- Why are infection rates of this disease higher than normal?
- Why are infection rates of this disease higher than normal in this location?
- What is the potential for the disease to spread?
What are the first questions an epidemiologist would ask?
- What are the signs and/or symptoms?
- Is this an increased number for this area, time of year, or age group? Are the cases linked to a common source or agent? …
- How many cases are there?
- The 5 “W’s” of any investigation apply here as well.
What kind of questions do Epidemiologists ask?
- Why are infection rates of this disease higher than normal?
- Why are infection rates of this disease higher than normal in this location?
- What is the potential for the disease to spread?
What four questions can be asked about the quality of epidemiologic data?
- What?
- How much?
- When?
- Where?
- Among whom?
What an epidemiologist should know?
An epidemiologist is trained to
understand the patterns of diseases and uses experiments, surveys, risk assessment and statistical analysis to uncover the factors leading to the spread of a disease
. Epidemiology is formed from the Greek words epi, demos and logos—meaning on, people and the study of, respectively.
How do epidemiologists figure out if a disease is transmissible?
If a problem is identified,
they use data they collect to try to determine its cause and how it is being transmitted
. They also recommend how best to control its spread within the population.
Do epidemiologists see patients?
Generally speaking,
epidemiologists do not perform physical examinations on patients
, determine diagnoses, or prescribe certain medications. Their energies are largely devoted to the “backstage” area of medicine, in terms of discovering the root cause of pathogens or why medicines work as they do.
What are the 5 steps of surveillance?
- Reporting. Someone has to record the data. …
- Data accumulation. Someone has to be responsible for collecting the data from all the reporters and putting it all together. …
- Data analysis. …
- Judgment and action.
How do you confirm an outbreak?
Outbreaks are detected by using
public health surveillance methods
, including PulseNet, formal reports of illnesses, and informal reports of illnesses.
Why did you become an epidemiologist?
Epidemiologists research why
some groups of people are more likely than others to become sick, be injured, or die young
. … The goal of epidemiology is to guide public health and medical care to interrupt those pathways and improve population health and patient outcomes.
What are the 3 major types of epidemiologic studies?
EPIDEMIOLOGIC STUDY DESIGNS
Three major types of epidemiologic studies are
cohort, case-control, and cross-sectional studies
(study designs are discussed in more detail in IOM, 2000). A cohort, or longitudinal, study follows a defined group over time.
What are the 5 W’s of epidemiology?
The difference is that epidemiologists tend to use synonyms for the 5 W’s:
diagnosis or health event (what), person (who), place (where), time (when), and causes, risk factors, and modes of transmission (why/how)
.
What are the four methods of epidemiology?
Epidemiological investigations can be grouped into four broad categories:
Observational epidemiology, experimental epidemiology, natural experiments, and Theoretical epidemiology
. Several types study designs and measures of relationship are used in these investigations.
What kind of jobs do epidemiologists get?
- Infection Control Epidemiologist. …
- Pharmaceutical Epidemiologist. …
- Medical Epidemiologist. …
- Infectious Disease Epidemiologist. …
- Field Epidemiologist. …
- Molecular Epidemiologist. …
- Veterinary Epidemiologist.
Can a nurse become an epidemiologist?
With a B.S. in nursing and an M.S. in clinical epidemiology, you have the opportunity to become one of the most in-demand nursing specialists, a nurse epidemiologist. As a nurse epidemiologist, you are
tasked with ensuring that patients receive optimal care while reducing the risk of infection
.
What skills do you need to be an epidemiologist?
- Strong understanding of statistical concepts. …
- Strong understanding of medical and biological processes. …
- Critical thinking skills. …
- Strong communication skills. …
- Attention to detail. …
- Computer skills.
