Prioritizing Workforce Development Training in State Health Departments Using TRAIN: Challenges and Opportunities.
OBJECTIVE
The objectives of this study were (1) to obtain data on the current status of public health workforce training and the use of the Training Finder Real-Time Affiliate Network (TRAIN), a public health learning management platform, in state health departments, and (2) to use the data to identify organizational features that might be affecting training and to determine barriers to and opportunities for improving training.


METHODS
We conducted structured interviews in 2014 with TRAIN administrators and performance improvement managers (n = 14) from 7 state health departments that were using TRAIN to determine training practices and barriers to training. We determined key organizational features of the 7 agencies, including training structure, required training, TRAIN administrators' employment status (full time or part time), barriers to the use and tracking of core competencies in TRAIN, training needs assessment methods, leadership support of training and staff development, and agency interest in applying for Public Health Accreditation Board accreditation.


RESULTS
We identified 4 common elements among TRAIN-affiliated state health departments: (1) underuse of TRAIN as a training tool, (2) inadequate ownership of training within the organization, (3) insufficient valuation of and budgeting for training, and (4) emerging collaboration and changing perceptions about training stimulated by agency preparation for accreditation.


CONCLUSIONS
Public health leaders can increase buy-in to the importance of training by giving responsibility for training to a person, centralizing training, and setting expectations for the newly responsible training leader to update training policy and require the use of TRAIN to develop, implement, evaluate, monitor, and report on agency-wide training.
['Angeloni|Magali|M|', 'Bialek|Ron|R|', 'Petros|Michael P|MP|', 'Fagen|Michael C|MC|']
D003299:Cooperative Behavior D006801:Humans D007407:Interviews as Topic D007857:Leadership D020380:Needs Assessment D015279:Organizational Culture D011361:Professional Competence D011635:Public Health Administration D013192:Staff Development D000078329:Workforce
workforce training public health TRAIN administrator performance improvement manager core competencies accreditation public health professionals