Chapter 1 Flashcards
What is public health?
The science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life, and promoting physical health and efficiency through organized community efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals
What is the mission of public health?
The fulfillment of society’s interest in assuring the conditions in which people can be healthy
What is the substance of public health?
Organized community efforts aimed at the prevention of disease and the promotion of health
What are the core functions of public health?
Assessment, policy development, & assurance
What is assessment?
Determining the health of the population
What is policy development?
Using evidence to design a plan to improve a communities’ health
What is assurance?
Determining the health of the population
What are the differences between medicine and public health?
In medicine, the patient is the individual; in public health the patient is the community. Medicine focuses on curing patients while public health focuses on preventing illnesses
How is public health like a doctor?
Public health diagnoses the health of the community using public health sciences and treats the community through new policies and interventions
How much is spent on public health?
Only 3% of the US. total health spending is devoted to public health
How has public health helped?
Life expectancy of Americans has increased by 30 years and only 5 of the 30 years are attributed to modern medicine
How does science connect to public health?
Science is how we understand threats to health, determine what interventions might work, and evaluate whether the interventions worked
How does politics connect to public health?
How does politics connect to public health?
What are the public health disciplines?
Epidemiology, statistics, biomedical sciences, environmental health science, social and behavioral sciences,& health policy and management
What is epidemiology?
The basic science of public health and the study of epidemics
What is the focus of epidemiology?
Focuses on human populations, starting with an outbreak of diseases in a community
What is the aim of epidemiology?
Aims to control the spread of infectious diseases
What do epidemiologists do?
Seek causes of chronic disease and ways to limit harmful exposures
What is “shoe-leather” epidemiology?
Directly tracing an the source of an outbreak
How are statistics used?
Used as diagnostic tools to determine the health of the community and where its weakness are
How is statistical analysis used?
It is an integral part of any epidemiological study seeking the cause of disease or clinical study testing the effectiveness of a new Ang
What is the study of biomedical sciences?
Studies infectious diseases which are pathogens
Why is biomedical science important?
It is important to understanding the control of new diseases and noninfections diseases such as chronic diseases and genetics
How has environmental health helped?
Much of the public health improvement in the US in the 20th century was due to improved environmental health
What environmental factors affect health?
Air quality, water quality, solid and hazardous wastes, save food and drugs, & global environmental changes
What is a theory of health behavior?
The idea that social environments affects people’s behavior
What does health policy and management study?
Examines the role of medical care in public health
What are issues with medical care?
The cost of medical care is out of control and the high percentage of the population without health insurance causing lack of access to health care
How has medical care affected society?
Medical care has eaten up profits that could be used for education, housing, and the environment
What are the steps to approach health problems?
Define the health problem
Identity the risk factors associated with the problems
Develop and test community level interventions to control or prevent the cause of the issue
Implement interventions to impure the health of the population
Monitor those interventions to assess effectiveness
How do public health design interventions?
Through preventions on three levels or a chain of causation
What are the levels of preventions?
Primary prevention (prevents an illness or injury from occoring) Secondary prevention (minimizes the severity of the disease or injury once it occurs) Tertiary prevention (minimizes disability by providing medical care and rehabilitation services)
What is involved in a chain of causation?
The agent, host, and environment which interacts with each other
When is the chain of causation applied?
Traditionally used to deal with infectious diseases but can be used for other kinas of illnesses or injuries
