Public health Flashcards
the modes of prevention in the epidemiological triangle are;
vector, environment and host
primary prevention
to stop a disease before it starts eg vaccination
secondary prevention
to stop a disease from being as bad as it could be eg screening programmes, BCG vaccination
tertiary prevention
to stop later complications from developing eg cardiac/stroke rehab programmes
epidemiology
study of frequency, distribution and determinants of disease in populations
endemic
occurs naturally in a population (one area)
epidemic
outbreak of unexpected size (more than one area/country)
pandemic
global distribution of disease (multicontinent epidemic)
morbidity
rate of disease in a population
mortality calculation
number of deaths / population at risk x 1000
crude death rate
mortality for a whole population (associated with life expectancy)
mortality
how many people die that have the disease
standardisation
comparison of groups within a population with different age/sex
incidence
probability of occurrence of a given medical condition in a population within a specified period of time
incidence calculation
number of NEW cases of a disease occurring in a population during a specific period of time DIVIDED BY number of persons exposed to risk of developing the disease during that period of time x 1000
prevalence
proportion of people affected by a disease in a population
prevalence calculation
number of cases of a disease present in a population at a specific point in time DIVIDED BY number of persons at risk of having disease at that point in time x 1000
inequalities in health
gender, ethnicity, income
biomedical model
The body as a “machine” does not take into account the patient themselves (how they are feeling, social and behavioural causes of the disease etc)
bio-psychosocial model
biomedical model + patients feelings
yield
number of previously undiagnosed cases picked up by a screening test or programme
what is the human rights act 1998
everyone has the right to have their private life respected (the right to confidentiality)
which act states ‘personal information gathered must be for the stated purpose and must be secure’ (and year)
data protection act 1998
what is a caldicott guardian
senior person responsible for protecting confidentiality of a patient
