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. 2009 Oct;44(5 Pt 2):1818-41.
doi: 10.1111/j.1475-6773.2009.01015.x. Epub 2009 Aug 17.

Toward standardized, comparable public health systems data: a taxonomic description of essential public health work

Jacqueline Merrill  1 , Jonathan Keeling, Kristine Gebbie
Affiliations

Toward standardized, comparable public health systems data: a taxonomic description of essential public health work

Jacqueline Merrill et al. Health Serv Res. 2009 Oct.

Abstract

Objective: To identify taxonomy of task, knowledge, and resources for documenting the work performed in local health departments (LHDs).

Data sources: Secondary data were collected from documents describing public health (PH) practice produced by organizations representing the PH community.

Study design: A multistep consensus-based method was used that included literature review, data extraction, expert opinion, focus group review, and pilot testing.

Data extraction methods: Terms and concepts were manually extracted from documents, consolidated, and evaluated for scope and sufficiency by researchers. An expert panel determined suitability of terms and a hierarchy for classifying them. This work was validated by practitioners and results pilot tested in two LHDs.

Principal findings: The finalized taxonomy was applied to compare a national sample of 11 LHDs. Data were obtained from 1,064 of 1,267 (84 percent) of employees. Frequencies of tasks, knowledge, and resources constitute a profile of PH work. About 70 percent of the correlations between LHD pairs on tasks and knowledge were high (>0.7), suggesting between-department commonalities. On resources only 16 percent of correlations between LHD pairs were high, suggesting a source of performance variability.

Conclusions: A taxonomy of PH work serves as a tool for comparative research and a framework for further development.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
A Congruence Model of an Organizational System Adapted from Nadler and Tushman (1988)
Figure 2
Figure 2
Hierarchical Schema for Taxonomy of Public Health Work
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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