Class Specification: PUBLIC HEALTH INVESTIGATOR TRAINEE
ITEM NUMBER: 5644
APPROVAL DATE: 06/27/2000
DEFINITION:
Under close supervision learns the skills and techniques to conduct investigations related to the control of communicable and selected non-communicable diseases.
CLASSIFICATION STANDARDS:
Positions allocable to this entry level class function under the close supervision of a Supervising Public Health Investigator and are characterized by participation in a year-long formal and on-the-job training program designed to teach the skills, techniques and procedures of communicable disease investigation and the enforcement and application in the field of these skills, techniques and procedures as defined by applicable public health laws and Public Health Investigation policies and manuals.
EXAMPLES OF DUTIES:
Attends formal training sessions to receive instruction in public health investigation principles, methods and techniques and orientation to the organization, policies and procedures of the Department of Health Services, Public Health, Public Health Investigation, and state and local public health laws and ordinances.
Learns to conduct investigations to locate cases and contacts of tuberculosis, sexually transmitted diseases, human immunodefiency virus or other communicable diseases and selected non-communicable diseases, such as alcoholism by interviewing infected persons to determine contacts or other persons at risk, locating and tracing contacts and convincing them to voluntarily seek diagnosis and treatment as required by applicable public health laws.
Learns principles of legal interventions to complex compliance up to and including arrest and incarceration when essential to protect the public health.
Learns to counsel individuals who suffer from communicable or non-communicable diseases regarding the nature and control of their disease and to educate these individuals on risk reduction techniques and behaviors.
Obtains departmental certification as an human immunodeficiency virus pre- and post-test counselor and learns to counsel persons infected with the human immunodeficiency virus and to offer and provide partner service to these persons.
Learns to enforce public health laws, rules and regulations governing communicable disease control by serving orders of the Health Officer on patients in their homes, hospitals or detention facilities, quarantining cases and contacts of communicable disease in private homes or institutions, placing restrictions on infected individuals employed in sensitive occupations such as food handling, supervising disinterment of human remains for foreign shipment, assisting in food poisoning investigations, coordinating case management of persons potentially exposed to rabies, responding to widespread outbreaks of communicable disease and establishing and enforcing the State mussel quarantine order.
Learns to transport patients in connection with the enforcement of legal orders pertaining to the isolation of such patients in a hospital or detention facility, or to facilitate the medial care and treatment of patients infected with a communicable disease.
Learns to investigate cases of quarantine violations and refusal or failure of persons to comply with health laws, ordinances and regulations; and observes Public Health Investigators recommending court action to enforce legal orders, preparing cases for court by gathering evidence and appearing in court as the representative of the Health Officer on cases involving violations of public health laws, ordinances and regulations pertaining to communicable disease and non-communicable disease.
Learns to support the California Department of Health ServicesÂ’ Marine Biotoxin Monitoring Program through the collection of shellfish and phytoplankton samples and preparation of these samples for shipment to the state laboratory.
Learns to conduct special investigations not directly involving communicable disease, such as investigating impersonations of departmental personnel or the verification of home births.
MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS:
TRAINING AND EXPERIENCE:
Either (1) A Bachelor's degree in Public Health from an accredited college -OR- (2) A Bachelor's degree from an accredited college with either a minimum of 30 semester units of basic sciences; or a statement from an accredited college that the applicant has successfully completed a minimum of 16 semester units distributed among at least the following fields: Public Health and Administration, Epidemiology, Public Health Statistics, Public Health Microbiology and communicable disease control -OR- (3) A Bachelor's degree from an accredited college; and one year's experience in investigation or in inspection work in public health or law enforcement -OR- (4) Current employment as an inspector or investigator in communicable disease prevention and control in a County health department in California and have passed an official civil service examination prior to 1986. These requirements are in accordance with Section 120180 of the California Health and Safety Code.
LICENSE:
A valid California Class C Driver License or the ability to utilize an alternative method of transportation when needed to carry out job-related essential functions.
PHYSICAL CLASS:
3 - Moderate.
