Skip to main content

ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Public Health
Sec. Health Economics
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1546507
This article is part of the Research Topic Public Health Outcomes: The Role of Social Security Systems in Improving Residents' Health Welfare View all articles

Current Status of Public Health Awareness and Roles within Medical Institutions

Provisionally accepted
Yuchen Wu Yuchen Wu 1Chuanfeng Zhang Chuanfeng Zhang 1Quan She Quan She 1Wei Zheng Wei Zheng 2Kai Lu Kai Lu 3Furu Wang Furu Wang 1,4*
  • 1 Jiangsu Provincial Center for Disease Control And Prevention, Nanjing, China
  • 2 The Affiliated Hospital of Xuzhou Medical University, Xuzhou, Jiangsu Province, China
  • 3 Kunshan Municipal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Kunshan, China
  • 4 Key Laboratory of Modern Toxicology, School of Public Health, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Objective: To examine the current landscape of public health functions and the level of cognition among medical staff across various medical institutions in Jiangsu Province, ultimately aiming to provide a theoretical framework for constructing a hospital public health work model under the integrated medical and defense system. Methods: A mixed-methods approach involving questionnaires and semi-structured interviews was employed to assess the establishment and operational status of public health departments within medical institutions, staffing scenarios, comprehension of public health tasks, and the degree of emphasis placed on them.Results: Our findings reveal that 70.6% of medical institutions possess standalone public health departments, with a median of 5 full-time public health personnel, predominantly from the nursing profession. Significant disparities were observed in the demographics, educational backgrounds, majors, job classifications, and titles of public health personnel across different medical institution levels. Additionally, 68.4% of institutions have formed public health management committees, and 77.2% shoulder ≥ 10 public health responsibilities. Notably, 99.2% of medical staff endorse the importance of public health work within medical institutions, and 98.3% advocate for the support of disease control agencies. Interviews further unveiled a predominantly positive stance among medical institution leaders towards the integration of public health and medical prevention.Conclusion: Medical institutions of Jiangsu Province necessitate enhanced public health staffing, improved organizational structure and responsibility divisions for public health work, and a boost in knowledge levels to effectively carry out public health responsibilities. Furthermore, policy support and multi-stakeholder engagement are crucial to mobilize hospitals to take proactive initiatives.

    Keywords: Public Health, Integration of medicine and prevention, Awareness, Functions, policy

    Received: 17 Dec 2024; Accepted: 03 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Wu, Zhang, She, Zheng, Lu and Wang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Furu Wang, Jiangsu Provincial Center for Disease Control And Prevention, Nanjing, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.