Connecticut State Department of Public Health

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Contents
 
   The Public Health Workforce
   Public Health Workforce Development at DPH:
       TRAINConnecticut
       Student Internships                     
       Public Health Career Pipeline Development

Workforce Development Plan:  Click Here 

THE PUBLIC HEALTH WORKFORCE

The public health workforce focuses on preventing disease and injury while protecting and promoting the health of populations, whereas the health care workforce focuses on the health of individuals.
 
The public health workforce includes employees of federal, state, and local health agencies, along with anyone, regardless of profession or place of employment, who performs any of the following 10 Essential Public Health Services:*
  1. Monitor health status to identify community health problems
  2. Diagnose and investigate health problems and health hazards in the community
  3. Inform, educate, and empower people about health issues
  4. Mobilize community partnerships to identify and solve health problems
  5. Develop policies and plans that support individual and community health efforts
  6. Enforce laws and regulations that protect health and ensure safety
  7. Link people to needed personal health services and assure the provision of health care when otherwise unavailable
  8. Assure a competent public health and personal health care workforce
  9. Evaluate effectiveness, accessibility, and quality of personal and population-based health
    services
  10. Research for new insights and innovative solutions to health problems
The public health workforce is thus multidisciplinary, comprising nurses, physicians, occupational health and safety personnel, epidemiologists, environmental health professionals, public health laboratory personnel, health administrators, health economists, health planners and analysts, licensure, inspection, and regulatory specialists, community development workers, health educators, and others from a wide range of occupations.
 
*  The Public Health Workforce: An Agenda for the 21st Century. A Report of the Public Health
    Functions Project. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service.

 

PUBLIC HEALTH WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT AT DPH

An adequate and well-trained workforce is an essential element of public health efforts. It ensures that critical services such as disease surveillance, environmental and water safety, and immunization programs are provided, and that the health implications of physical inactivity, obesity, tobacco use, bioterrorism, natural disasters, and other health threats are addressed. 
 
Public Health Workforce Development programs at DPH have the following functions:
  • Monitor public health and health care workforce issues, and work with State agencies, legislative groups, and other organizations to address them 
  • Provide professional development and continuing education opportunities that enhance worker competency, through collaboration with academic and community partners
  • Promote online learning opportunities and enhance distance learning technology.
  • Work with organizations to expand, train and sustain Connecticut's public health workforce pipeline.
Public Health Career Pipeline Development

Over the past several years, the State of Connecticut has made key investments in healthcare and public health workforce planning and development, as well as infrastructure investments in our health and social service agencies, that have positioned our state well to build and sustain an expanded pipeline of public health workers to serve the residents of our state. 
 
In November 2019, Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont launched The Governor’s Workforce Council – Connecticut, to identify gaps in the labor market and build systems to help workers fill those gaps.

Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, renewed attention has been given to the healthcare workforce in our state and significant investments in time and resources have been focused on this segment of the labor force by the Council.

Although CT DPH itself has had a workforce development program for many years, traditionally, activities pertaining to workforce development have been incorporated into larger program structures that also included programs like agency process improvement, health equity, and public health systems management.  Since her nomination in July 2021, CT DPH Commissioner Dr. Manisha Juthani has made public health workforce development one of her key initiatives to push the public health practice community forward in its ability to address health disparities in communities throughout our state in order to to respond quickly and competently to the next emerging public health threat.  An important part of elevating public health workforce development is creating a dedicated Office of Public Health Workforce Development within the Commissioner’s Office. The Office is focused entirely on the development and deployment of the public health workforce in our state.

In the spring 2022 Connecticut legislative session, several bills were proposed and passed that directly impact and provide resources for the development of the healthcare worker pipeline and other critical workforce areas. 

These legislative initiatives include, among other actions, 

  1. Expanding higher education programs for healthcare careers  
  2. State funding for cost matching to employers for selected hiring in areas of critical need
  3. Loan repayment for healthcare workers 
  4. Workforce retention and support

As CT DPH works to expand the public health workforce pipeline in our state, leveraging these state-supported workforce development initiatives will be an important part of a comprehensive plan.  Beyond these state-supported legislative initiatives, CT DPH has also redirected significant funds through their CDC COVID-19 Crisis Response Cooperative Agreement to several public health academic partners in our state toward statewide public health workforce initiatives.  These projects include:

  1. The development of a Public Health Training Academy in partnership with the Yale University Schoolof Public Health,
  2. Workforce training and pipeline-to-practice initiatives with partners at the UConn School of Applied Public Health Sciences
  3. Community Health Leaders and Research Fellows program with the School of Public Health at Southern CT State University. 

These investments will set the stage to enhance and modernize the training and support infrastructure for the post-pandemic Connecticut 
public health workforce. 

 

Student Internships
DPH provides opportunities for students to learn about public health and public health careers.  It also provides relevant, structured, placements for students in public health and related disciplines.  Participants have the opportunity to gain broad knowledge of current public health issues and State public health agency operations, including interface with local public health and federal agencies.
 
Program Eligibility:
 
DPH cannot guarantee placements; however, internships may be available to undergraduates and graduate and post-graduate students at colleges and universities, with first consideration given to those in programs in public health, allied health, medicine, and related fields in Connecticut schools.
 
Inquiries:
 
If you are interested in an internship, please go to Student Internship web page.

 

TRAINConnecticut
TRAINConnecticut is a free, centralized, learning resource for Connecticut's health workforce.  The resource, available at https://ct.train.org, provides online registration and access to Connecticut-specific and national continuing education and professional development opportunities that are posted by Connecticut, national, and other state registered course providers. The available courses are offered either online or in-classroom.
 
TRAINConnecticut is open to students, professionals, and course providers that work to protect the health and safety of Connecticut's residents.
 
Students and Professionals can use TRAINConnecticut to:
  • Search or browse the nationwide database for on-site or distance learning courses
  • Sign up for e-mails about new courses
  • Create a personal learning record of competency-based training
  • Provide and view feedback about courses listed on the site
  • Register online for many courses
  • Earn CEUs (often at no cost)
Course Providers can use TRAINConnecticut to:
  • Publicize courses to thousands of TRAIN users through multiple web sites. Enter course information once, and it is automatically visible through the sites of all 22 states that participate in the TRAIN network. 
  • Manage online registration and student rosters
  • Collect feedback from learners online
  • Post course materials and discussion topics
(Contact: PHworkforce@ct.gov)