Allegrante Et Al. Respond
Bibliographic Data
We thank Ellery for her comments on our article. Nineteen of the 25 members of our consensus panel were currently-employed public health educators in local, state, and federal health agencies. We agree that the issue of responsibility for the continuing education needs of health educators is an important one. As we pointed out, it will require both cooperation and investments on the part of professional associations, universities, government, and foundations. We certainly agree that continuing education will require “multiple modes of delivery” and emerging technologies to reach public health professionals with the new understandings we identified. Moreover, while the evidence base for health education has matured significantly in the last 30 years, Ellery is correct to point out that much work remains to be done. The results of our consensus panel, along with others,1,2 constitute only an important first step. We sought to bring attention to a critical issue in strengthening the public health infrastructure.3 There has already been significant dialogue and action. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention initiated and continues to support the Strategic Plan for the Development of the Public Health Workforce, including the continuing education needs of all public health professionals. Representatives of health education have been actively involved since the inception of this plan. Several health education organizations jointly have developed a 15-month long Public Health Education Leadership Institute to enhance leadership capacity to perform public health essential services.4 The Society for Public Health Education and the Association for the Advancement of Health Education are also engaged in joint efforts to review accreditation of health education professional preparation programs to ensure that both entry-level and advanced practice address the competencies and skills that our panel found to be critical. Finally, the Coalition of National Health Education Organizations has catalyzed multisector involvement to address the continuing education needs of the profession.5 The quality assurance movement in public health will have an important impact on state and federal employment policies in hiring health educators. Despite the progress we have made in credentialing, many issues will continue to be debated in the coming decade, including the question of continuing education.6,7 We would like nothing more than to see Ellery and others who understand the importance of maintaining the best possible public health workforce take up the work of looking beyond experts and content to better identify specific training needs and to devise innovative, responsive continuing education opportunities
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| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |