OBJECTIVES: The healthcare landscape is challenged by emerging and severe public health threats, and fast shifting priorities. There is an urgent need to build public health workforce capacity to enable rapid adaptation and effective responses to these threats. We outline a whole system's learning approach for analyzing public health systems in collaboration with public health leaders.

METHODS: The project included: i) a system's analysis involving a cross-sectional mixed methods approach including a quantitative investigation, interviews and focus groups of leading representatives and students from five higher education institutions providing public health training, 49 managers, and 31 stakeholders from lead public health organizations; ii) develop and implement training interventions, involving human factors tools for evaluating and developing actionable solutions.

RESULTS: We developed and implemented three interventions: 1) An online user interface for public health professional development and collaboration; 2) A Public Health Leadership Academy; and 3) A video outreach to key stakeholders and communities using studies.

CONCLUSION: A holistic perspective incorporating human factors, and a systems approach provided a comprehensive understanding and approch towards the public health workforce while identifying leverage points for durable improvement.

The role of nurses in identifying and responding to family violence and violence against women has long been established. However, nurses’ readiness to fully assume this role remains low due to various barriers and the sensitive nature of the subject. As part of capacity building to address this problem, an additional national qualitative learning target, i.e., to “show knowledge about men’s violence against women and violence in close relationships”, was introduced into the Swedish Higher Education Ordinance for nursing and seven other educational programs between 2017 and 2018. The aim of this paper is to describe how the national qualitative learning target is incorporated into the undergraduate nursing curriculum at the Swedish Red Cross University College. An overview of relevant teaching and learning activities and how they are organized is first presented, followed by the presentation of a proposed didactic model: Dare to Ask and Act! The model details a step-by-step progression from facts and figures, including the role of gender norms, to recognizing signs of abuse in complex clinical situations, as well as developing skills that enhance the courage to ask and act. Due to the sensitive nature of violence victimization, the proposed model reflects the importance of making the subject a reoccurring theme in undergraduate nursing education in order to boost nursing students’ interests and confidence to “Dare to Ask and Act!”. The model also shows that making the subject a recurring theme can be achieved with minimal disruptions to and without overcrowding an existing curriculum.

AIM: Competency frameworks are essential for analyzing capabilities of Schools of Public Health to adequately prepare public health (PH) professionals to address contemporary challenges. This study maps the competency profiles of PH training programs in Israel using a novel curriculum mapping tool.

METHODS: This study assessed all five Israeli Health Education Institutions (HEIs) offering MPH or Bachelors in Public Health (BPH) degrees across 57 competencies in six domains to determine the extent to which competencies were addressed in the curriculum. The competencies list was based on the Association of Schools of Public Health in the European Region (ASPHER) List of Core Competences for the Public Health Professional, adapted for Israeli HEIs.

RESULTS: The core curricula in the four MPH programs addressed 45-84% of all competencies. The BPH program addressed 79% of competencies. In MPH programs, the core curricula addressed most or all competencies in the Methods and the Socioeconomic Determinants of Health domains. Competencies in the domains of Environmental Determinants of Health, Health Policy, Economics & Organization, and Health Promotion and Prevention were less comprehensively addressed in most core curricula. Students' opportunities to broaden their exposure to competencies outside the core curricula were context dependent.

DISCUSSION: The curriculum competencies mapping tool that was developed served to assess both strengths and shortcomings in PH education in Israel. The findings demonstrate a highly variable array of PH curriculum models in Israeli HEIs, as well as overall shortcomings in the Environmental, Health Policy Economics and Organization, and Health Promotion and Prevention domains. This analysis has already led to reassessment of the curriculum, and will continue to guide the next steps to increase the harmonization of PH training curricula and to better meet PH challenges in Israel.

The COVID-19 vaccination has created turbulence in many communities. The dilemma has been particularly alive among health professionals such as nurses. As lecturers at the Swedish Red Cross University, whose academic profile is global nursing and global health, we promote the importance of the nursing profession as advocates for the COVID-19 vaccination. The main objective of this commentary is to reflect on the Red Cross Red Crescent (RCRC) fundamental tenet based on its principles in relation to nursing commitment beyond traditional responsibilities in times of pandemic when urgency, reactivity, and pedagogical health education become a priority. The notion of ‘globality’ and the contextualization and modernization of nursing responsibilities are associated with these professional reflections. We conclude that activism and advocacy, on issues crucial to planetary health and the advancement of social justice globally, are the responsibility of nurses. Furthermore, the liability of RCRC nurses is accentuated by the seven principles and the significance of humanity within the global perspective.

Objectives: The study aimed to generate insights on how best to enhance the compatibility between Public Health training program competencies and the implementation of competencies required by employers to address current and emerging public health needs.

Methods: A survey adapted from the WHO-ASPHER Competency Framework for the Public Health Workforce was conducted online among Israeli public health managers from August to November 2021. The survey was formulated to mirror Essential Public Health Operations. Forty-nine managers participated (37.6% response rate) in an assessment of 44 public health competencies and the core organizational public health operations.

Results: Analysis of Essential Public Health Operations revealed a notably high deficiency reported for Advocacy Communication and Social Mobilization for health competencies. Collaborations and Partnership and, Leadership and System Thinking were the most reported insufficient competencies, particularly in health departments and research institutes. Governmental offices reported Organizational Literacy and Adaptability competencies being deficient. Deficiencies were more impactful as the level of expertise increased.

Conclusion: There is a clear need for public health professionals to acquire versatile and innovative competencies in response to the ever-changing health threats.

The overall purpose of this study was to initiate the process of developing a comprehensive theoretical framework associating the three entities defining the Swedish Red Cross University College (SRCUC): global nursing, global health and Red Cross and Red Crescent's perspective (RCRC). To do so, an analysis of nursing bachelor's theses over two periods (2011–2012 and 2015–2016) was initially needed to capture the academic essence. Two specific aims were defined: 1) To describe how global nursing and global health, in conjunction with the RCRC perspective, were addressed and contextualized in nursing bachelor's theses; and 2) To investigate how students’ knowledge in global awareness and vision has developed over time. Two overarching themes were identified: Conceptualizing caring relations and moving towards the body of global awareness and Understanding the art of nursing and ethics in complex nursing actions. The Standards for Reporting Qualitative Research (SRQR) guidelines were used to ensure the trustworthiness of the findings. By promoting relevant knowledge, the SRCUC prepares future nurses for upcoming health needs at the planetary level. 

Health services quality and sustainability rely mainly on a qualified workforce. Adequately trained public health personnel protect and promote health, avert health disparities, and allow rapid response to health emergencies. Evaluations of the healthcare workforce typically focus on physicians and nurses in curative medical venues. Few have evaluated public health workforce capacity building or sought to identify gaps between the academic training of public health employees and the needs of the healthcare organizations in which they are employed. This project report describes the conceptual framework of “Sharing European Educational Experience in Public Health for Israel (SEEEPHI): harmonization, employability, leadership, and outreach”—a multinational Erasmus+ Capacity Building in Higher Education funded project. By sharing European educational experience and knowledge, the project aims to enhance professionalism and strengthen leadership aspects of the public health workforce in Israel to meet the needs of employers and the country. The project’s work packages, each jointly led by an Israeli and European institution, include field qualification analysis, mapping public health academic training programs, workforce adaptation, and building leadership capacity. In the era of global health changes, it is crucial to assess the capacity building of a well-qualified and competent workforce that enables providing good health services, reaching out to minorities, preventing health inequalities, and confronting emerging health challenges. We anticipate that the methods developed and the lessons learned within the Israeli context will be adaptable and adoptable by other countries through local and cultural adjustments.

År 2017 infördes ett nytt nationellt examensmål ”visa kunskap om mäns våld mot kvinnor och våld i nära relationer” enligt SFS 2017: 857, i högskoleför-ordningen (SFS 1993:100) för vissa utbildningsprogram, där sjuksköterske-programmet är inkluderat. Syftet med denna artikel är att presentera hur det nationella examensmålet har implementerats i sjuksköterskeprogrammet vid Röda Korsets Högskola. Först ges en översikt avseende relevanta undervis-nings- och lärandeaktiviteter och hur de organiseras genom programmets utbildningsplan. I de avslutande reflektionerna presenteras den didaktiska Våga fråga och agera! -modellen. Modellen är en sammanfattning av Röda Korsets Högskolas tillvägagångssätt, det vill säga en stegvis progression i utbildningen från fakta, statistik, normer och värderingar, till att studenterna lär sig hur de kan upptäckta tecken på våld i komplexa kliniska situationer samt vikten av att ha mod att agera. Avslutningsvis är det vår uppfattning att ett tydligt upplägg är viktigt för att uppnå intentionerna med det nationella examensmålet, nämligen: Våga fråga och agera!   

The purpose of this study was to describe the psychosocial experience of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies' nurses upon their return from deployment at an Ebola Treatment Center during an Ebola virus disease outbreak in Kenema, Sierra Leone, between 2014 and 2015. The following three psychosocial aspects related to pre-, during, and postdeployment were explored: stress management, sociocultural exposure, and attitudes from others. This is a descriptive qualitative study with a cross-sectional design. Questionnaires were administered to 50 nurses, of which 44 responded. Eight themes were identified in relation to the three psychosocial aspects of interest: professional- and self-confidence, pragmatism, wellness activities, human contact, cultural competency, professionalism, pariah, and/or hero. One of the most important findings in this article relates to the essential mental health support pre- and during deployment with an emphasis upon return when the risk of isolation and stigmatization is greater. In conclusion, more research is needed about the psychosocial challenges met by nurses to prepare and support them as increasing threat of emerging infectious diseases puts pressure on global health systems.