Epidemiology is the foundation of evidence-based medicine. It involves study of distribution and causes of health events in a given community and application of the study to address the health issues (Szklo & Nieto, 2014). Clinical epidemiology is a term used to define a methodology for clinical research. As a tool for research, clinical epidemiology guides the clinicians to seek answers through evidence based research (Woodward, 2013). Clinical epidemiology acts as the basis for clinicians as they take care of patients. Before making decisions on treatment for the patients, clinicians should use facts gained from population-based studies. Clinical epidemiology makes it possible to use past experiences as a guide to care decisions for the patients (Fletcher, Fletcher & Fletcher, 2012). …show more content…
Nominal data does not have an inherent order. Dichotomous data is a type of nominal data which have one or two levels only. Ordinal data is made up of variables categories with undefined intervals based on an inherent order. Interval data can be continuous or discrete and is made up of an inherent order with equal intervals. For continuous data, any value in a continuum is used irrespective of the manner of reporting. Discrete data uses specific values which are expressed as counts (Fletcher et al., 2012). Measurement performance in clinical epidemiology is described based on accuracy, reliability, range, responsiveness, and interpretability. The effectiveness of data from a study is based on performance of measurement. Thus, the data from clinical epidemiology must be accurate and reliable to achieve its goal. Validity implies that data measured has to correspond to the true value being measured. On the other hand, reliability ensures that the data recorded can be reproduced (Fletcher et al., 2012). Effective performance of measurements should not contain data
I absolutely agree with you Rachida Nekere, in addition to conducting research, nurses can use epidemiology in community health practice as a tool to identify vulnerable populations, as well as the risk factors that may contribute to a disease or injury. Since illness prevention and health promotion is the most focus of community nurses, health education in community on simple precautions can contribute to better health outcomes for people. Nurses also apply epidemiology to reveal the origin of a disease when its cause is unknown.
Epidemiology is different from medical fields because it does not focus on one individual it focuses on a group. Epidemiology directly impacts public health. Epidemiology is centered on three factors in a population setting, the Host, the Agent, and the Environment. These three factors are part
The first paragraph of your personal statement, one or two sentences, should make clear the purpose of your writing: to present an interpretive summary of your background, academic interests, and future goals as justification for your admission to a program of graduate study. An encounter with an unforgettable young girl when I was in the 5th grade of medical school has driven me since then. My aspiration is to contribute to a world where more children could live healthy lives. As I have trained to be a pediatric resident, I have been interested in infectious diseases and epidemiology, and thorough an experience of infectious disease outbreak investigation, I am eager to become a field epidemiology specialist and contribute to make a sustained surveillance system in Japan and epidemiology education system to more health care workers.
The lesson and case studies presented for evaluation was a great learning exercise. A better understanding of how to interpret data was gained. Also, weighing the clinical significance versus the statistical significance to show relevance is invaluable. All research is not quality research and one must be equipped to recognize bias, threats to validity and proper population representation. Moreover, critiquing the credibility of a study is essential to the health care advances.
Describe the three main types of epidemiological studies and give examples of how these could be used by members of your profession?
AC, is a painful and debilitating condition affecting 2% - 10% of the population (Neviaser and Hannafin, 2010: Cadogan and Mohammed, 2016). Statistical data indicates a higher prevalence in women (59% - 70%), a mean onset age of 50 - 60 years (Cadogan and Mohammed, 2016). The average condition duration presents for 30.1 months but ranges from 1 - 3.5 years (Hand et al, 2008) placing a considerable burden upon individuals and health care services. The non-dominant arm is slightly more affected then the dominant arm (Hand, Clipsham, Rees and Carr, 2008: Levine, Kashyap, Bak, Ahmad, Blaine, and Bigliani, 2007) and the risk of recurrence on the contralateral side within 5 years of the first occurrence is 6%–17%, recurrence in the
Moreover, ED at teaching hospital collects enough data for surveillance, screening and intervention on the number of diseases based on admissions each day. There is significant research value to this health-related data. Therefore, I will be assessing the prevalence of Chronic
When looking into the meaning of epidemiology often it is found that definitions may vary and are frequently identifiable specifically to the context. According to the World Health Organization, the definition of epidemiology is the study of the distribution and determinants of health-related states or events (including disease), and the application of this study to the control of diseases and other health problems. Various methods can be used to carry out epidemiological investigations: surveillance and descriptive studies can be used to study distribution; analytical studies are used to study determinants (Epidemiology Definition,
Epidemiology is the study of incidence, distribution and possible control of diseases and other health related factors. Epidemiologic research has various design strategies and reviewing mechanisms to determine potential flaws that could possibly invalidate study results. There are several different types of studies epidemiologists use such as case-control, cohort, clinical trial, and cross-sectional. Researchers also validate any confounding, bias, chance, or causation critera in order to come up with the best results. In this epidemiological study on Lyme disease, researchers create a case control study in New Jersey. The case is considered people who are seropositive and have Lyme disease and the control is people who do not have Lyme disease.
Public health promotes healthy living for each community through epidemiology. Disease prevention and control is the common goal of epidemiology, nursing practice, and public health. “Epidemiology is the study of the population in order to monitor the health of the population, understand the determinants of health and disease in the community, and investigate and evaluate interventions to prevent disease and maintain health” (Stanhope & Lancaster. 2008). Epidemiologists have developed many parameters to slow the spread of disease. For example, cardiovascular disease including hypertension, coronary heart disease, and
Even though the process of research evidence-based medical analysis is based solely on the answers of a group of peer reviews. This group is based on diagnostic, therapeutic measurements with the hopes of working on areas that needs immediate attention throughout the clinic. Nevertheless, this form of science is straight forward and requires a form of validity to be validated in forms of weighing in on epidemiologic to address known issues within the medical clinic.
In a hospital setting, healthcare personnel more than often encounter patients with infectious diseases or opportunistic host to these. Here is when the study of epidemiology comes as a helpful tool. Epidemiology is the science of preventive medicine, and provides a framework or tool, called epidemiological triad, for understanding the interactions between the agent, host, and environment. Common diagnoses found in the acute care setting are, urinary tract infection, common cold, ear infections, coronary disease, and pulmonary disease. Nurses need to have knowledge about the health problems occurring within the framework of family and personal friends, the immediate community culture where individuals live, and the larger world society.
Observational epidemiology is a study of disease where “the investigator ascertains exposure and outcome without assignment to an intervention” Observational studies have made important contributions to the knowledge and understanding of health-related conditions. These studies usually involve a large group of individuals as in a community. The purpose of this type of study is to determine the
The article details the results of an observational cohort study that took place in Italy on women at term pregnancy. The women included in the study were first time mothers with single cephalic fetuses admitted to the University of Padua between January and December of 2013. The purpose of the study was to observe the effects of recumbent birthing position, which is typically practiced in modern hospitals, with alternative positions in terms of type of delivery, labor process, neonatal wellbeing, and intrapartum fetal head rotation (Gizzo, Di Gangi, Noventa, Bacile, Zambon, & Nardelli, 2014). The alternative positions included in the study were either upright, squatting, sitting, or on all fours. The women in the study
According to Aschengrau & Seage (2014), an epidemiologic research is comprised of several types of study designs. The experimental study design studies treatments and preventions for diseases, wherein the investigator actively “controls which study groups receive the agent under study” (Aschengrau & Seage, 2014). The observational study design studies preventions, causes and treatments for diseases, wherein the investigator “only observes the phenomena being studied as nature takes its course” (p. 145). The authors explain that a classic cohort design is an observation study design that “examines one or more variables or health effects of exposure status and followed over a period of time to determine the status of health outcomes” (Aschengrau & Seage, 2014, p.144). In a previously submitted manuscript, this writer presented a specific cohort design used by researchers to determine the risk factors for diabetes mellitus.