Field Epidemiology Flashcards
Field Epidemiology
the application of epidemiology under a set of general conditions
List at least 3 things that should be done when preparing for fieldwork
- Conduct a literature review to understand the health problem
- Communicate with experts on the topic
- Assemble research team
- Identify specific roles
- Make financial and travel arrangements
- Contact key people in the field
Local health officials and attack rate do what?
Establish the existence of an epidemic or outbreak
How is a diagnosis verified?
Laboratory techniques, assessment of clincial findings
Working Case Definition
involves standard clincial criteria that are used to establish whether a person has a particular disease
It is critical to do what when calculating attack rates?
accurately identify the number of cases
What should be developed concerning the source of an outbreak and the mode of transmission?
a hypothesis
Hypotheses should be devleoped for what?
all aspects of an investigation
The hypotheses need to be what?
tested, established, and shown to be consistent or inconsistent with facts
Executing control and prevention measures is done by
employing public health prevention and control measures
Communicating findings
final report of the investigation needs to be preprared and directed to those who need to know
Each of the following tend to characterize an epidemiology field investigation
- problem is unexpected
- timely response demanded
- epidemiologist’s presence in the feild is required to solve the problem
- it may be sufficient to identify other people as cases if they display same signs/symptoms
The most common statistic to use for investigating an outbreak
attack rate
What information should be combined with disease frequency data?
the at-risk population from which the cases derived to calculate attack risks
General conditions of the application of field epidemiology
- problem is unexpected
- timely response
- travel required
- investigation time is limited
