Category:Field Epidemiology
The subject of epidemiology is "about the investigation of causes of health-related events in the populations"[1] and is a scientific discipline relatively recent. Epidemiology can be exercised in various health contexts, such as clinical health care and research. It is considered a cornerstone discipline in Public Health, aimed at generating an evidence base for policy and decision-making for healthy populations.
Though the scientific discipline of epidemiology is relatively new, knowledge about factors influencing epidemics dates back to medical history. Hippocrates already described his intuition of the association between environmental factors, human behaviors, and disease, even when most people in his time (in the 4th century b.C) believed in supra-natural causes of disease.[2]
Applied Epidemiologists, or "Field Epidemiologists," use science as the basis for intervention programs designed to improve public health [3]. Such application may also be called 'intervention epidemiology,' and even the term 'consequential epidemiology' has been phrased. This epidemiology branch originates in the postgraduate public health residency program of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, Atlanta, USA): the 'Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS),' which started in 1951. Since then, many countries have set up Field Epidemiology Training Programmes (FETP), and in 1995, the European Programme for Intervention Epidemiology Training (EPIET) started to train the first cohort of fellows in the 2-year full-time curriculum, funded by the European Commission[4].
Field epidemiology aims to apply scientific methods in day-to-day public health field conditions to generate new knowledge and evidence for decision-making. The context is often complex and difficult to control, challenging study design and interpretation of study results. However, in Public Health, we often lack the opportunity to perform controlled trials, and we are faced with the need to design observational studies as best as we can. Field epidemiologists use epidemiology to design, evaluate or improve interventions to protect the health of a population.[5]
For example, think of a sudden increase in mumps among teenagers in a country with high vaccine coverage. A key question to answer quite early after detecting such an event is: is the mumps outbreak caused by a vaccine failure or a failure to vaccinate? Obviously, a vaccine failure would require a different set of public health actions than a failure to vaccinate. Field Epidemiology includes the ability to rapidly design and execute an appropriate epidemiological study to generate reliable answers to key questions timely enough to allow control measures to be effective. And for such a study, the epidemiologist will need to get out of the office, into the field, or onto the streets. For this reason, field epidemiology has yet another synonym: shoe-leather epidemiology, as opposed to armchair epidemiology.
Traditionally, core activities in field epidemiology are outbreak investigation, design, operation, or evaluation of communicable disease surveillance systems, and field research to study risk factors for or distribution of communicable diseases. Since communicable diseases may rapidly spread in populations, they often create an urgent need for answers about risk factors, risk groups, and effective intervention methods. Time pressure, media attention, and anxiety among the public and decision-makers create a classical context for epidemiologists. They are often required to create ad hoc teams to help them with the investigations, and often they will have to instruct and train new team members to perform the required tasks.
So it makes sense that they need excellent communication skills and competencies in teaching. It will therefore not be surprising that the traditional FETP requires the following training achievements:
- Perform an epidemiological outbreak investigation
- Design, evaluate or coordinate a surveillance system
- Design and perform an epidemiological field study (research)
- Scientific communication
- Teaching
References:
- ↑ Alfredo Morabia (Editor). A History of Epidemiologic Methods and Concepts. 2004. ISBN 3-7643-6818-7
- ↑ Hippocrates, "On air, people and places", (460-377 BC)
- ↑ Mark E. White, Sharon M. McDonnell, Denise H. Werker, Victor M. Cardenas, Stephen B. Thacker. Partnerships in International Applied Epidemiology Training and Service 1975-2001. American Journal of Epidemiology, Vol. 154, No. 11, 2001
- ↑ Moren A, Drucker J, Rowland M, Van Loock F. European Programme for Intervention Epidemiology Training (EPIET). Rev Epidemiol Sante Publique, 1998, 46(6):p. 533-4
- ↑ Gregg, Michael B. (Editor). Field Epidemiology.Oxford University Press, New York, 1996
Synonyms used
Field epidemiology - Intervention epidemiology - Applied epidemiology - shoe leather epidemiology - consequential epidemiology
Subcategories
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Pages in category "Field Epidemiology"
The following 2 pages are in this category, out of 2 total.
