How should healthcare professionals proactively plan to update their knowledge and skills to respond to the major public health issues and challenges facing them and their clients?

In recent years, healthcare professionals have seen an increasing number of public health issues and challenges. As a result, it is essential that healthcare professionals proactively plan to update their knowledge and skills in order to effectively respond to these emerging issues and challenges. This proactive planning should include the acquisition of new knowledge, consistency in staying up-to-date with the latest research and regulations, as well as acquiring additional training or certifications if necessary.

First and foremost, healthcare professionals need to continuously build on their understanding of current public health issues affecting their clients by engaging in evidence based approaches that are driven by scientific data (Whittaker & Damborg 2017). Accessing current publications such as medical journals for examples can help increase one’s technical expertise about a particular topic or issue related to a client’s health situation. Additionally, attending local or national conferences related to the field may also keep healthcare professionals abreast of new developments within the profession while networking with colleagues who may be knowledgeable about certain topics or areas of expertise (Gonzalez et al., 2019). Furthermore, becoming certified in a specific area such as chronic disease management could provide additional resources that would support more effective decision making when dealing with complex cases involving long term care (Vinogradov et al., 2020).