ADVANCEMENT OF THE PRACTICE
Conclusion Our needs assessment was successful in captur- ing an updated view of the challenges facing EH professionals in Montana. The workforce self-identifies as mostly White and is somewhat gender balanced, a little older, and underpaid compared with their national counterparts. It is also clear that stress levels are very high among EH professionals. There exists a work- force shortage of well-trained EH professionals to fill open positions in Montana. More broadly, many of the same challenges and needs identi- fied in Montana are reported nationally. EH is a complex and broad specialty within public health and training is urgently needed in many areas to address current needs and evolving threats. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated existing issues and stressed health departments and agen- cies, which has hindered their ability to deliver eective services. The politicization around the pandemic has further damaged the credibility of sci- ence and public health leaders and led to new policies restricting the powers of public health professionals to protect the commu- nities they serve. EH professionals worked on the front lines of the pandemic and many experienced backlash from the public. The rapidly changing economic, political, social, and environmental forces and conditions in the U.S. and across the globe make it dicult to create uniform practices and sustainable funding to consistently meet public health needs. These changes are redefining the scope and depth of public health and the work provided by EH professionals. Corresponding Author: David P. Gilkey, Pro- fessor, Department of Safety, Health, and Industrial Hygiene, School of Mines and Engineering, Montana Technological Univer- sity, 315 Science and Engineering Building, 1300 Park Street, Butte, MT 59701. Email: dgilkey@mtech.edu.
workers were satisfied or somewhat satisfied with their position, 65% were satisfied or somewhat satisfied with their organization or agency, and 48% were satisfied or somewhat satisfied with salaries. There is an overwhelm- ing call for more training in a wide variety of areas to improve the knowledge, skills, and abilities of EH professionals, as well as train- ing for stress reduction and coping (Gerding et al., 2020; MPHWDG, 2020; NEHA, 2020a, 2020b; Sellers et al., 2015). Many of the con- cerns seen in the greater public health pro- fession (DeSalvo et al., 2021) echo concerns shared by EH professionals in Montana. Recommendations for the Profession DeSalvo et al. (2021) recommended major restructuring and redesigning of public health delivery in the U.S. Some areas need- ing change include transforming funding to increase flexibility and adaptation to cri- sis, arming the mandate for public health that residents expect, promoting structural alignment among all public health agen- cies, investing in leadership and workforce development, modernizing technology capa- bilities, and supporting public and private partnerships and community engagement. Likewise, Gerding et al. (2020) provided a similar list of recommendations that included improving eective leadership, workforce development, equipment and technology, information systems and data, and garnering support through partnerships and collabora- tions. Additionally, Frieden (2013) identified the role of the government in public health as being responsive to the needs of the people; to free, open, and promote truthful information; to protect the people from harm of injury, ill- ness, and disease; and to implement societal interventions when individuals are unable to protect themselves. We support the rec- ommendations of DeSalvo et al. (2021) and Gerding et al. (2020), and we agree with the stated role of government by Frieden (2013).
To grow the EH profession in Montana, respondents recommended nothing par- ticularly novel. On the national stage, the Understanding the Needs, Challenges, Opportunities, Vision, and Emerging Roles in Environmental Health (UNCOVER EH) initiative (Brooks et al., 2019; Gerding et al., 2019) provided more specific recommen- dations and direction. Experts continue to assert that EH is poorly understood among the public and lacks the visibility that much of public health enjoys (Brooks et al., 2019). Further, Brooks et al. (2019) identified three essential needs to grow the EH profession: 1) uniform training such as academic prepara- tion, professional credentialing, and strategic national training; 2) partnerships such as nontraditional partnerships, joint leadership programs, and translational science part- nerships; and 3) research such as strategic research initiatives and integration of exist- ing programs. Limitations Our study has a number of limitations. First, self-report surveys can be influenced by recall and response bias. Such biases can have a dif- ferential eect toward or away from our abil- ity to answer research questions. Secondly, we chose to deliver the survey to EH profes- sionals using local health departments as the major way to disseminate and invite partici- pation in the study. While the majority of EH professionals in Montana work in local health departments or at the state level, we may have excluded those EH professional who work in other fields. Lastly, our approach to survey completion was dependent on the access to and use of electronic tools includ- ing the internet, computers, and Qualtrics. We assumed that that all EH professionals in Montana had access to the internet and com- puters and were capable of completing an online survey, which might not have been the case for all EH professionals.
References
An Act Prohibiting Discrimination Based on a Person’s Vaccination Status or Possession of an Immunity Passport, H.B. 702, Montana 67th Legislature (2021). https://leg.mt.gov/bills/2021/billpdf/HB0 702.pdf
An Act Revising Laws Related to Local Boards of Health, H.B. 121, Montana 67th Legislature (2021). https://leg.mt.gov/bills/2021/ billpdf/HB0121.pdf Brooks, B.W., Gerding, J.A., Landeen, E., Bradley, E., Callahan, T., Cushing, S., Hailu, F., Hall, N., Hatch, T., Jurries, S., Kalis, M.A.,
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Volume 86 • Number 2
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