HSCI 2020 - Introduction to Epidemiology

1. Infectious Disease
   1. Category of organism (agent)
   2. Host
   3. Environment
   4. Reservoirs
   5. Modes of transmission
   6. Incubation period
   7. Period of communicability
   8. Methods of control
   9. Surveillance
   10. Screening
   11. Prevention strategies
   12. Outbreak investigation
2. Introduction
   1. Origin and history of epidemiology
   2. Evolution of epidemiology up to current times
   3. Noteworthy contributors to the discipline
   4. Ethical considerations
   5. Common epidemiological terms
3. Measurements
   1. Frequency-incidence and prevalence
   2. Assessment of risk-crude, specific, and adjusted rates
   3. Relative measures of disease occurrence-relative risk, odds ratio
4. Non-Infectious Disease
   1. Leading causes of death
   2. Years of potential life lost (YPLL)
   3. Non-infectious etiological agents
   4. Environmental health
   5. Occupational health
   6. Surveillance
   7. Screening
   8. Prevention strategies
   9. Investigation of non-infectious disease clusters
5. Health Policy
   1. Risk-benefit analysis
   2. Legislation
6. Research
   1. Quantitative versus qualitative
   2. Research design
   3. Sampling methods
   4. Sampling size
   5. Significance testing
   6. Statistical methods
   7. Reading research
7. Review of select policies

1. Describe the relevance of the history of epidemiology to community health.
2. Discuss ethical considerations in epidemiology when establishing programs in the community.
3. Define terminology pertinent to epidemiology.
4. Describe community disease prevention, health promotion and mitigation strategies.
5. Explain the interaction of host, agent, and environment.
6. Contrast communicable versus chronic diseases.
7. Cite examples of communicable diseases that are bacterial, viral, fungal, protozoal, rikettsial, or parasitic.
8. Access Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and World Health Organization (WHO) data.
9. Apply Kochs Postulates to epidemiological case studies.
10. Apply Mills methods of hypothesis formulation to epidemiological case studies.
11. Compute some basic statistics for an epidemiological analysis.
12. Contrast incubation versus latency period.
13. Critique select health policy and legislation.
14. Describe the levels of prevention as applied to infectious an non-infectious disease.
15. Differentiate association versus causation.
16. Differentiate between research study designs and methods.
17. Discuss factors that influence the emergence of disease.
18. Distinguish between incidence and prevalence.
19. Distinguish between life span and life expectancy.
20. Explain the concepts of confounding and effect modification.
21. Explain the role of epidemiology in health policy.
22. List the leading causes of work-related diseases and injuries.
23. Outline the basic steps in planning and implementing a research project.
24. Outline the process of investigation during a infectious disease outbreak or non-infectious disease cluster.
25. Perform a critical analysis of epidemiological research.
26. State the purpose of disease surveillance.

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