Competency Development for General Public Health Professionals
The Core Competencies for Public Health Professionals are a set of skills desirable for the broad practice of public health. They reflect the characteristics that staff of public health organizations (collectively) may want to possess as they work to protect and promote health in the community. The Core Competencies are designed to serve as a starting point for academic and practice organizations to understand, assess, and meet training and workforce needs.
The Core Competencies can help:
- Course providers develop and evaluate competency-based training content and curricula
- Learners assess and meet their training needs
- Practice organizations craft job descriptions
- Practice organizations implement staff performance reviews
- Assess knowledge and skill gaps of individual employees or of entire organizations
- Develop discipline-specific competencies
- Prepare for accreditation
- Draft workforce development plans
- Create training plans
Review the core public health competencies
- Core Competencies (without examples) in html or PDF
- Core Competencies (with examples imbedded) in html or PDF
- Core Competencies (with examples provided as footnotes) in html or PDF
- Guidance Definitions
Assess your skills
Complete one of these self-assessment tools to assess your current public health skills.
- National Core Competency Continuum
- Tier 1 Self Assessment (Entry Level)
- Tier 2 Self Assessment (Management)
- Tier 3 Self Assessment (Leadership)
- Public Health Leadership and Management Self Assessment