Health Education Specialist Provide and manage health education programs that help individuals, families, and their communities maximize and maintain healthy lifestyles. Use data to identify community needs prior to planning, implementing, monitoring, and evaluating programs designed to encourage healthy lifestyles, policies, and environments. May link health systems, health providers, insurers, and patients to address individual and population health needs. May serve as resource to assist individuals, other health professionals, or the community, and may administer fiscal resources for health education programs.
Health Education Specialist is Also Know as
In different settings, Health Education Specialist is titled as
- Certified Diabetes Educator
- Clinical Instructor
- Community Health Consultant
- Education Coordinator
- Health Education Coordinator
- Health Education Specialist
- Health Educator
- Health Promotion Specialist
- Public Health Educator
- Public Information Officer
Education and Training of Health Education Specialist
Health Education Specialist is categorized in Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed
Experience Required for Health Education Specialist
A considerable amount of work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is needed for these occupations. For example, an accountant must complete four years of college and work for several years in accounting to be considered qualified.
Education Required for Health Education Specialist
Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.
Degrees Related to Health Education Specialist
- Bachelor in Health Communication
- Associate Degree Courses in Health Communication
- Masters Degree Courses in Health Communication
- Bachelor in Health and Wellness, General
- Associate Degree Courses in Health and Wellness, General
- Masters Degree Courses in Health and Wellness, General
- Bachelor in Dental Public Health and Education
- Associate Degree Courses in Dental Public Health and Education
- Masters Degree Courses in Dental Public Health and Education
- Bachelor in Community Health Services/Liaison/Counseling
- Associate Degree Courses in Community Health Services/Liaison/Counseling
- Masters Degree Courses in Community Health Services/Liaison/Counseling
- Bachelor in Public Health, General
- Associate Degree Courses in Public Health, General
- Masters Degree Courses in Public Health, General
- Bachelor in Public Health Education and Promotion
- Associate Degree Courses in Public Health Education and Promotion
- Masters Degree Courses in Public Health Education and Promotion
Training Required for Health Education Specialist
Employees in these occupations usually need several years of work-related experience, on-the-job training, and/or vocational training.
Related Ocuupations
Some Ocuupations related to Health Education Specialist in different industries are
- Community Health Workers
- Health Informatics Specialists
- Rehabilitation Counselors
- Healthcare Social Workers
- Nursing Instructors and Teachers, Postsecondary
- Dietitians and Nutritionists
- Child, Family, and School Social Workers
- Health Specialties Teachers, Postsecondary
- Social and Community Service Managers
- Social and Human Service Assistants
- Clinical Nurse Specialists
- Preventive Medicine Physicians
- Mental Health Counselors
- Mental Health and Substance Abuse Social Workers
- Medical and Health Services Managers
- Educational, Guidance, and Career Counselors and Advisors
- Instructional Coordinators
- Registered Nurses
- Nurse Practitioners
- Advanced Practice Psychiatric Nurses
What Do Health Education Specialist do?
- Document activities and record information, such as the numbers of applications completed, presentations conducted, and persons assisted.
- Develop and present health education and promotion programs, such as training workshops, conferences, and school or community presentations.
- Develop and maintain cooperative working relationships with agencies and organizations interested in public health care.
- Develop operational plans and policies necessary to achieve health education objectives and services.
- Collaborate with health specialists and civic groups to determine community health needs and the availability of services and to develop goals for meeting needs.
- Maintain databases, mailing lists, telephone networks, and other information to facilitate the functioning of health education programs.
- Supervise professional and technical staff in implementing health programs, objectives, and goals.
- Design and conduct evaluations and diagnostic studies to assess the quality and performance of health education programs.
- Provide program information to the public by preparing and presenting press releases, conducting media campaigns, or maintaining program-related Web sites.
- Develop, prepare, and coordinate grant applications and grant-related activities to obtain funding for health education programs and related work.
- Provide guidance to agencies and organizations on assessment of health education needs and on development and delivery of health education programs.
- Develop and maintain health education libraries to provide resources for staff and community agencies.
- Develop, conduct, or coordinate health needs assessments and other public health surveys.
- Develop educational materials and programs for community agencies, local government, and state government.
- Prepare and distribute health education materials, such as reports, bulletins, and visual aids, to address smoking, vaccines, and other public health concerns.
- Design and administer training programs for new employees and continuing education for existing employees.
Qualities of Good Health Education Specialist
- Oral Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
- Written Comprehension: The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
- Speech Clarity: The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
- Written Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
- Oral Comprehension: The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
- Inductive Reasoning: The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
- Problem Sensitivity: The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.
- Speech Recognition: The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
- Deductive Reasoning: The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
- Near Vision: The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
- Fluency of Ideas: The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
- Originality: The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
- Information Ordering: The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
- Category Flexibility: The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
- Selective Attention: The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.
- Far Vision: The ability to see details at a distance.
- Time Sharing: The ability to shift back and forth between two or more activities or sources of information (such as speech, sounds, touch, or other sources).
- Flexibility of Closure: The ability to identify or detect a known pattern (a figure, object, word, or sound) that is hidden in other distracting material.
- Number Facility: The ability to add, subtract, multiply, or divide quickly and correctly.
- Finger Dexterity: The ability to make precisely coordinated movements of the fingers of one or both hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble very small objects.
- Visualization: The ability to imagine how something will look after it is moved around or when its parts are moved or rearranged.
- Mathematical Reasoning: The ability to choose the right mathematical methods or formulas to solve a problem.
- Memorization: The ability to remember information such as words, numbers, pictures, and procedures.
- Visual Color Discrimination: The ability to match or detect differences between colors, including shades of color and brightness.
- Speed of Closure: The ability to quickly make sense of, combine, and organize information into meaningful patterns.
- Perceptual Speed: The ability to quickly and accurately compare similarities and differences among sets of letters, numbers, objects, pictures, or patterns. The things to be compared may be presented at the same time or one after the other. This ability also includes comparing a presented object with a remembered object.
- Arm-Hand Steadiness: The ability to keep your hand and arm steady while moving your arm or while holding your arm and hand in one position.
- Auditory Attention: The ability to focus on a single source of sound in the presence of other distracting sounds.
- Static Strength: The ability to exert maximum muscle force to lift, push, pull, or carry objects.
- Manual Dexterity: The ability to quickly move your hand, your hand together with your arm, or your two hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble objects.
- Control Precision: The ability to quickly and repeatedly adjust the controls of a machine or a vehicle to exact positions.
- Multilimb Coordination: The ability to coordinate two or more limbs (for example, two arms, two legs, or one leg and one arm) while sitting, standing, or lying down. It does not involve performing the activities while the whole body is in motion.
- Hearing Sensitivity: The ability to detect or tell the differences between sounds that vary in pitch and loudness.
- Trunk Strength: The ability to use your abdominal and lower back muscles to support part of the body repeatedly or continuously over time without "giving out" or fatiguing.
- Depth Perception: The ability to judge which of several objects is closer or farther away from you, or to judge the distance between you and an object.
- Stamina: The ability to exert yourself physically over long periods of time without getting winded or out of breath.
- Extent Flexibility: The ability to bend, stretch, twist, or reach with your body, arms, and/or legs.
- Dynamic Strength: The ability to exert muscle force repeatedly or continuously over time. This involves muscular endurance and resistance to muscle fatigue.
- Wrist-Finger Speed: The ability to make fast, simple, repeated movements of the fingers, hands, and wrists.
- Rate Control: The ability to time your movements or the movement of a piece of equipment in anticipation of changes in the speed and/or direction of a moving object or scene.
- Gross Body Equilibrium: The ability to keep or regain your body balance or stay upright when in an unstable position.
- Gross Body Coordination: The ability to coordinate the movement of your arms, legs, and torso together when the whole body is in motion.
- Explosive Strength: The ability to use short bursts of muscle force to propel oneself (as in jumping or sprinting), or to throw an object.
- Reaction Time: The ability to quickly respond (with the hand, finger, or foot) to a signal (sound, light, picture) when it appears.
- Response Orientation: The ability to choose quickly between two or more movements in response to two or more different signals (lights, sounds, pictures). It includes the speed with which the correct response is started with the hand, foot, or other body part.
- Spatial Orientation: The ability to know your location in relation to the environment or to know where other objects are in relation to you.
- Night Vision: The ability to see under low-light conditions.
- Peripheral Vision: The ability to see objects or movement of objects to one's side when the eyes are looking ahead.
- Dynamic Flexibility: The ability to quickly and repeatedly bend, stretch, twist, or reach out with your body, arms, and/or legs.
- Glare Sensitivity: The ability to see objects in the presence of a glare or bright lighting.
- Sound Localization: The ability to tell the direction from which a sound originated.
- Speed of Limb Movement: The ability to quickly move the arms and legs.
Tools Used by Health Education Specialist
- Desktop computers
- Digital video disk DVD players
- Laptop computers
- Liquid crystal display LCD projectors
- Overhead display projectors
- Personal computers
- Personal digital assistants PDA
- Photocopying equipment
Technology Skills required for Health Education Specialist
- Adobe Photoshop
- Blackbaud The Raiser's Edge
- Blackboard software
- Blogging software
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention CDC WONDER
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Epi Info
- Edpuzzle
- JamBoard
- LogMeIn GoToWebinar
- MEDITECH software
- Mentimeter
- Microsoft Access
- Microsoft Excel
- Microsoft Office software
- Microsoft Outlook
- Microsoft PowerPoint
- Microsoft Publisher
- Microsoft Visio
- Microsoft Word
- Padlet
- Web browser software
- Wiki software