Public health specialists: occupational description in Turkey.

Abstract

Public health encompasses all health problems and factors related with these problems and with the planning and implementation of activities to improve the health status of communities. Therefore, the public health field is universal as a science, but its implementation (activities) depends on the local problems specific to each community. Public health is afield of many sciences and should be open to people representing a wide variety of scientific backgrounds. Since the factors affecting an individual's health are many and varied, public health professionals should be aware of and equipped to deal with all these factors and possible health risks. Therefore, this wide range of community health problems should appear in the training programs of public health professionals. Health, social and natural sciences are the basic sciences of public health. Upon this knowledge, the trainees learn "epidemiology and biostatistics", which are the main diagnostic sciences of public health, and then the common existing and potential health problems as relates to environmental, occupational, reproductive, and child health, community nutrition, infectious and chronic diseases, geriatrics, mental health, disaster medicine, and accidents, etc. The public health professional, in order to effectively control a community's health problems, should also be educated in health care management and be able to conduct health education programs. Turkish Society of Public Health Specialists has documented the job description and listed what public health specialists should know and be able to do. According to this document: "The tasks of public health specialists are to determine the health status of the people, the existing and potential health problems, their reasons, and the health needs of the community; to develop public policies and strategies for solving these problems; to monitor and assess public health problems; to participate in the implementation of these programs; and to act as managers at all levels of health services. In realizing these tasks, public health specialists locate the sources of information and collect and analyze data. Regarding their managing tasks, they conduct planning, organizing, staffing, directing, supervising, coordinating, reporting, and budgeting activities. A public health specialist is involved directly in research, consultancy, program development, the control of epidemics, public health education, health care management, and provision and supervision of preventive and curative services."