Study Document
Pages:6 (1672 words)
Sources:8
Subject:Health
Topic:Epidemiology
Document Type:Essay
Document:#28360370
Introduction
Public health as a field comprises the convictions, science, and skills relating to the preservation and improvement of the health of the general public through preventative endeavors instead of curative ones. One of the basic sciences that are critical to promoting public health is epidemiology. As a tool, epidemiology is useful in the protection and promotion of public health through the application of common sense as well as scientific reasoning (Stanhope & Lancaster, 2015). One of the main areas of epidemiology is descriptive epidemiology. Descriptive epidemiology focuses on the description of diseases and their determinants. It is useful in the organization and analysis of various diseases and the occurrences of those diseases in the given geographical area over time. Descriptive epidemiology is therefore capable of generating etiological research hypotheses (Liu, 2018). This paper discusses the role of descriptive epidemiology in nursing today.
Descriptive Epidemiology
Descriptive epidemiology refers to a method of data organization and analysis with the goal of understanding the differences that exist in the frequency of occurrence of diseases in a given geographical area over time. It also looks at how health differs among people based on factors such as place, time, and person. It is useful in the identification of trends in health and diseases and helps stakeholders organize resources effectively to fight diseases. Also, it is very useful in the formulation of hypotheses on various health-related topics (Richards & Cai, 2016). Such hypotheses are useful in the testing of various theories and to draw associations between various health outcomes and disease determinants.
In science today, epidemiology plays several roles including the identification of emerging health issues, monitoring of the health of populations, reporting on the health status of populations, helping stakeholders prioritize health issues, and the evaluation of possible associations between risk factors and health outcomes. These associations can alert stakeholders about serious threats such as bioterrorism and help measure how efficient the intervention strategies employed are.
Time, person, and place are important concepts in epidemiology. Data is usually compiled and analyzed based on these three factors. This is especially true in nursing (Katzmarzyk et al., 2017). Further, accounts created about the health of a population are also expressed using tables, graphs, and maps.
Time
With the change of seasons or the passage of time, there are usually significant changes in the occurrence of a disease in a given population. The changes due to the passage of time can be both predictable and unpredictable. Also, some diseases may occur randomly at any time as is the case with salmonellosis (Stanhope & Lancaster, 2015). For seasonal diseases, health stakeholders can make accurate predictions of their occurrence and therefore put in control or preventative measures.
Place
Geographical location can be used to describe a disease’s occurrence. Such details help show the disparities that exist on the occurrence of the disease geographically. When place is used as characterization, the disease’s place of residence is taken into account.…
…groups are derived from one population. The goal of the study is usually to identify the risk factors leading to the condition by drawing a parallel to the exposure the control is put through (Colditz, Nguyen & Dart, 2016). To ensure that the arising differences are not because of confounding factors such as age and gender, matching is normally done by having controls that reflect these factors.
Cohort Study
This involves drawing a group of subjects from a given population and recording their exposure level at the start of the exercise and then following the group for the duration of the study to identify any health changes (Katzmarzyk et al., 2017). The researcher normally considers different exposures and outcomes and they are measured by self-questionnaire, observation, or from linkages to already existing data.
Conclusion
Epidemiology is a foundational science in public health. It helps in the assessment of the impact of the efforts of public health stakeholders and also outlines the nature of various conditions in given populations. It is an ever-evolving field and new strategies and methods that yield better results for public health efforts are developed year over year.
Descriptive epidemiology categorizes the appearance and occurrence of diseases based on variables such as person, place, and time. It is useful in the development of hypotheses that are widely used in analytical epidemiology. It is also useful in identifying the health concerns that should be given utmost priority when interventions are being devised. There are…
References
Liu, L., (2018). “Chapter 1 – Introduction.” In Heart Failure: Epidemiology and Research Methods. Elsevier Health Sciences. p. 1-12.
Stanhope, M., & Lancaster, J. (2015). Public health nursing-e-book: Population-centered health care in the community. Elsevier Health Sciences.
Richards, E. A., & Cai, Y. (2016). Integrative review of nurse-delivered physical activity interventions in primary care. Western Journal of Nursing Research, 38(4), 484-507.
Katzmarzyk, P. T., Lee, I. M., Martin, C. K., & Blair, S. N. (2017). Epidemiology of physical activity and exercise training in the United States. Progress in Cardiovascular Diseases, 60(1), 3-10.
Mandl, M., Halfens, R. J., & Lohrmann, C. (2015). Incontinence care in nursing homes: a cross?sectional study. Journal of advanced nursing, 71(9), 2142-2152.
Oyesanya, T. O., Bowers, B. J., Royer, H. R., & Turkstra, L. S. (2018). Nurses’ concerns about caring for patients with acute and chronic traumatic brain injury. Journal of clinical nursing, 27(7-8), 1408-1419.
Heavey, E. (2018). Statistics for nursing: A practical approach. Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Colditz, G., Nguyen, N., & Dart, H. (2016). Physical activity and health. In International Encyclopedia of Public Health (pp. 463-472). Elsevier Inc.
Study Document
Epistemology
1. Define descriptive epidemiology and describe its relationship and role in nursing science today
Descriptive epidemiology deals with the rate of recurrence as well as the spreading of a health outcome. It involves delineating the distribution of health-related outcomes and events by individual, place, and time. Imperatively, a descriptive study aids the epidemiologist in becoming cognizant with the data, ascertain the magnitude of the public health issue, attain a
Study Document
The role of descriptive epidemiology in nursing science is very important as it helps to provide information that can be used by nurses to prevent the spread of disease, develop effective interventions, and engage in further research. A descriptive epidemiologic study is one that examines a specific population and identifies the amount and distribution of health and design within that population (Giroux, 2015). Descriptive epidemiology looks at variables, such as
Study Document
This reduces response bias for better reliability of the information gathered and a higher anticipated response rate for an adequate sample size. A one month time frame gives better assurance of an appropriate response rate adequate analysis of results. Research Questions Patient wait time: How long did you wait before being register? < 5 min, 5 min, 10 min, longer How long did you wait to be called after being registered? <
Study Document
Evidence Synthesis Diabetes is regarded as one of the most problematic and major health concerns that has become prevalent across the globe. According to Kam et al. (2016), in 2012, diabetes resulted in the deaths of 1.5 million people throughout the world. Given its prevalence and devastating impacts, effective prevention and management of diabetes has become a major issue, especially among high-risk individuals/populations. Based on existing findings in the public
Study Document
Introduction
There are various risk factors that have been associated with the development of type 2 diabetes. These include, but they are not limited to, ethnicity and lifestyle. With regard to ethnicity, it is important to note that people of Asian descent have a higher predisposition to type 2 diabetes, in comparison to persons of European ancestry. Some of the complications associated with type 2 diabetes include cardiovascular disease, kidney
Study Document
Diabetes Patients putting patients on a diet consisting of all-natural, all-organic, locally grown or locally produced foods plus exercise insulin injections O - reduction in body's challenge to create/absorb insulin nnonth trials PICOT Question: In patients who suffer from Type 2 diabetes (P), is an intervention consisting of a traditional, organic, and all-natural diet of locally grown/produced foods plus exercise (I) more effective in addressing the body's issues in creating or absorbing insulin (O) than