PUBLIC HEALTH DEPARTMENTS AND PRIVATE HEALTH AGENCIES

This author takes issue with Dr. Hill on the functions of health officers. He believes that they should undertake all kinds of public health work, that responsibility divided with private agencies will hurt the health officer's work, that public health education is necessary and that this must be conducted by the health officer if he is to fill adequately his sphere. Private agencies should bend their efforts to support the health officer.     

COMPENSATION OF HEALTH OFFICERS

Hope for the health officer in point of salary is what Dr. Ferrell holds forth. Compensation, although inadequate, is steadily increasing, and there is demand for competent men. Salaries must depend on the good faith of a public that is learning the value of efficient professional service. Health officers'' associations carry weight in forming public opinion.     

METHODS FOR THE DEFENSE OF PUBLIC HEALTH APPROPRIATIONS

This paper will be especially helpful to the health officer because it tells him things he needs to know; for example, the place for arguments based on comparisons, on expenditures, on efficiency and on results attained, that will carry weight with intelligent public bodies. Statistics are given their place, as an index of the real value of health work, with a warning against crude statistics.     

METHODS FOR THE DEFENSE OF PUBLIC HEALTH APPROPRIATIONS

This paper will be especially helpful to the health officer because it tells him things he needs to know; for example, the place for arguments based on comparisons, on expenditures, on efficiency and on results attained, that will carry weight with intelligent public bodies. Statistics are given their place, as an index of the real value of health work, with a warning against crude statistics.     

CAUSES OF ARMY REJECTIONS: WHAT HEALTH OFFICERS CAN DO TO REMEDY CONDITIONS

Colonel Keefer, who advises that every health officer become a member of the A. P. H. A., outlines the story of army rejections and analyzes the causes. Health officers hold the strategic position. They should invoke prevention, get statistics, establish machinery for corrective work and foster and direct public opinion through education.     

CAUSES OF ARMY REJECTIONS: WHAT HEALTH OFFICERS CAN DO TO REMEDY CONDITIONS

Colonel Keefer, who advises that every health officer become a member of the A. P. H. A., outlines the story of army rejections and analyzes the causes. Health officers hold the strategic position. They should invoke prevention, get statistics, establish machinery for corrective work and foster and direct public opinion through education.     

Survey of leadership skills needed for state and territorial health officers,United States, 1988.

As part of efforts to develop training and career development experiences to enhance leadership skills among public health officials, the Public Health Foundation, Association of State and Territorial Health Officials, National Association of County Health Officials, United States Conference of Local Health Officers, and Public Health Practice Program Office, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, conducted a training needs assessment survey in 1988. Fifty-five State and territorial health officers were asked about potential knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) that a prospective or new health officer might require in performing his or her job. Thirty-eight health officers returned completed questionnaires, a 69 percent response rate. For each KSA, respondents assigned scores from 1 (low) to 5 (high) to three different variables: the KSA''s importance to job, as an initial ability of a new health officer, and as a desired ability for someone in that job. Of 78 KSAs, those scoring in the top 25 percent for importance to job were identified, and individual composite scores were calculated using the formula: (importance to job) x (desired ability minus initial ability). The top 10 mean composite scores ranged from 7.55 to 10.40 and were in five competence areas: public image (working with the community) (3 KSAs); policy development and program planning (3 KSAs); interpersonal skills (2 KSAs); agency management (1 KSA); and legal issues (1 KSA). These skills are not commonly acquired in schools of medicine or public health. Public health agencies should develop programs to assure that persons with leadership potential are identified early and given guided experiences and mentors, as well as specific training and education. Additional studies of public health officers are needed to develop and strengthen leadership KSAs among new health officers.     

COMPENSATION OF HEALTH OFFICERS

Hope for the health officer in point of salary is what Dr. Ferrell holds forth. Compensation, although inadequate, is steadily increasing, and there is demand for competent men. Salaries must depend on the good faith of a public that is learning the value of efficient professional service. Health officers' associations carry weight in forming public opinion.     

PUBLIC HEALTH PERSPECTIVE

“Save 250,000 human lives in the United States in 1920!” is Surgeon Lumsden''s slogan, and he backs it up by outlining how to do it. The world must have increase of man-power. Public health aid is essential. Needs are: whole-time health officers, effective local agencies and coördination of all agencies, and then the American spirit to “go over the top.”     

THE HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH WORK IN ENGLAND

“There is much illness that might have been avoided if there had been an organized system of state medicine,” says Sir Arthur Newsholme, speaking of England. He would give a freer hand to the health officer who measures up to the standard. England''s chief defect lies in the existence of small and inefficient local health bodies.     

State health agencies and the legislative policy process.

A new era of health care reform places increasing pressure on public health leaders and agencies to participate in the public policy arena. Public health professionals have long been comfortable in providing the scientific knowledge base required in policy development. What has been more recent in its evolution, however, is recognition that they must also play an active role in leading and shaping the debate over policy. A profile of effective State legislative policy "entrepreneurs" and their strategies has been developed to assist health agencies in developing such a leadership position. Based on the experiences of State legislative liaison officers, specific strategies for dealing with State legislatures have been identified and are organized into five key areas--agency organization, staff skills, communications, negotiation, and active ongoing involvement. A public health agency must be organized effectively to participate in the legislative policy process. Typically, effective agencies centralize responsibility for policy activities and promote broad and coordinated participation throughout the organization. Playing a key role in the agency''s political interventions, the legislative liaison office should be staffed with persons possessing excellent interpersonal skills and a high degree of technical competence. Of central importance to effective legislative policy entrepreneurship is the ability to communicate the agency''s position clearly. This includes setting forward a focused policy agenda, documenting policy issues in a meaningful manner, and reaching legislators with the proper information. Once a matter is on the legislative agenda, the agency must be prepared to negotiate and build broad support for the measure. Finally, public health agencies must be active policy players.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

健康教育在公共卫生工作中的应用

目的:通过分析1994~2004年间国内发表的健康教育相关文献,了解健康教育在我国公共卫生工作中的应用、研究现状及变化趋势,为今后的健康教育研究和工作提供参考。方法:从中国学术期刊全文数据库(CNKI)收集健康教育相关文献,按照既定的纳入方法和指标建立数据库,并对数据进行描述性统计分析。结果:健康教育相关文献发表量随时间呈递增趋势。文献研究对象主要为全人群、儿童青少年及妇女,占75.73%;文献研究的主要健康问题为传染病(28.2%)及卫生常识和卫生习惯(13.85%)。采取了健康教育干预的文献占39.69%,干预手段主要为文字传播、音像传播及人际传播,干预效果主要为知识提高(82.70%)。结论:健康教育将在艾滋病、慢性病的防治中发挥更大的作用,但同时应加强生殖健康、职业健康、心理健康等工作,并加强理论研究。     

Biomonitoring of bisphenol A concentrations in maternal and umbilical cord blood in regard to birth outcomes and adipokine expression: a birth cohort study in Taiwan

Workers' compensation law in the United States is derived from European models of social insurance introduced in Germany and in England. These two concepts of workers' compensation are found today in the federal and state workers' compensation programs in the United States. All reform proposals in the United States are influenced by the European experience with workers' compensation. In 2006, a reform proposal termed the Public Health Model was made that would abolish the workers' compensation system, and in its place adopt a national disability insurance system for all injuries and illnesses. In the public health model, health and safety professionals would work primarily in public health agencies. The public health model eliminates the physician from any role other than that of privately consulting with the patient and offering advice solely to the patient. The Public Health Model is strongly influenced by the European success with physician consultation with industry and labor.     

Public Information Officers' and Journalists' Perceived Barriers to Providing Quality Health Information

Given the increase in the volume of health and medical news over the past few years, the expanding population of journalists committed to feeding the public's voracious appetite for such information, and the important role of government public health organizations in producing and disseminating public health information, it is surprising that little research exists that explores the relationships among public health entities and health journalists. This article describes and analyzes similarities and differences in perceptions between journalists and information officers in public health agencies on a number of issues to reveal how public information officers and health journalists can work to build a local public health agenda free from the burden of unnecessary or inconsistent barriers. This study reports findings from a study with a 3-stage pretest and 90 interviews with state and local public health information officers and the health journalists who cover public health beats across the United States. Despite some agreement, results indicate wide disparities between these populations' identification of what the barriers to high-quality health care and information are, and a generalized absence of a “shared vision.”     

Implementing and assessing organizational practices in local health departments.

One of the most difficult forms of public health practice to characterize involves governmental public health agencies, especially at the local level. A lack of consensus within the public health community as to the purpose and content of organizational public health practice inhibits efforts to increase the capability of public health to address effectively its core functions of assessment, policy development, and assurance. Meaningful capacity building efforts must establish both benchmarks and expectations for the organizational practice of public health. Those markers must be established so that the impact of practice on outcomes and health status can be examined. A model identifying 10 organizational practices was established through the work of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in collaboration with national practice organizations. Early applications of the model to public health capacity building activities have been effective. Among the applications have been approaches to surveillance of health department practice, certification of local health departments using practice guidelines, and development of leadership within the public health enterprise. Although results are promising, use of the model requires additional external examination and validation, as well as acceptance and consensus within the public health community. The development of organizational practice guidelines for public health agencies may be useful in further efforts to characterize and measure public health practice and its impact on the public''s health.     

WHAT IS THE MATTER WITH PUBLIC HEALTH TODAY?

Plain talk with the suggestion that the health officer has police powers oftentimes neglected to assume voluntary work not really within his province. Dr. Hill emphasizes the need of official fighting of disease and would leave baby weeks and milk depots to voluntary, civil organizations.     

FUNDAMENTAL DISTINCTIONS BETWEEN LARGER AND SMALLER CITIES IN HEALTH ADMINISTRATION

Large health departments, like large industries, are able to employ specialists to care for various details of their work. The small city health officer must often do the things that are done by a half dozen different people in the city. Doctor Park points out some of the important distinctions.     

CITY HEALTH BULLETINS: THEIR USE AND MISUSE,THE NECESSITY FOR ADDITIONAL MAILING PRIVILEGES

Pound rate postage for city health bulletins is the plea of this author, a city health officer. Bulletins can take up public health education in most valuable ways, notably venereal disease and patent medicine discussion, which newspapers can hardly touch. Pound rates would demand change in postal laws by Act of Congress.     

FUNDAMENTAL DISTINCTIONS BETWEEN LARGER AND SMALLER CITIES IN HEALTH ADMINISTRATION

Large health departments, like large industries, are able to employ specialists to care for various details of their work. The small city health officer must often do the things that are done by a half dozen different people in the city. Doctor Park points out some of the important distinctions.     

CITY HEALTH BULLETINS: THEIR USE AND MISUSE,THE NECESSITY FOR ADDITIONAL MAILING PRIVILEGES

Pound rate postage for city health bulletins is the plea of this author, a city health officer. Bulletins can take up public health education in most valuable ways, notably venereal disease and patent medicine discussion, which newspapers can hardly touch. Pound rates would demand change in postal laws by Act of Congress.