Using EnvPHPS in the Field - 2007 Workshop

This page provides information about the National EnvPHPS workshop held on June 16-17, 2007, before the annual National Environmental Health Association conference in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Environmental health managers from state, tribal, and local environmental health programs participated in the workshop. By the end of the 1 1/2-day interactive workshop, participants had developed an action plan to improve their programs' capacity to perform the essential services of environmental public health as measured by the National EnvPHPS.

Before the workshop, participants assessed the capacity of their agencies by using the EnvPHPS tool provided to all participants and then sent the results electronically to CDC, where they were aggregated for use in the workshop.

During the workshop, participants:

• Analyzed and prioritized their own agency's capacity gaps.
• Learned about resources and tools for improving each of the ten essential environmental health services.
• Received instruction in creating objectives and an evaluation plan.
• Developed an implementation plan to address one or more of their agency's capacity gaps.
• Created a plan and timeline for ongoing capacity assessment and evaluation.

Through the workshop, participants became part of a national working group that provided baseline data to CDC about the status of capacity in the U.S. environmental health infrastructure. The work group also provides feedback to CDC about the value of the standards and the efficacy of the EnvPHPS instrument.

Workshop Prerequisites

A cross section of environmental health agencies were invited to participate. Participants had to be willing to conduct a preworkshop assessment of their agencies by using the EnvPHPS tool and submit their results to CDC in advance of the workshop.

Participants had to be willing to conduct a preworkshop assessment of their agency by using the EnvPHPS tool and to submit their results to CDC electronically in advance of the workshop.

Participants also had to be willing to implement a follow-up action plan to improve one or more of the 10 essential services, to provide evaluation feedback on the tool and the process to CDC, and to conduct periodic reassessments to measure change in agency capacity.

Workshop Outline

Saturday, June 16 (9:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m.)

• Introduction
• Background on the National EnvPHPS
  • Development of EnvPHPS
  • Relationship to the National Public Health Performance Standards
  • Case studies—results from EnvPHPS at work in the field
• Toolkit for capacity building: resources for strengthening the 10 essential services
• Addressing the gaps
  • Analysis and prioritization of assessment results
  • Designing objectives for the action plan
  • Developing an evaluation plan

Sunday, June 17 (9:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m.)

• Finalizing the action plans
  • Developing outcome indicators and timelines
• Measuring progress: creating the reassessment plan
• The future of EnvPHPS
• Course evaluation

Workshop Presentations

Strengthening the EH System Through Performance Standards [PDF - 831 KB] Patrick O. Bohan

National Environmental Public Health Performance Standards (NEnvPHPS): The Next Step in Enhancing Services [PDF - 68 KB] Sharunda Buchanan

National Public Health Performance Standards Program (NPHPSP): Connections With Environmental Health Performance Standards [PDF - 905 KB] Teresa Daub

The National Environmental Public Health Performance Standards Toolkit: Capacity-Building Resources on the Web [PDF - 66 KB] Sarah B. Kotchian

Writing and Evaluating Performance Objectives [PDF - 41 KB] Carl Osaki

The Value of the National Environmental Health Performance Standards to EH Programs [PDF - 36 KB] Pete Thornton

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