Epidemiology and Nursing Practice Lecture Slides PDF

Chapter 3 Epidemiology and Nursing Practice Copyright ©2020 F.A. Davis Company  Epidemiology  Based on three elements Person: which groups of individuals are affected?...

Chapter 3 Epidemiology and Nursing Practice Copyright ©2020 F.A. Davis Company  Epidemiology  Based on three elements Person: which groups of individuals are affected? Place: where is the health issue occurring? Time: over what specific time period is the health issue occurring?  Nurses are an extremely important part of data gathering through: Assessment Timely reporting Copyright ©2020 F.A. Davis Company  The Science of Epidemiology  Sanitary phase: Illness related to foul emanations from soil, air, and water  Infectious disease phase: Individual organisms linked to specific diseases; links exposures to occurrences  Risk factor phase: the linking of exposures to the occurrence of injury or disease that helps to identify risk factors that, when reduced, may Copyright ©2020 F.A. Davis Company  Genetic Risk Factors (Genomics)  Heritability of factors that have an impact on the development of illness and disease.  Some practical and ethical dilemmas: Genetic testing leads to individual, not population-level, decision making. Most diseases occur due to multiple factors and are linked to more than one gene as well as numerous other risk factors. Copyright ©2020 F.A. Davis Company  Epidemiological Frameworks  Three frameworks guiding the field of epidemiology: The epidemiological triangle The web of causation The ecological model Copyright ©2020 F.A. Davis Company  Epidemiology Triangle Three components: ‒ Host ‒ Agent ‒ Environment Applied to all diseases, both communicable and non-communicable Copyright ©2020 F.A. Davis Company  Epidemiology  Agent: biological (organism), chemical (liquids, gases), nutritive (dietary components or lack thereof), physical (mechanical or environmental forces such as earthquakes), or psychological effects (stress)  Host: the susceptible human or animal  Environment: the external factors that can influence the host’s vulnerability to the risk factors Copyright ©2020 F.A. Davis Company  Epidemiological Constructs Copyright ©2020 F.A. Davis Company  Seven Questions for an Epidemiology Investigation  Who, what, when, where, why, how, and how long?  Analyzes illness at a population level  Then determines interventions that will improve health  Naturalistic experimentation Copyright ©2020 F.A. Davis Company  Causality  A stimulus or action that results in an effect or outcome  Determines if a relationship exists between the risk factor and health effect  Determines if there is a statistical relationship between risk and health issue  Causal relationship Direct Indirect Copyright ©2020 F.A. Davis Company  Web of Causation Framework Copyright ©2020 F.A. Davis Company  Ecological Model  Used to: Design health promotion interventions Understand health behavior Include groups as a unit of analysis  Used as an effective model, it should: Define Promote understanding Promote population health and wellness Copyright ©2020 F.A. Davis Company  Life expectancy  A measure of the health of populations  Defined as the average number of years a person born in a given country would live if mortality rates at each age were to remain constant in the future Copyright ©2020 F.A. Davis Company  Biostatistics  The analysis of data related to human organisms  Used in public health science and other biological sciences  Examines variations among biological organisms (people, mice, cells)  A core part of public health science Copyright ©2020 F.A. Davis Company  Rates  A rate represents the proportion of a disease or other health-related event such as mortality within a population.  It is the basic measure of disease used by epidemiologists and other health professionals to describe the risk of disease in a certain population over a certain period of time. Copyright ©2020 F.A. Davis Company  Types of Rates  Mortality—death rate  Morbidity—number or proportion of individuals experiencing similar: Disabilities Illnesses Diseases  Attack rates  Secondary attack rates Copyright ©2020 F.A. Davis Company  Prevalence  Prevalence is the number of existing cases (numerator) divided by the total number of persons in the population (denominator) multiplying by a given multiplier (for example, 100,000) Period prevalence is the number of ill people divided by the estimate of the average number in the population during a specified time period Copyright ©2020 F.A. Davis Company  Incidence  Incidence: the number of new cases diagnosed in a given period of time divided by the total number at risk in the population over that same time period and multiplied by a given multiplier (for example, 100,000) Copyright ©2020 F.A. Davis Company  Prevalence Pot Copyright ©2020 F.A. Davis Company  Ecological Fallacy  It is critical to remain cognizant of the risk of committing an ecological fallacy. The erroneous assumption that one can draw conclusions for individuals based on group findings. Copyright ©2020 F.A. Davis Company  Outbreak Investigations  For communicable disease, non- communicable disease and exposure to toxins Investigate Analyze data Interpret data Implement health promotion and risk reduction Evaluate short- and long-term effects Copyright ©2020 F.A. Davis Company  Epidemiology Tools  Descriptive epidemiology Analysis of population and health data that are already available  Analytical epidemiology Health-related data Determine association between risk and occurrence Three types ‒ Case control study ‒ Cohort study ‒ Clinical trial Copyright ©2020 F.A. Davis Company  Outbreak Investigations  Communicable disease outbreaks Infectivity of the agent ‒ Numbers infected ‒ Route by which they were infected Point source Secondary spread  Non-communicable disease outbreaks Copyright ©2020 F.A. Davis Company  Outbreak Investigations  Exposure to toxins Risk factors adversely affecting the health of the public  Risk factors Behavioral Environmental Genetic Copyright ©2020 F.A. Davis Company  Surveillance  The ongoing, systematic collection, analysis, and interpretation of health-related data  Essential to planning, implementation, and evaluation of public health practice Copyright ©2020 F.A. Davis Company  Passive Surveillance  When data are collected based on individuals or institutions that report on health information either voluntarily or by mandate  The onus for collecting and reporting the data to public health or governmental agencies is on health- care providers or public health professionals in the field. Copyright ©2020 F.A. Davis Company  Active Surveillance  Involves the deployment of public health professionals, including nurses, to identify cases of a disease or health condition under surveillance Copyright ©2020 F.A. Davis Company  Results of Surveillance  Data from surveillance helps researchers evaluate the impact of disease on the health of populations. Copyright ©2020 F.A. Davis Company