* Make every person in the Department of Health aware of their role as a health care worker and what it means to contribute to the mission of the MPH. * Develop an HR system that encourages and supports employee involvement in health and wellness efforts. * Increase the number of employees who are actively participating in the health care field.
* Improve the quality of training and support staff members to improve health care workers’ knowledge of the latest advances in health care. * Make sure that health care professionals understand the importance of providing a safe and clean environment where they can work safely and effectively.
* Encourage health care workers to have fun and enjoy their jobs and work with their families. * Provide healthy meals and snacks throughout the day and encourage staff to be available for snacks and discussions during breaks.
* Establish clear guidelines regarding work hours, dress code and responsibilities of public health department employees. * Give employees opportunities to interact with patients, work with community members and share the vision of the MPH mission statement.
* Investigate ways that public health departments can expand their services to include a broader range of communities. * Work with the local health care systems to provide more affordable and accessible health care services to residents.
* Improve collaboration between MPH and state and local health care workers to help ensure that all health care workers and community members are being served by a single provider. * Work with the American Academy of Pediatrics to develop an education curriculum for schools that will focus on helping children with special needs to get the medical attention they need.
Working together with health care workers to develop these and other programs will benefit all involved: health care workers, employers and the general public. As more people become health conscious and healthier, health care workers will continue to be an essential part of the solution.
In addition to the programs that we have outlined above, health care workers will also need to implement an information sharing program. This program will help workers to know how they can provide better services to their patients, how to be effective in their workplace and how to work more effectively with one another. This information sharing should involve sharing best practices from other public health departments and from health care providers around the country.
* Developing strong partnerships with employers and other partners is important to the success of public health care workers. * The first step in this process is to meet with the health care providers and their unions to identify areas of possible conflict.
* It’s important to continue the education efforts of MPH to equip health care workers with the knowledge and information they need to be more effective. * There are numerous sources to learn more about the importance of safety and health training. * There are many seminars and webinars on health care that are available.
* Finally, MPH has several programs to improve the public health departments’ and state’s partnerships. * In the past, these partnerships have focused on issues like disease awareness and prevention, but it is also necessary to strengthen the partnership by communicating the importance of information sharing.
Public health agencies and departments can improve the services they provide by having a united vision of their mission and the importance of continuing education. A shared commitment to the public’s health can be a powerful tool in strengthening public health.
