The Use of Data (2nd year) Flashcards
what is the difference between disease and illness?
disease is the signs, s symptoms and diagnosis - the biomedical perspective
the illness is the ideas, concerns and expectations, the patients experience
give an example of a disease with no illness.
hypertension
the patient has a high blood pressure but they feel no symptoms
why does the hierarchal structure of primary-secondary-tertiary care sometimes not correlate to the severity ?
because disease and illness don’t always correlate.
someone may have a severe disease that they are in secondary care for however it is not a severe illness as it doesn’t really affect their life
whereas someone with a long term illness which severely impacts on their lives are just treated in primary care
you have recent diagnosed someone with AF and you arrange a review consult.
what might you want to cover in the consultation?
any other symptoms he is having
may want to perform a few other tests such as clotting screen to assess risk of PE
you have recent diagnosed someone with AF and you arrange a review consult.
what issues might you want to bring up?
potential treatment/medication
any worries he has about taking the medication forever
the change in life style he may want to address
you have recently diagnosed someone with AF and you arrange a review consult.
what issues might the patient bring up?
his worries about taking medication
worries about taking it forever - side effects, addiction etc
you have recently diagnosed someone with AF and you arrange a review consult.
what tools might you use to assist you?
be positive but honest (fine balance)
suggest information such as leaflets, websites etc
practise nurses for backing up and reinforcing things for the patient
what are the 3 main aims for epidemiology?
description - amount and distribution of disease in populations
explanation - natural history, identify etiological factors for disease
disease control - basis for preventative measures, public health practises etc monitored for disease control
epidemiology compares groups in order to detect differences in order to …..
determine what causes the disease
who are at risk
how to prevent it
does minor illnesses have a high or low prevalence?
high incidence
low prevalence
what is relative risk?
the measure of strength of an association between a suspected risk factor and the disease that is under study
how do we calculate relative risk?
incidence of disease in an exposed group / incidence of disease in unexpected group
where would you find epidemiological data? (sources of epidemiological data)
mortality data hospital activity statistics reproductive health statistics cancer statistics accident statistics general practise morbidity health and household surveys social security statistics drug misuse databases expenditure data from NHS
what is health literacy?
health literacy is about having the knowledge, skills, understanding and confidence to use health information, to be active partners in their care and to navigate health and social care system
what is the literacy action plan for scotland that was introduced?
making it easy
what is the purpose of the SIGN guidelines?
help health and social care professionals and patients to understand medical evidence and use it to make decisions about care
reduce unwanted variations in practise and make sure patient get the best care available no matter where they live
improve health care across scotland by focussing on patient-important outcomes
what are the 4 different types of studies?
descriptive study
cross-sectional study
case control study
cohort study
what are trials used for?
used to test ideas about aetiology or to evaluate interventions
what type of trial is the definitive method of assessing any new treatment in medicine?
randomised control trial
what type of studies may be useful in primary care?
descriptive studies
case control studies
cohort studies
what type of studies may be useful in secondary care?
case control study
trials
what is a case control study?
2 groups of individuals are compared
one with the disease and one without
data is gathered on each individual to determine whether or not they have been exposed to the suspected etiological factor
exposure between two groups is compared to determine significant differences
what is a cohort study?
baseline data on exposure are collected rom a group of people who don’t have the disease
they are followed up until a significant number have developed the disease to allow analysis
what factors have to be considered when carrying out a study?
standardisation standardised mortality ratio quality of data case definition coding and classification ascertainment
what is bias?
any trend in the collection, analysis, interpretation or review of data that lead to conclusions that are systematically different from the truth
what are the different types of bias?
selection bias
information bias
follow up bias
systematic error
what are confounding factors?
a factor which is associated independently with both the disease and with the exposure under investigation and so distorts the relationship between exposure and disease
what are the most common confounding factors?
age
sex
social class
what are ways to deal with confounding factors?
randomisation in trails
eligibility criteria so only certain kinds of study subjects can participate
subjects in different groups can be matched for likely confounding factor
results can be stratified according to confounding factor
results can be adjusted to take account of suspected confounding factors
what are the criteria for causality?
strength of association consistency specificity temporality biological gradient biological plausibility coherence analogy experiment
what is the importance of data for patients?
when a doctor is explaining something to a patient i.e. blood pressure being too high, we need to be explain tot he patient why it is abnormal to be high as well as give evidence which supports what we are saying i.e. from studies
data is required to back up a doctors need for treating something as to why it is abnormal
