title: Identifying individual competency in emerging areas of practice: an applied approach.
abstract: Competency designation is important for any discipline to define individual performance expectations. Although public health (PH) agencies have always responded to emergencies, individual expectations have not been specified. The authors identified individual competencies necessary for organizations to meet performance standards. In the first stage, a Delphi survey served to identify competencies needed by staff to respond to any emergency, including bio-terrorism, yielding competency sets for four levels of workers. In the second stage, focus groups were used to assess the competencies with public health agencies. This feedback validated the Delphi-identified competencies as accurate and necessary for emergency response. The authors demonstrate the feasibility of using these methods to arrive at statements of value to PH practice at a reasonable investment of resources.
authors.affiliation: Center for Health Policy, Columbia University School of Nursing, New York, USA.
authors.forename: Kristine
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Gebbie
authors.forename: Jacqueline
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Merrill
authors.forename: Inseon
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Hwang
authors.forename: Meera
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gupta
authors.forename: Rula
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Btoush
authors.forename: Monte
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wagner
mesh_terms: D023482:Bioterrorism / Q000517:prevention & control; D002487:Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S.; D003697:Delphi Technique; D004189:Disaster Planning / Q000592:standards*; D004632:Emergency Medical Services / Q000592:standards*; D005246:Feedback; D017144:Focus Groups; D006302:Health Services Research; D006801:Humans; D008511:Medicine / Q000592:standards*; D011361:Professional Competence / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015980:Public Health Practice / Q000592:standards*; D036301:Qualitative Research; D013038:Specialization; D017749:Total Quality Management; D014481:United States