Health Policy Training: A Review of the Literature

The context within which health care and public health systems operate is framed by health policies. There is growing consensus about the need for increased health policy leadership and a health professional workforce prepared to assume these leadership roles. At the same time, there is strong evidence supporting the need for a broader policy lens and the need to intentionally target health disparities. We reviewed the published literature between 1983 and 2013 regarding health policy training. From 5124 articles identified, 33 met inclusion criteria. Articles varied across common themes including target audience, goal(s), health policy definition, and core curricular content. The majority of articles were directed to medical or nursing audiences. Most articles framed health policy as health care policy and only a small number adopted a broader health in all policies definition. Few articles specifically addressed vulnerable populations or health disparities. The need for more rigorous research and evaluation to inform health policy training is compelling. Providing health professionals with the knowledge and skills to engage and take leadership roles in health policy will require training programs to move beyond their limited health care-oriented health policy framework to adopt a broader health and health equity in all policies approach

Understanding health policy leaders' training needs.

PurposeWe assessed the training needs of health policy leaders and practitioners across career stages; identified areas of core content for health policy training programs; and, identified training modalities for health policy leaders.MethodsWe convened a focus group of health policy leaders at varying career stages to inform the development of the Health Policy Leaders' Training Needs Assessment tool. We piloted and distributed the tool electronically. We used descriptive statistics and thematic coding for analysis.ResultsSeventy participants varying in age and stage of career completed the tool. "Cost implications of health policies" ranked highest for personal knowledge development and "intersection of policy and politics" ranked highest for health policy leaders in general. "Effective communication skills" ranked as the highest skill element and "integrity" as the highest attribute element. Format for training varied based on age and career stage.ConclusionsThis study highlighted the training needs of health policy leaders personally as well as their perceptions of the needs for training health policy leaders in general. The findings are applicable for current health policy leadership training programs as well as those in development

Top 5 Selected Knowledge Elements.

<p>Top 5 Selected Knowledge Elements.</p

The Most Frequently Selected 7 Attribute Elements.

<p>The Most Frequently Selected 7 Attribute Elements.</p

Top 10 Selected Skill Elements.

<p>Top 10 Selected Skill Elements.</p

Demographics Characteristics of Participants.

<p>Demographics Characteristics of Participants.</p