BACKGROUND: Public Health Informatics is an emerging field that is often poorly understood, even within the realm of public health and epidemiology. The challenge of communicating the value of informatics is amplified when discussing applications at the local or small geographic level. The Orange County Health Department (OCHD) in Hillsborough, NC is a unique example of how a local health department (LHD) has used a robust informatics team to serve the needs of a smaller population (approximately 140,000 residents). The purpose of this presentation is to practice using strategies from the FrameWorks Institute's Communication Toolkit to demonstrate the value public health informatics provides to small and medium sized LHDs.
METHODS: OCHD's Health Informatics Manager studied both the FrameWorks Institute's 2015 report on challenges and recommendations in communicating this emerging field and the resulting web-based communication toolkit, published in 2016. Using these materials, the OCHD informatics team developed a five-minute presentation communicating the role their team plays in local public health, as well as how this role impacts local evidence-based decision-making. The team also developed a brief “lessons learned” document highlighting the aspects of the toolkit they found most useful and/or challenging to adapt for use in this presentation, which may be distributed to any interested individuals or parties.
RESULTS: The presentation given as a result of this study aims to provide one example of a simple and engaging use of the FrameWorks Institute's Communication Toolkit. The presentation may be adapted by other LHDs to advocate for resources and activities that build local public health informatics capacity in their own jurisdiction.
CONCLUSIONS: The FrameWorks Communication Toolkit provides accessible, easy-to-understand materials that can be utilized by LHDs to explain and advocate for local public health informatics. OCHD developed and demonstrates one example of how to utilize this toolkit for this purpose.