Sexually Transmitted Diseases  >  Program Guidelines  >  Training and Professional Development

Program Operations Guidelines for STD Prevention
Training and Professional Development

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• INTRODUCTION T-1
• Goals/Objectives of Training, Professional, and Career Development
• Target Audience
• Responsibilities

INTRODUCTION T-1

Training is an essential element in developing the technical expertise and the skills required for management, leadership, political effectiveness, and community diagnosis and organization that are needed in a complex, multifaceted clinical and social services program. The continuing evolution of public health raises new challenges to public health personnel, requiring constant update and enhancement of their knowledge and skills (IOM Future of Public Health, 1988).

Training, professional development, and career development are considered important ways to enhance levels of expertise within the organization. All three processes—training, professional development, and career development—play an important role in improving worker performance of STD prevention activities.

Programs to train medical students, physicians, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, nurses, and others in STD prevention are critical in increasing the capacity of the primary care system to address public health problems, and to ensure delivery of quality services (IOM Hidden Epidemic, 1997).

Establishing and maintaining the expertise necessary for health care professionals to perform the required functions of STD prevention requires developing certain knowledge, skills, and abilities. Information seminars, in-service information workshops, health education, formal academic education, formal orientation, formal training, education and training self-study, and developmental work-related experiences are structured methods to support the development of needed knowledge. Those activities, however, have different emphases from training. Information seminars, formal orientation, health education and formal academic education tend to focus on the development of knowledge and understanding. Training emphasizes development of skill and proficiency in a specific task or functional area. Developmental work experiences, also known as experiential learning, is the practical application of knowledge and skill in an actual on-the-job work setting demonstrating the ability and capacity to perform overall job responsibilities.

Health Care Professional in this document is considered synonymous with the term health care worker. It should be used in the broadest sense to include all professions or occupations involved in STD services for people with or at risk for STDs.

Training is defined as a set of activities designed to develop specific skill levels of workers who are required to perform public health prevention functions or tasks. The training process includes four basic steps: 1) assessment of staff proficiency and identification of training needs; 2) development, implementation, and delivery of needed training to address skill and knowledge deficiencies; 3) evaluation of the effectiveness of the training or skills practice activity on improving skills development; and 4) evaluation of the effect on worker performance.

Professional development is a strategy to develop the necessary professional expertise within the targeted workforce. It is considered a higher level of commitment to worker development since it includes information seminars and in-service workshops, formal academic education, training, and structured experiential activities which aid in the growth of workers' professional expertise. Professional development is also a four step process but it is broader in scope than the training process. Step one emphasizes overall professional expertise which includes staff skill proficiency. Step two includes educational and experiential activities in addition to training. Steps three and four are similar to the training process.

Career Development is a planned process that includes professional development but also provides opportunities for worker advancement in a progressive series of jobs within a given field. It is considered the highest level of commitment to worker development since it provides a structure offering job progression opportunity for which staff members' increased levels of expertise can be applied. Inherent in career development is management's responsibility for creating a structure that will support the development of employees' expertise and offer job progression opportunity.

Staff is defined as federal, state, and local personnel directly supported through program resources, i.e., program employees. This may include persons responsible for partner services; supervision and management; clinical and laboratory services; surveillance and data management; and administrative management and clerical functions.

External Partners are defined as health care providers and other professionals responsible for STD prevention services and activities who are not direct employees of the program. These may include private medical practitioners; hospital physicians; members of community-based organizations; corrections health care personnel; persons working in substance abuse treatment programs; laboratory personnel; professionals working in and associated with managed care; other primary care providers, medical or other health professions students or residents in training, youth counselors, STD/HIV trainers, and outreach workers (IOM Hidden Epidemic, 1997). In addition, partners should include people and agencies working in special emphasis areas such as adolescent health centers, managed care organizations, family and primary care physicians, and reproductive health.

Goals/Objectives of Training, Professional, and Career Development

The overall staff development goal is to improve performance through structured training, professional development, and career development efforts. STD prevention program objectives should reflect these goals and be consistent with available resources and overall worker development needs. A training program, including structured professional development, should be established to improve and maintain skills proficiency, and overall expertise, in all staff members and offered as a benefit to external health care professionals performing STD prevention related activities. A career development structure should also be established to develop and maintain an effective staff.

Target Audience

The target audience may include a wide spectrum of health care workers such as 1) clinicians (physicians, nurse practitioners, nurses, physician assistants), 2) disease intervention specialists, 3) clerical support staff, 4) epidemiologists, 5) health educators, 6) health service managers or administrators, and administrative assistants, 7) social workers, and counselors, 8) scientists, 9) laboratory technicians and technologists, 10) health information system or computer specialists, 11) public relations, public information, health communications, and media specialists, and 12) biostatisticians. (See attachment T-A for a list of titles). It is the responsibility of the STD prevention program to apply its training and other staff development efforts and resources continually to improve performance of all staff and to educate external partners.

Responsibilities

Several key personnel should have direct program responsibilities for ensuring that an effective training and staff development program is part of overall STD prevention program functions. Managers should establish program-level plans, policies, procedures, and quality assurance methods to ensure that training, professional development, and career development activities and processes are effectively and efficiently incorporated into project management functions. This program structure should support development of the staff and external partners as well as reinforce supervisory responsibility for staff development.

Direct supervisors should be knowledgeable about the particular STD prevention tasks and functions they supervise and knowledgeable about tasks and skills required to perform these activities. The supervisor should:

• be knowledgeable of the purpose, objectives, and overall content of training available for members of their staff
• prepare staff for attending training events
• ensure that staff are fully aware of the purpose of and the need for training
• ensure that staff understand the requirements and expectations for their participation in training
• ensure or reinforce on-the-job application of skills developed through training
• support using these skills through staff development efforts
• be actively involved in such on-the-job development activities as demonstrating skills, observing performance, offering constructive feedback
• act as a mentor
• assess the skill levels of staff through performance observation, feedback, and performance outcome review and evaluation
• identify and address barriers to the effective performance of any staff member not related to training, such as motivation, communications, or attitude.

STD prevention programs should assign one or more management staff to be accountable for assuring training and staff development. In smaller programs, a lead person other than management may be designated to take responsibility. Specific responsibilities include:

• assessing knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary for proficiency and expertise;
• developing, implementing, and delivering training and on-the-job developmental experiences to address skill building needs;
• identifying institutions and other resources which provide accredited continuing education activities;
• evaluating the effect of training and professional or career development activities on performance; and
• identifying possibilities for developing career ladder structures and providing career enhancing opportunities.

The Division of STD Prevention is responsible for providing technical assistance and evaluation services in support of STD prevention program staff development efforts. That includes responsibility for identifying training sources and coordinating provision of training activities required to address skills development needs; providing support in training needs assessment and evaluation efforts; and providing technical assistance in support of performance management follow-up and quality assurance efforts.

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