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An emergent issue is an issue that is coming into view, existence or notice. The issue can occur unexpectedly and may compel or demand urgent attention or action, such as a release of a new guideline report or a wide-scale disaster. An emergent issue can also develop over time, be viewed in a positive or negative way, and may create controversy.
Importance of Emergent Issues
Addressing emergent issues can lead to promising and effective applications of strategies, processes and services that will produce good outcomes. Such efforts can promote continued improvement and build future best practices. An emergent issue may impact oral health programs by supporting or threatening current practices. State and local dental directors and oral health program staff may need to respond to inquiries about emergent issues since they are often seen as the "experts." Understanding emergent issues is part of leadership development. Understanding emergent issues helps a program to see what’s “on the horizon” and to develop future directions to build a more effective program. Lessons learned in addressing emergent issues can benefit other state and community oral health programs facing similar issues.
A List of Emergent Issues
Input from ASTDD members (state and territorial dental directors) and associate members (Federal, state and local dental public health professionals) helped developed a list of emergent issues important to dental public health and state oral health programs. The range of the emergent issues identified by the states illustrates the many challenges faced by the states and demonstrates the need for public health actions.
View List of Emergent Issues
ASTDD Ad Hoc Group on Emergent Issues
The ASTDD Ad Hoc Group on Emergent Issues, a subcommittee of the ASTDD Best Practices Committee, is looking into emergent issues and is exploring how best to support state oral health programs on emergent issues. The Ad Hoc Group has proposed two recommendations as next steps:
(1) Raise awareness of emergent issues relevant to dental public health and of the challenges these issues present to the states and communities.
(2) Develop a strategic plan (supported by ASTDD and partners) to build infrastructure that will help states respond to emergent issues and that will establish a process to assess the public health actions needed to address emergent issues.
The Ad Hoc Group’s vision for building infrastructure includes having a system for preparing resource information to assist states in understanding specifics of emergent issues and applying strategies, enhancing communication channels to disseminate information on emergent issues, having an response team to quickly assess needs and recommend actions, enlisting the support of partner organizations, developing policies to support changes to respond to emergent issues, and expanding programs for needed public health actions.
The Ad Hoc Group identified the following types of information that will help state and community oral health programs address emergent issues:
- Details and specifics of the emergent issue
- Strategies applied to address the emergent issue
- Evaluation and outcome findings of strategies
- Learned lessons from successful and failed strategies
- Scientific evidence and the state of the science
- Research and knowledge gaps
- Resource information on the topic
- Experts or contact persons for inquiry
- Briefing papers describing the issue and responses
to possible questions
- Best approaches to disseminate information to
audiences who need to know
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