God i hate public health Flashcards
1
Q
- What is the definition of public health ?
A
- Public health is the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life, and promoting health through organized efforts of society, organizations, public and private sectors, communities, and individuals.
2
Q
- What are the main objectives of public health ?
A
- Preventing disease, promoting health, prolonging life, and improving quality of life through the organized efforts of society.
3
Q
- What is primary prevention ?
A
- Preventing disease before it occurs
4
Q
- What is secondary prevention ?
A
- Detecting disease early to prevent progression
5
Q
- What is tertiary prevention ?
A
- Reducing the impact of an established disease
6
Q
- What are the 3 key determinants of health ?
A
- Social factors
- Physical factors
- Health services
7
Q
- What is epidemiology and how is it used in public health ?
A
- Epidemiology is the study of the distribution and determinants of health-related events in populations.
- It is used to identify risk factors, track health trends, inform public health interventions, and evaluate the effectiveness of health programs.
8
Q
- What are the various types of studies ?
A
- Experimental studies e.g. RCT
- Observational studies e.g. Cohort, Case control, cross sectional and prospective
- Systematic review and meta-analyses
- Qualitative research
9
Q
- What is a randomised controlled trial ?
A
- A study where participants are randomly assigned to either an experimental group receiving the treatment or a control group receiving a placebo or standard treatment.
10
Q
- What is a cohort study ?
A
- Differs from an RCT as it observes groups based on exposure status over time without randomisation
11
Q
- What is a case-control study ?
A
- Compares individuals with a disease (cases) to those without
(controls) to identify risk factors.
12
Q
- What is a cross-sectional study ?
A
- Collects data at a single point in time and is used for prevalence studies.
13
Q
- What is a systematic review ?
A
- Synthesizes existing studies on a topic, while a meta-analysis statistically combines data from multiple studies.
14
Q
- What types of bias are there ?
A
- Selection bias – when participant selection is non-random
- Information bias – arises from measurement errors
15
Q
- What does a relative risk of 2.0 mean ?
A
- There is x2 the likelihood of an outcome
16
Q
- What does an odds ratio of 1.5 mean ?
A
- 50% higher odds
17
Q
- What does a hazard ratio of 0.75 mean ?
A
- Indicates a 25% risk reduction
18
Q
- What are the 6 steps of a clinical audit ?
A
- Identify an area of concern
- Set standards
- Collect data
- Compare results with standards
- Implement changes
- Re-audit to measure improvement
19
Q
- What national organisations are involved in quality improvement ?
A
- Care quality commission
- National institute for health care and excellence
20
Q
- What are the 4 main principles of medical ethics ?
A
- Autonomy
- Beneficence
- Non-maleficence
- Justice
21
Q
- What is an advance decision ?
A
- A legally binding decision under UK law that allows a patient to refuse treatment in advance
22
Q
- What is lasting power of attorney ?
A
- Enables a designated individual to make healthcare decisions on behalf of the patient who lacks capacity
23
Q
- What is a case control study
A
- Looks at 2 sets of participants. One group has the condition you are interested in (the cases) and one group does not have it (the controls).
24
Q
- What are the advantages of a case-control study ?
A
- Good for rare outcomes e.g. cancer
- Quicker than cohort or intervention studies as outcome has already happened
- Can investigate multiple exposures
25
Q
- What are the disadvantages of a case-control study ?
A
- Difficulties finding controls to match cases
- Prone to selection bias
26
Q
- What is a cohort study ?
A
- Participants who do not have the outcome at baseline are followed over time to estimate the incidence of the outcome.
27
Q
- What are the advantages of a cohort study ?
A
- Can follow-up a group with a rare exposure e.g. natural disaster
- Good for common or multiple outcomes
- Less risk of selection and recall bias
28
Q
- What are the disadvantages of a cohort study ?
A
- Take a long time
- Loss to follow up
- Need a large sample size
29
Q
- Cross-Sectional Studies
A
- Observational studies that analyze data from a population at a single point in time
30
Q
- What are the advantages of a cross sectional study ?
A
- Relatively quick and cheap
- Provide data on prevalence at a single point in time
- Large sample size
- Good for surveillance and public health planning
31
Q
- What are the disadvantages of a cross sectional study ?
A
- Risk of reverse causality
- Cannot measure incidence
- Risk recall bias and non-response
32
Q
- What is a randomised control trial ?
A
- Gold standard trial
- A trial in which subjects are randomly assigned to one of two groups: one (the experimental group) receiving the intervention that is being tested, and the other (the comparison group or control) receiving an alternative (conventional) treatment (fig 1).
33
Q
- What are the advantages of a randomised control trial ?
A
- Low risk of bias and confounding
34
Q
- What are the disadvantages of a randomised control trial ?
A
- Time consuming and expensive
- Specific inclusion/exclusions criteria may mean the study is different from typical patients e.g. excludes elderly
35
Q
- How can an association between 2 things be explained ?
A
- Chance
- Bias
- Confounding
- Reverse causality
- A true causal association
36
Q
- Selection bias can result from
A
- Selection of study participants
- Allocation of participants to different study groups
37
Q
- How can the selection of study participants and there allocation to different study groups impact selection bias ?
A
- Non response e.g. are those who don’t respond likely to be from a specific group e.g. elderly
- Loss to follow up e.g. are those who drop out more likely to be better or worse ?
- Are those in the intervention group (or the cases) in some way from the controls other than the exposure in question
38
Q
- What types of information bias are there ?
A
- Measurement
- Observer
- Recall Reporting
39
Q
- What types of Bias are there ?
A
- Information
- Selection
- Publication
40
Q
- What is publication bias ?
A
- Not all trial results are published
- Papers with less positive results are less likely to be published
41
Q
- What is confounding ?
A
- A situation in which estimates between an exposure and outcome is distorted because of the association of the exposure with another factor (confounder) that is also independently associated with the outcome
- E.g. More shark attacks while there are more ice cream sales
42
Q
- Reverse causality
A
- Refers to the situation when an association between an exposure and an outcome could be due to the outcome causing the exposure rather than the exposure causing the outcome
43
Q
- What is the Bradford-Hill Criteria for Causality
A
- List of things required to say that one thing causes another
44
Q
- Features of the Bradford Hill Criteria
A
- Strength
- Consistency
- Dose-response
- Temporality
- Plausibility
- Reversibility
- Coherence
- Analogy
- Specificity
45
Q
- Explain Strength from the Bradford Hill Criteria
A
- Stronger the association between exposure and outcome
46
Q
- Explain Consistency from the Bradford Hill Criteria
A
- Same results observed from various studies in different geographical settings
47
Q
- Explain Temporality from the Bradford Hill Criteria
A
- Exposure occurs prior to outcome
48
Q
- Explain Plausibility from the Bradford Hill Criteria
A
- Reasonable biological mechanism
49
Q
- Explain Reversibility from the Bradford Hill Criteria
A
- Intervention to reduce/remove the exposure eliminated/reduces outcome
50
Q
- Explain Coherence from the Bradford Hill Criteria
A
- Logical consistency with other information
51
Q
- Explain Analogy from the Bradford Hill Criteria
A
- Similarity with other established cause-effect relationships
52
Q
- Explain Specificity from the Bradford Hill Criteria
A
- Relationship specific to outcome of interest
53
Q
- What is the purpose of screening ?
A
- To identify apparently well individuals who have or are risk of developing a particular disease so that you can have a real impact on the outcome
54
Q
- What does cervical screening detect ?
A
- Pre-cancerous dyskaryosis and treats it to prevent it developing into carcinoma of the cervix
55
Q
- Disadvantages of screening
A
- Exposure of well individuals to distressing or harmful diagnostic tests e.g. colonoscopies to those with positive faecal occult
- Detection and treatment of subclinical disease that would have never cause any problems e.g. non-aggressive prostate cancers in elderly men
- Prevention interventions that may cause harm to the individual or population
56
Q
- What is sensitivity
A
- The proportion of those with the disease who are correctly identified by the screening test
57
Q
- What is specificity ?
A
- The proportion of people without the disease who are correctly excluded by the screening test
58
Q
- Positive predictive value
A
- Proportion of people with a positive test result who actually have the disease
59
Q
- Negative predictive value
A
- Proportion of people who have a negative test result who do not have the disease
60
Q
- What is the NHS criteria for a condition to screen for
A
- Should be an important health condition e.g. 1/8 women will develop breast cancer
- Epidemiology and natural history must be adequately understood
- There should be detectable RF, disease markers, latent period and early symptomatic stage
61
Q
- What is the NHS criteria for a test used in screening ?
A
- Simple, safe and valid
- Distribution of test values in the target population should be known and a suitable cut-off level defined and agreed
- The test should be acceptable to the population
62
Q
- What is the NHS criteria for a screening program ?
A
- Screening should be ongoing
- The cost of screening should be economically balanced to healthcare spending as a whole
63
Q
- What is the NHS criteria for a treatment secondary to a screening program ?
A
- Effective intervention or treatment for patients with evidence that early treatment leads to better outcomes than late treatment
- Agreed evidence based policies determining who should be offered the appropriate treatment
- Clinical management of the condition and the patient outcomes should be optimized in all health care providers prior to participation in the programme
64
Q
- What is lead time bias
A
- When a screening identifies an outcome earlier than it otherwise would have been identified resulting in an apparent increase in survival even if screening has no effect on the outcome
65
Q
- What is length lead bias
A
- An overestimation of survival duration due to the relative excess of cases detected that are asymptomatically slowly progressing, while fast progressing cases are detected after giving symptoms
66
Q
- What are different approaches to a Health Needs Assessment
A
- Epidemiological
- Corporate
- Comparative
67
Q
- What is a health behaviour ?
A
- A behaviour aimed at reventing disease or illness e.g. eating healthily
68
Q
- What is an illness behaviour ?
A
- A behaviour aimed at seeking remedy e.g. going to the GP
69
Q
- What is a sickness behaviour ?
A
- An activity aimed at getting well e.g. taking prescribed medications or resting
70
Q
- What are the 5 models of behaviour change ?
A
- Theory of planned behaviour
- Nudge theory
- Stages of change model
- Health belief model
- Motivational interviewing
71
Q
- List the study designs that are retrospective ?
A
- Case report
- Case series
- Cross-sectional
- Case control
- Cohort
- Randomised control trial
72
Q
- Which study designs are prospective ?
A
- Cohort
- Randomised control trial
- Systematic review
73
Q
- What are the areas of health determinants ?
A
- Lifestyle
- Genetic
- Environmental
- Health
74
Q
- What impacts Lifestyle as a determinant of health ?
A
- Smoking status
- Wealth
- Employment
75
Q
- How does genetics impact determinants of health ?
A
- Age
- Gender
- Ethnicity
76
Q
- How does environment impact determinants of health ?
A
- Housing
- Socioeconomic status
- Access to education
77
Q
- How does healthcare impact determinants of health ?
A
- Economic factors
- Access
- Quality
78
Q
- Pneumonic for remembering influences on health inequalities ?
A
- PROGRESS
- Place of residence
- Race or ethnicity
- Occupation
- Gender
- Religion
- Education
- Socioeconomic status
- Social capital/resources
79
Q
- What is the inverse care law ?
A
- Availability of medical and social care tends to vary inversely with the need of the population served
80
Q
- What does equality mean ?
A
- Treating everyone the same and giving everyone equal shares e.g. giving £100 to the rich and £100 to the poor
81
Q
- What does equity mean ?
A
- About being fair and just e.g. giving everyone what they need to be successful e.g. giving £500 to the poor and nothing to the rich
82
Q
- What does Horizontal mean in the context of health inequalities ?
A
- Equal treatment for equal need e.g. all people with pneumonia deserve equal treatment
83
Q
- What are the types of error ?
A
- Sloth
- System error
- Lacking skill
- Fixation
- Bravado
- Playing the odds
- Poor team working
- Mis-triage
- Error of inherited thinking
84
Q
- What is an adverse event ?
A
- An event where a patient comes to harm
85
Q
- What is a Near Miss ?
A
- An event which has the potential to cause harm but fails to develop further: avoids harm
86
Q
- What is the bucket model of error ?
A
- Error evolves due to interaction between personal environmental and physical factors as well as organizational
- Systems approach is the recognition that we need to look at our systems rather than individual people
- 3 bucket model looks at situations leading to error
87
Q
- What are the 3 buckets of error ?
A
- Self – poor knowledge, fatigue, little experience and currently capacity to do task
- Context – equipment failure, physical environment, inadequate handover, team, support leadership
- Task – task complexity, novel task, overlapping tasks, multitasking
88
Q
- What are Never Events ?
A
- A serious preventable patient safety incident that should not occur if available preventable measures have been implemented
- E.g. Wrong chemo route, wrong surgical site or escape of sectioned patient
- Results in reputation loss, care quality commission investigation and financial penalty
89
Q
- What are the 3 types of Public Health Interventions ?
A
- Primary – preventing the disease
- Secondary – catching a disease in its early/preclinical stage e.g. cervical screening
- Tertiary – preventing complications of disease e.g. diabetic foot care
90
Q
- What are the 2 general approaches to public health interventions ?
A
- Population = preventative measures e.g. legislation of dietary salt reduction
- High risk = identifying individuals above a chosen cut off and treating e.g. screening for HTN
91
Q
- What is the prevention paradox ?
A
- Preventative measures which bring much benefit to the population often offers little to each individual
- E.g. screening a large number of people only helps a small number
92
Q
- What is a false positive ?
A
- Disease is identified by a screen in a person who has not disease
93
Q
- What is a true positive ?
A
- Disease identified correctly by a test or screen in someone who has the disease
94
Q
- What is a false negative ?
A
- When a test or screen fails to identify someone with disease
95
Q
- What is a true negative ?
A
- When a disease is not present and a test or screen identifies it correctly
96
Q
- What is sensitivity ?
A
- The proportion of people with the disease who are correctly identified by screening test
97
Q
- What is specificity ?
A
- The proportion of people without the disease who are correctly excluded by the screening test
98
Q
- What is the positive predictive valve ?
A
- The proportion of people with a positive test result who have the disease
99
Q
- What is the negative predictive valve ?
A
- Proportion of people with a negative test result who don’t have the disease