Understanding Factors Related to Decision Making by State Health Officials in a Public Health Emergency

Abstract

Background and Purpose - State Health Officials (SHOs), as the leaders of state governmental public health agencies, play a critical role in their respective states. Their decisions guide the overall actions of their organizations in executing programs, policies and activities that ultimately affect the health of the state’s population. This study will add to the research and serve as a potential guide to future SHO training, specific to decision making, in a public health emergency Methods – Twenty-one individuals, who are either currently working as SHOs or who were former SHOs, were interviewed to understand their perspectives on issues that may impact their response to a public health emergency: decision-making, interaction with the public and the media and the role of politics in public health, and other areas of consequence. Results – While the study was focused more broadly, all of the respondents specifically mentioned the COVID19 pandemic as the most complicated public health emergency they have responded to as a SHO. All respondents also mentioned that they did not have a specific decision-making tool to utilize during this emergency and primarily relied on a consensus-driven decision-making process. Additionally, issues such as the challenges of managing the media and the politicization of public health during this pandemic, were mentioned by many of the respondents. Conclusion - These findings pointed to the need for a step-by-step decision-making tool to be utilized by SHOs in a public health emergency. This has the potential to lead to a more methodical approach to SHOs decision-making during a public health emergency, including a focus on various operational aspects such as understanding the role of the media in a public health emergency, managing elected officials in a public health emergency, and lessons learned from past public health emergencies.