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Narrative
The indicator for expenditures on training and professional development is defined as the percentage of board of health total actual expenditures for "core and related public health programs and services" used to support staff training and professional development costs.
Spending on training and professional development is a measure of a board of health’s investment to support staff in their ongoing skill enhancement and maintenance for effective public health practice. Given the emphasis on the need to use evidence informed approaches, it is essential that staff have opportunities to enhance their knowledge. Access to current information on new methods of practice contributes to improvements in the delivery of public health programs and services.
Boards of health report that their expenditures on training and development in 2007 ranged from 0.15% to 1.65% of their total budgets, with most under 1% (32 out of 36).
The CRC recognized that professional development is a key to increasing staff satisfaction, improving staff retention and improving the quality of public health service delivery. Their report comments that public health units need deliberate strategies to provide professional development to address both program and discipline needs, and that innovative strategies need to be considered, such as subsidized refresher courses, scholarship programs, training networks and activities related to developing core competencies. The CRC recommended that public health units support training and staff development with expenditures in the range of 1% - 2% of their overall budgets. 124
Indicator Definition
Definition:
Percent of board of health total actual expenditures for "core and related public health programs and services" used to support staff training and professional development in 2007.
Staff training and professional development costs include training and educational services for vocational, technical training, professional courses and seminars; may include payments to external trainers, conference registration fees, tuition fees and payments for associated textbooks, registration and course delivery costs such as library access fees, costs associated with conferences, seminars and internally developed courses, as well as associated event costs such as payments to guest speakers, trainers, catering and space rental fees. Excludes any associated travel costs and any fees paid to register with a professional regulatory body.
Data Source(s):
Survey of boards of health, 2008
| Numerator: |
Actual board of health expenditures on staff training and professional development |
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| Denominator: |
Total board of health actual expenditures (core and related) |
Formula:
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Board of health actual expenditures on staff training and professional development
Total board of health actual expenditures
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x 100 |
Notes:
- Larger public health units may be able to achieve economies of scale that would lower their per staff cost for training and development
- Survey did not collect information on the number of staff trained or number of days of training purchased
- Reported expenditures may be estimates due to complexity of accessing training and development expenses that meet the proposed definition within the timeframe
- Excluding travel costs may limit the ability to interpret the overall impact of training costs on the budgets of health units with high travel costs (i.e. northern health units)
Data
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