Recruiting and Retaining Public Health Workers—Lessons Learned from the Public Health Workforce Survey

Research has shown that the US governmental public health workforce is shrinking while the need for additional workers is increasing. In an historic effort to address this issue, in March 2010 the Council on Linkages Between Academia and Public Health Practice (Council) surveyed over 100,000 public health workers asking them how, when, and why they entered the governmental public health workforce, and why they stayed in, and/or left this workforce. Survey findings are currently being used by the Council and other public health organizations to develop evidence-based recruitment and retention strategies for the US public health system. During the first part of this session, results obtained from the Council's public health workforce survey will be presented. During the second part of the session, presenters will suggest some evidence-based recruitment and retention strategies to address the Council's survey findings and invite participants to share their interpretations of the results and potential implications of the findings. Participants will also be invited to suggest potential recruitment and retention strategies for the Council to consider in its ongoing work to help ensure an adequate supply of public health workers for the future.