背景:妇幼保健(MCH)服务对于弱势群体至关重要。劳动力短缺,保留性差,必要培训的差距阻碍了公共卫生系统满足需求的能力。这份手稿描述了当前的MCH劳动力,MCH计划申请人和毕业生,并描述国家背景下的调查结果,以制定征聘和保留战略的要素。
方法:获得了公共卫生计划申请人的数据,第一目的地就业结果,以及工人的观念和人口统计。数据根据妇幼保健和公共卫生人员总数以及当地,state,和全国总数。数据以程度类型为特征,纪律,人口统计,和就业结果。
结果:MCH工作人员占州和地方政府公共卫生人员的11%。妇幼保健的工作人员大致多样,有较高的教育程度,并且比其他公共卫生人员更有可能获得护理学位。然而,只有14%的妇幼保健工作人员拥有任何类型的公共卫生学位。学术界的妇幼保健管道看起来规模适中,在2017年至2021年之间,约有5%的申请人申请MCH硕士学位。
结论:妇幼保健劳动力在公共卫生方面的正规培训或学位比例较低,虽然趋势似乎表明改进。然而,至关重要的是,由广泛的利益相关者协调多方面的招聘和保留战略。这些努力将有助于提高公共卫生系统的能力和能力,以满足日益多样化的妇幼保健人群的关键需求。
结论:为了现代化和重新构想学术-公共卫生管道,这是至关重要的是要更好地了解有多少申请人和毕业生存在在美国母婴健康计划,和他们的特点。这份手稿将这些信息与最新可用的公共卫生人员人口统计信息联系起来,职场观念,并打算离开州和地方卫生部门的工作人员。本文提供的数据可以对MCH学术->实践管道进行最全面的表征,确定了这些职业道路上的根本脱节,并提供修复断裂的选项。
BACKGROUND: Maternal and child health (MCH) services are critical for vulnerable populations. Workforce shortages, poor retention, and gaps in necessary trainings impede the capacity of public health systems to address needs. This manuscript characterizes the current MCH workforce, MCH program applicants and graduates, and describe findings within a national context to devise elements of a recruitment and retention strategy.
METHODS: Data were obtained for public health program applicants, first-destination employment outcomes, and worker perceptions and demographics. Data were stratified according to the MCH and total public health workforce and by local, state, and national totals. Data were characterized by degree type, discipline, demographics, and employment outcomes.
RESULTS: MCH staff constitute 11% of the state and local governmental public health workforce. MCH staff are approximately as diverse, have higher educational attainment, and are more likely to hold nursing degrees than the rest of the public health workforce. Yet, just 14% of MCH staff hold any type of public health degree. The MCH pipeline from academia appears modestly sized, with approximately 5% of applicants between 2017 and 2021 applying to a MCH master\'s degree.
CONCLUSIONS: The MCH workforce has a lower proportion of formal training or degrees in public health, though trends seem to indicate improvements. However, it is critical that a multi-faceted recruitment and retention strategy be coordinated by a broad range of stakeholders. These efforts will serve to improve the capability and capacity of the public health system to address critical needs of increasingly diverse MCH populations.
CONCLUSIONS: In order to modernize and reimagine the academic-public health pipeline, it is critical to better understand how many applicants and graduates exist within Maternal and Child Health programs across the US, and their characteristics. This manuscript connects that information with the most recently available public health workforce information on demographics, workplace perceptions, and intent to leave among staff at state and local health departments. Data presented in this paper allow the most comprehensive characterization of the MCH academia->practice pipeline to-date, identifies a fundamental disconnect in those career pathways, and offers options to repair that break.