NEHA September 2023 Journal of Environmental Health

TABLE 3

TABLE 4

TABLE 5

Salary Range and Level of Satis- faction With Salary for Environ- mental Health Professionals in Montana ( n = 91)

Education and Licensure of Environmental Health Professionals in Montana

Workforce Identification of Environmental Health Professionals in Montana

# (%)

# (%)

# (%)

Highest level of education ( n = 86) High school diploma/GED

Current public health department ( n = 73) Administration/support staff 0 Chronic disease prevention 0 Communicable disease/ immunization 0 Environmental health 63 (86) Emergency preparedness 2 (3) Epidemiology 0 Finance (including grant writing or grant reporting) 0 Home visits 0 Maternal and child health (non-nutrition) 0 Nutrition/WIC/breastfeeding support 0 Other 8 (11) Primary environmental health activity practice area ( n = 72) Body art/tattoos/body piercing 0 Commercial and school food safety 25 (35) Drinking water 4 (6) Emergency response 0 Infectious disease 1 (1) Land use/subdivision 11 (15) Pools/spas/recreational waters 1 (1) Public lodging 0 Public nuisance complaint response 1 (1) Solid/hazardous waste 1 (1) Trailer courts/campgrounds 0 Wastewater (sewage) 10 (14) Other 18 (25) Practice in multiple environmental health areas ( n = 72) No 2 (3) Not very often 3 (4) Sometimes 5 (7) Yes 60 (83) Prefer not to say 2 (3) Other 0

Salary range ($)

4 (5) 3 (3)

25,000–30,000 30,000–35,000 35,000–40,000 40,000–45,000 45,000–50,000 50,000–55,000 55,000–60,000 60,000–65,000 65,000–70,000 70,000–75,000 75,000–80,000 80,000–85,000 85,000–90,000 90,000–95,000 95,000–100,000 100,000–110,000 110,000–120,000 120,000–130,000

5 (6) 4 (4) 3 (3) 8 (9)

Associate degree Bachelor’s degree Master’s degree Doctoral degree

46 (54) 25 (29)

8 (9)

13 (14) 12 (13)

Other

0

Subject area studied ( n = 202) Business or business administration

7 (8)

12 (6)

10 (11)

Environmental science

43 (21)

6 (7) 8 (9) 3 (3) 2 (2) 4 (4) 1 (1) 5 (6)

Mathematics

16 (8)

Nursing Nutrition

2 (1)

11 (5)

Public health, community health, health promotion Science (biology, chemistry, etc.)

31 (15)

67 (33)

Social work

5 (2)

0 0 0 0

Other

15 (7)

had a lot of familiarity, 74% reported a little or not much familiarity, and 10% reported no familiarity. Concerning Health in All Policies concepts, 63% of respondents reported hav- ing not much or no familiarity, only 10% were Program accredited by the National Environmental Health Science and Protection Accreditation Council ( n = 88) No 46 (52) Yes 8 (9) Not sure 34 (39) Professionally licensed ( n = 88) No 6 (7) Yes 82 (93) Type of professional license ( n = 116) Dietician/nutritionist 1 (1) Doctor 0 Nursing 1 (1) Registered environmental health specialist 23 (20) Registered sanitarian 71 (61) Other 20 (17)

>130,000

Satisfied with salary No

45 (49) 27 (30) 10 (11)

Yes

Prefer not to say

Other

9 (10)

much familiarity, while 10% reported no familiarity. For the category of fostering a cul- ture of quality improvement, 81% of respon- dents reported that they were very familiar or had a little familiarity and 3% reported no familiarity. For public health and primary care integration, only 5% of respondents were very familiar, 77% had a little or not much familiarity, and 18% had no familiarity. For performance management, most respondents (65%) seemed to have a little or not much familiarity and 30% reported a lot of familiar- ity (Table 6). For evidenced-based public health prac- tices, 16% of respondents reported that they

Note. WIC = Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children.

15

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