Abstract
We used a survey about the need for an educational training of infectious disease response staff in Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) and officer in metropolitan cities and provincial government to conduct field epidemiological investigation. The survey was conducted from January 25 to March 15, 2016. A total of 173 participants were selected from four different groups as follows: 27 clinical specialists, 22 Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) officers, 82 KCDC staff, and 42 local health department officials. Results revealed that 83% of KCDC staff and 95% of local health department officials agreed on the need for educational training to strengthen capability of personnel to conduct epidemic research and investigation. The level of their need for training was relatively high, while self-confidence levels of individuals to conduct epidemic research and investigation was low. It was concluded that there was a need to develop training programs to enhance the ability of public health officials, EIS officers, KCDC staff, and local health department personnel to conduct epidemic research and investigation.
Highlights
Since the 2000s, the number of newly emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases has increased rapidly along with climate change
It is difficult to understand the domestic outbreak characteristics of emerging infectious diseases or those introduced from overseas, such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) and Ebola, and, there is a dire need for specialists with accumulation of experience in dealing with various infectious diseases, current selection methods for Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) officers show little ability to discriminate and select highly competent resources for the job at hand
Subsequent to the MERS epidemic, amendments to the regulations regarding prevention and management of infectious diseases established the legal basis for assigning 30 government EIS officers in the Ministry of Health and Welfare and 36 officers in local municipal, including city and provincial, government agencies, and, as such, a fundamental transformation is needed from the perspective of selecting and nurturing human resources to strengthen the epidemiological investigation competency of the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC)
Summary
Since the 2000s, the number of newly emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases has increased rapidly along with climate change. The risk of new infections has increased because of greater probability of overseas infections being introduced to Korea as the number of foreign travelers increases owing. Received: Feb 7, 2017 / Accepted: Jul 24, 2017 / Published: Jul 24, 2017 This article is available from: http://e-epih.org/. It is difficult to understand the domestic outbreak characteristics of emerging infectious diseases or those introduced from overseas, such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) and Ebola, and, there is a dire need for specialists with accumulation of experience in dealing with various infectious diseases, current selection methods for Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) officers show little ability to discriminate and select highly competent resources for the job at hand. Subsequent to the MERS epidemic, amendments to the regulations regarding prevention and management of infectious diseases established the legal basis for assigning 30 government EIS officers in the Ministry of Health and Welfare and 36 officers in local municipal, including city and provincial, government agencies, and, as such, a fundamental transformation is needed from the perspective of selecting and nurturing human resources to strengthen the epidemiological investigation competency of the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC)
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