Health Equity

The following was released by the Department of Health on March 14.

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH

PUBLIC NOTICE

IDENTIFYING PUBLIC HEALTH ISSUES FOR CONTINUING EDUCATION

The Director of the Department of Health (Director) hereby gives notice of the topics identified as public health priorities for the purpose of the continuing education required for the renewal, reactivation, or reinstatement of health professional licenses, certifications, or registrations, issued in accordance with DC Official Code § 3-1201.01 et seq; hereafter referred to as health professionals.

With the goal of enhancing the protection and promotion of public health and in accordance with the rulemaking authority under DC Official Code§ 3-1203.02(12), the Director has promulgated rules requiring health professionals to complete at least ten percent (10%) of their required total continuing education in the public health priorities of the District as determined and published every five (5) years or less frequently as deemed appropriate. The Director has identified five (5) public health domains and provided content examples that would align with each domain. These examples are not intended to be exhaustive; however, they are designed to guide renewal applicants in identifying areas of public health that are aligned with the priorities of the public health authority but also beneficial and germane to the specific license, certification, or registration type.

1.    Sexual and Reproductive Health
a.    Obtaining a sexual history and discussing sexual experiences with patients
b.    Adolescent sexual and reproductive health and rights
c.    Cervical cancer
d.    Family planning and contraception
e.    Maternal and perinatal health
f.    Violence against women and girls
g.    Breastfeeding Promotion

2.    Chronic Disease Management
a.    Obesity prevention and treatment
b.    Lifestyle change management
c.    Disease-specific management (hypertension, diabetes, stroke, kidney disease, etc.)

3.    One Health (https://www.cdc.gov/one-health/about/index.html)
a.    Vector and non-vector borne diseases
b.    Water quality and safety
c.    Zoonotic diseases
d.    Antimicrobial-resistant germs
e.    Food security
f.    Environmental contamination
g.    Air quality
h.    Impact of climatological changes on health

4.    Healthcare Professional Retention and Capacity Building
a.    Suicide prevention
b.    Avoidance and managing burnout
c.    Quality improvement
d.    Substance use/misuse and substance use disorder
e.    Implicit bias, cultural humility, and Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services (CLAS) in health and healthcare.

5.    Community and Patient Safety
a.    Fall and injury prevention
b.    Violence prevention, including gun violence
c.    Emergency preparedness for patients
d.    Effects of social media
e.    Infection control
f.    Identifying cognitive impairment in patients

Each health professional licensing board shall disseminate the identified public health domains to its health professionals via electronic communication and through publication on its web page. Since the goal of this list is to engage and educate health professionals in the promotion and protection of public health, it is intended to be liberally interpreted by each health professional licensing board with regulatory authority over each license, certification, and registration type.

The requirement for continuing public health education may be found in specific professional rules under Title 17 of the District of Columbia Municipal Regulations (DMCR), such as section 7808.2 for audiologists (17 DCMR § 7808.2); section 6906.4 for psychologists (17 DCMR § 6906.4); section 7008.4 for social workers (17 DCMR § 7008.4). This requirement may still be under rulemaking process for certain professions and is therefore not yet in effect for those professions. To determine whether public health continuing education is required for a specific license, certification, or registration, visit the specific professional licensing board web pages at www.dchealth.dc.gov  or contact the Department of Health at (202) 422-5955. Health professional regulations may be found at www.dcregs.dc.gov .