Minimal educational and work requirements are listed. Job advancement usually requires additional education and/or work experience.

Responsibilities include limited assistance to medical staff such as setting up clinics, aiding physicians with examinations, and other similar paraprofessional assignments. With experience, work may include performing a variety of mechanical nursing acts under professional supervision in the personal care of clinic patients or home bound patients. Duties may also include recruitment of patients and follow up of patients who fail to keep appointments. Minimal requirements are a high school diploma plus one to two years of experience in a similar setting such as a nursing home or hospital clinic.

Responsibilities may include clerical preparation and organization of medical records, recording and monitoring of vital statistics for birth and death certificates, typing correspondence, news releases, contracts, policies and procedures. Transcribing dictation, preparing billing statements, responding to telephone inquiries, monitoring the telephone switchboard and registering clinic patients are additional responsibilities. Job requirements include a high school diploma and clerical experience.

Responsibilities include implementing various laboratory tests during each clinic in the health department.The MLT performs complete blood counts, urinalysis, glucose levels, venipuncture, and gonorrhea cultures. Additional duties include maintaining a quality control program to ensure accurate results, as well as ordering supplies and reagents for the laboratory. Minimal background requirements include completion of an associates degree in medical technology.

Responsibilities include providing nutritional assessments and comprehensive nutritional counseling to health department clients and community groups upon request. According to position, work may require: provision of nutritional services to clients in the supplemental food program for women, infants, and children (WIC) and supervision of the clerical support associated with this program.

Minimal background requirements are graduation from a 4-year college or university with a bachelor's degree in foods and nutrition or public health nutrition, or a bachelor's degree in home economics with 12 hours in nutrition course work and one year of work experience.

Health Directors are the chief executive officers of local health departments, who serve as the Secretary to the local board of health and are responsible for the daily administration of the agency. Health Directors are empowered by N.C. General Statutes for undertaking numerous steps, (e.g., quarantine) to assure the protection of a populations's health and safety. The director hires staff, supervises operations, prepares budgets, compiles data, authors reports, plan programs, and evaluates services, with the assistance of an interdisciplinary staff. Responsibilities also include preparing articles, speeches, announcements, and other media releases to assure that the public is kept informed about important health matters. Local health directors represent their organizations in national, state, regional, and local forums to assure successful program operation in relationship to other private and public health-related organizational efforts.

Minimal requirements: a Master's degree in Public Health Administration and experience in administration management or a Master's degree in administration with

Responsibilities include planning, implementing and evaluating community health education programs, providing patient education in health department clinics, assisting individuals and groups to promote and recognize positive health related behaviors. Examples of duties include preparations and selection of educational methods and materials; providing oral presentations on health related topics and department services, interaction with media sources, consultation with teachers, community organizations, and health department personnel on health topics; along with planning and participation in workshops, conferences and professional training opportunities.

Minimal educational requirements: graduation from a 4-year college/university with a major in public health education or a human service major and one year on-the-job experience in public health education.

Responsibilities include implementing techniques of nursing care and counsel for promotion of health and prevention of disease through visits in schools, homes, and health department clinics. Work includes considerable contact with other community agencies and according to positions level, direct supervision of other staff and coordination of clinic nursing services. Work requires complete understanding of public health concepts, nursing theory and practices, and general medicine. Educational and work requirements differ with position:

Public Health Nurse I or II or Charge Nurse I or II - Graduation from a State accredited professional nursing program and license to practice as a registered nurse in North Carolina.

Social workers may work in different capacities within the health department. One possibility is the perinatal social worker who recognizes pregnancy as a life crisis which may severely tax the family's coping skills. Responsibilities include identifying high risk factors relating to maternity, complete assessment of family situations, and then provision of ongoing counseling to help them make informal decisions, and provision of support and help in coordinating medical and community service as needed. As part of an interdisciplinary team, the social worker then documents progress and prepares medical social summaries for medical charts. Background requirements are graduation from a 4-year college, preferably with a sociology or psychology degree, or gradation from an accredited school of social work.

Work in this position involves responsibility for dental clinical services in a public health clinic including establishing a clinical plan of treatment for all new patients and follow-up clinical services for all existing patients; responsible for supervising all dental personnel which includes training of assistants and the promotion of dental health through educational and informational media.

Minimal educational requirements: graduation from an approved school of dentistry and two years of experience in the general practice of dentistry; must be licensed to practice dentistry in the state of NC.

Responsibilities include developing and conducting dental health education programs for the public, or assist in the training of dental hygiene and dental assistant students. Employees also perform technical dental work not requiring the expertise of a dentist. Under the supervision of a licensed dentist, the dental hygienist may perform the following duties: assists in the planning and operation of school dental health programs; serves as a consultant in dental health for public health personnel, school personnel, civic groups and others; plans and conducts in-service training programs in dental health, including field experience for student dental hygienist; evaluates, develops, and distributes dental health educational materials; plans and conducts instructional programs of dental health for school children; performs oral examination of patients and students and makes referrals to dentists if special professional care is indicated; performs dental prophylaxis and applies topical fluorides; records findings and maintains records on dental status and services rendered to school children and patients.

Minimal educational requirements: graduation from a four-year college or university with a degree in dental hygiene; or graduation from an approved two-year program of dental hygiene and two years of experience in dental hygiene or health education; or an equivalent combination of education and experience. Must be licensed to practice in the state of North Carolina.

Provide skilled work and technical assistance to dentists or dental students in the care of dental patients. Duties include the following chair side and non-chair side responsibilities: inventories, receives, checks and stocks supplies and equipment; cleans and sterilizes instruments; keeps instruments and equipment in operable condition; prepares and arranges instrument trays (some sterile trays) for clinic use; explains dental procedures; mixes impression and filling materials, operates oral evacuation equipment, retractors, and water and air sprays, monitors the patient's behavior and vital signs upon request from the doctor; completes patient's records for operative procedures, charges and reappointments; clears and cleans the operatory and instruments, takes routine x-rays and photographs such as bite wings, processes and mounts film, instructs patient and family and/or health care staff in basic oral hygiene; may maintain records and recall system, answer phone, type come records or correspondence.

Minimal educational requirements: graduation from an approved dental assistant course; or graduation from high school and one year of on-the-job training as a dental assistant, and required x-ray training when needed; or an equivalent combination of education and experience.

Responsibilities involve professional environmental health work in the promotion of public health through education, surveillance, consultation, inspection, and enforcement of:

State, local and Federal environmental health laws and regulations. Employees may work as generalists with responsibility in a variety of environmental health programs, or as specialists with the majority of time spent in a single program such as food establishments, soil and septic tanks, public pools and others.

Background requirements include graduation from a 4-year college or university with a minimum of 15 semester hours of course work in physical or biological sciences and two years of experience in environmental health sanitation, or a Master's degree in environmental health and one year of experience. Effective January 1, 1998 requirement for a baccalaureate degree with a minimum of 30 semester hours or its equivalent in the physical and/or biological sciences to be a Registered Sanitarian.

This is intermediate level professional work in augmenting the primary health care physician in making medical diagnoses and dispensing medical treatment. An employee in this role has received specialized training to function as an assistant to or extension of a physician. Before performing in this role, the physician assistant or nurse practitioner must be approved to practice medical acts by the appropriate state Board. Approval to practice medical acts includes giving a medical diagnosis, ordering therapy and prescribing medications outlined in the approved formulary. This employee may be trained in one specialized areas such as family planning, but will more likely have broader medical background and will function in a variety of settings. Employees obtain a thorough patient history and physical examination, perform appropriate diagnostic and therapeutic procedures; record and present this information to the physician, develop and maintain health care and therapeutic plans, and counsel patients. These employees are practicing with a physician who is ultimately responsible for the employee's medical practice.

Minimal educational requirements: graduation from a Physician Assistant program approved by the NC Board of Medical Examiners and "approved to practice medical acts" based on education and experience by the Board of Medical Examiners, and preferably one year of experience as an extender; or licensed as a Registered Nurse by the Board of Nursing, graduation from a Nurse Practitioner program approved by the NC Joint Subcommittee of the Board of Nursing and Board of Medical Examiners, and "approved to practice medical acts" based on education and experience by the Joint Subcommittee, and preferably one year of experience as an extender; or an equivalent combination of education and experience.

Responsibilities involve evaluation of patient disabilities and planning for the administration of physical therapy treatments in a State institution or local agency. Work involves administering physical therapy treatments, along with supervising and instructing student interns, assistants, technicians, and other health personnel in areas pertaining to physical therapy. Work is performed under the supervision of a physician, higher level therapist or medical director.

Minimum requirements include graduations from an accredited school of physical therapy and N.C. licensure as a Physical Therapist.

This is professional speech and language work in diagnostic evaluations and therapeutic programs serving children and/or adults with speech and/or language communicative disorders. Work involves testing, evaluating, and counseling and instructing to habilitate or rehabilitate the development and disorders of speech, voice, or language along with identifying, preventing, improving, or modifying such disorders.

Minimum education and experience include a Master's degree in speech and language pathology and nine months of supervised experience as required by the N.C. Licensing Board, and possession of a current and valid license. A temporary license can be issued to a Master's level student needing experience.