/10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2023.28.6.2200517
Loading
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

/deliver/fulltext/eurosurveillance/28/6/eurosurv-28-6-3.html?itemId=/content/10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2023.28.6.2200517&mimeType=html&fmt=ahah

References

  1. European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). Core competencies for EU public health epidemiologists in communicable disease surveillance and response. Stockholm: ECDC; 2009. Available from: https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/sites/default/files/media/en/publications/Publications/training-core-competencies-EU-public-health-epidemiologists.pdf
  2. Brownson RC, Samet JM, Chavez GF, Davies MM, Galea S, Hiatt RA, et al. Charting a future for epidemiologic training. Ann Epidemiol. 2015;25(6):458-65.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annepidem.2015.03.002  PMID: 25976024 
  3. Brownson RC, Samet JM, Bensyl DM. Applied epidemiology and public health: are we training the future generations appropriately? Ann Epidemiol. 2017;27(2):77-82.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annepidem.2016.12.002  PMID: 28038933 
  4. Brunner Huber LR, Fennie K, Patterson H. Competencies for master and doctoral students in epidemiology: what is important, what is unimportant, and where is there room for improvement? Ann Epidemiol. 2015;25(6):466-8.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annepidem.2015.03.001  PMID: 25843642 
  5. Dankner R, Gabbay U, Leibovici L, Sadeh M, Sadetzki S. Implementation of a competency-based medical education approach in public health and epidemiology training of medical students. Isr J Health Policy Res. 2018;7(1):13.  https://doi.org/10.1186/s13584-017-0194-8  PMID: 29463297 
  6. Czabanowska K. Public health competencies: prioritization and leadership. Eur J Public Health. 2016;26(5):734-5.  https://doi.org/10.1093/eurpub/ckw125  PMID: 27543923 
  7. Dickmann P, Abraham T, Sarkar S, Wysocki P, Cecconi S, Apfel F, et al. Risk communication as a core public health competence in infectious disease management: Development of the ECDC training curriculum and programme. Euro Surveill. 2016;21(14).  https://doi.org/10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2016.21.14.30188  PMID: 27103616 
  8. Gase KA, Leone C, Khoury R, Babcock HM. Advancing the competency of infection preventionists. Am J Infect Control. 2015;43(4):370-9.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajic.2015.01.005  PMID: 25721061 
  9. Lee MS, Kim EY, Lee SW. Experience of 16 years and its associated challenges in the Field Epidemiology Training Program in Korea. Epidemiol Health. 2017;39:e2017058.  https://doi.org/10.4178/epih.e2017058  PMID: 29370686 
  10. Mor SM, Robbins AH, Jarvin L, Kaufman GE, Lindenmayer JM. Curriculum asset mapping for One Health education. J Vet Med Educ. 2013;40(4):363-9.  https://doi.org/10.3138/jvme.0313-0525R  PMID: 24072190 
  11. Murphy DM, Hanchett M, Olmsted RN, Farber MR, Lee TB, Haas JP, et al. Competency in infection prevention: a conceptual approach to guide current and future practice. Am J Infect Control. 2012;40(4):296-303.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajic.2012.03.002  PMID: 22541852 
  12. Traicoff DA, Suarez-Rangel G, Espinosa-Wilkins Y, Lopez A, Diaz A, Caceres V. Strong and Flexible: Developing a Three-Tiered Curriculum for the Regional Central America Field Epidemiology Training Program. Pedagogy Health Promot. 2015;1(2):74-82.  https://doi.org/10.1177/2373379915572808  PMID: 28702503 
  13. Wholey DR, LaVenture M, Rajamani S, Kreiger R, Hedberg C, Kenyon C. Developing workforce capacity in public health informatics: core competencies and curriculum design. Front Public Health. 2018;6:124.  https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2018.00124  PMID: 29770321 
  14. Czabanowska K, Kuhlmann E. Public health competences through the lens of the COVID-19 pandemic: what matters for health workforce preparedness for global health emergencies. Int J Health Plann Manage. 2021;36(S1):14-9.  https://doi.org/10.1002/hpm.3131  PMID: 33598987 
  15. Kuhlmann E, Dussault G, Correia T. Global health and health workforce development: what to learn from COVID-19 on health workforce preparedness and resilience. Int J Health Plann Manage. 2021;36(S1):5-8.  https://doi.org/10.1002/hpm.3160  PMID: 34051109 
  16. Williams GAMC, Scarpetti G, de Belvis AG, Fattore G, Morsella A, Pastorino G, et al. What strategies are countries using to expand health workforce surge capacity during the COVID-19 pandemic? Eurohealth (Lond). 2020;26(2):51-7.
  17. Zapata T, Buchan J, Azzopardi-Muscat N. The health workforce: Central to an effective response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the European Region. Int J Health Plann Manage. 2021;36(S1):9-13.  https://doi.org/10.1002/hpm.3150  PMID: 33763920 
  18. World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for Europe. European action plan for strengthening public health capacities and services. Copenhagen: WHO Europe; 2012. Available from: https://www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/171770/RC62wd12rev1-Eng.pdf
  19. Beeching NJ, Rautelin H, Stahl JP, Leegaard TM. Training and assessment of medical specialists in clinical microbiology and infectious diseases in Europe. Clin Microbiol Infect. 2021;27(11):1581-8.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cmi.2021.07.009  PMID: 34260952 
  20. European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). Core competencies in applied infectious disease epidemiology in Europe. Stockholm: ECDC; 2022. Available from: https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/publications-data/core-competencies-applied-infectious-disease-epidemiology-europe
  21. World Health Organization (WHO). International Health Regulations (2005). Second edition. Geneva: WHO; 2008. Available from: https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789241580410
  22. European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). Competency assessment tool. Stockholm: ECDC. [Accessed: 7 Feb 2023]. Available from: https://eva.ecdc.europa.eu/course/view.php?id=635
  23. World Health Organization (WHO). Open-WHO About Us. Geneva: WHO. [Accessed: 1 Jan 2023]. Available from: https://openwho.org/pages/about
/content/10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2023.28.6.2200517
Loading

Data & Media loading...

Submit comment
Close
Comment moderation successfully completed
This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a Success
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error