Chapter 3 - Public Health Flashcards
What are the major causes of unintentional injuries?
Poisoning, motor vehicle collision, falls, choking and suffocation, drowning
What is public health?
The practice of preventing disease and promoting good health within groups of people
How do public health professionals determine the best use of health resources?
By examining the overall needs of the population at large
What is the third leading cause of death for all age groups?
Injury
What is primary prevention?
Actions that stop injuries or illnesses before they begin
What is secondary prevention?
Measures that take place after a patient has sustained an injury or developed an illness, in which case the goal is to “prevent” the problem from getting worse
What is surveillance in prevention?
Watching over society, and collecting and analyzing data
What is morbidity?
The number of nonfatal injuries and subsequent disability
What are the Haddon matrix and syndromic surveillance system?
The Haddon matrix is a tool that encourages creative thinking in understanding the causes of and potential interventions for injury. In a syndromic surveillance system, information regarding the number and nature of medical cases is compared with an expected volume of calls for the community at a given time
What are the five steps to developing a prevention program?
Identify the problem, identify the risk factors and causes, develop and test interventions, implement the interventions, evaluate the effectiveness of the interventions
What is the definition of risk factors?
Characteristics that increase the likelihood that a person will suffer a particular disease or injury
What is the societal cost of injuries measured by?
Years of potential life lost (YPLL)
What is a teachable moment in EMS?
It is the time immediately following an event, when the sense of distress and danger is still very real and everyone concerned is perhaps more receptive
What are passive interventions in injury prevention?
They include such things as the use of sprinkler systems in commercial buildings, airbags in automobiles, etc.
What is the concept of the “4 Es of prevention”?
It refers to combining education with three other types of interventions: enforcement, engineering/environment, and economic incentives
What are the major public health laws, regulations, and guidelines in place in the United States?
They include the Affordable Care Act, Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA), and Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), among others
How can EMS providers promote public health?
By identifying and treating treatable causes that will lead to shock and death
What are the principles of injury prevention?
They include education, enforcement, engineering/environment, and economic incentives
Why are children more vulnerable to injuries than adults?
Because they have thinner skin, a smaller airway, a larger head in proportion to their bodies, and lesser ability to protect themselves from harm
What is mortality?
Death rate
What is the relevance of injury surveillance in EMS?
It allows EMS providers to detect patterns of injury and illness, and to respond appropriately
What are the major effects of injuries as related to public health?
They include morbidity, mortality, and societal cost
What is the role of EMS providers in promoting public health?
They see citizens in their homes and environments and during activities of daily life, providing them with more opportunities to promote public health
What is the importance of prevention in public health?
Prevention is necessary to reduce the incidence of chronic disease, skyrocketing health care costs, and to enhance the quality of life for the public in general
What is syndrome surveillance?
It is the ongoing, systematic collection, analysis, and interpretation of data essential to the planning, implementation, and evaluation of public health practice
