What is Epidemiology? ….

Recently I’ve been taking a course on Udemy, entitled, “Certificate in Public Health: Principles of Epidemiology.” [1] So what is epidemiology? According to Google.com, epidemiology is: “Epidemiology is the study of disease and health conditions in a population, including their distribution, patterns, and causes. It’s a key part of public health, and it helps shape policy decisions and evidence-based practices. Epidemiologists collect and analyze data to identify risk factors for disease and targets for preventive healthcare. For example, they might study demographic data to identify groups at higher risk for a particular disease, or research trends in cancer survivors to find effective treatments.” [2]

Epidemiologists, play a pivotal role “in policy development by providing input and recommendations.” It’s through the lens of research, that causes can be identified, and the transmission of such diseases, can be prevented. If we can identify the causes of mental health issues, we can be that much more prepared in the prevention of it’s onset. Whether that’s psychosis, delusion, voices, self-harm, or suicide, all of these mental health issues require medication, and without a proper diagnosis, many people’s health is left in limbo, including the many lives at stake, should these problems persist. Part of being a blogger, is to create an open dialogue on these types of mental health issues, so that people can get help, and so that the onset of worse problems, such as self-harm and suicide, or overdose and addiction can be prevented. Coping doesn’t have to involve hurting ourselves, and hope that by blogging and by seeing my own improvement overtime, you all, and no one else makes any painful decisions to end their lives, simply because they are suffering. Things do get better with medications, this can be prevented.

Policy Decisions:

Prioritize issues —- Prioritizing a specific issue and assigning a multidisciplinary team to the decision can help ensure success.
Consider ethical values —- Policy choices often imply value judgments that need to be balanced with the community’s ethical values.
Combine evidence —- Scientific evidence is only one component of policy decisions, which also consider social science evidence and other information.
Meet constraints —- Policymakers must create feasible and acceptable policies that meet legal and budgetary constraints. [3]

Preventative Healthcare:

“A key leader in any infection prevention/healthcare epidemiology program is the healthcare epidemiologist (HE). The role of the HE has also emerged and grown considerably over the past several years. The HE historically often had little formal epidemiologic training and was frequently not paid for his or her efforts. Today, the field has become a critical component of the routine function of healthcare institutions, and the HE has multiple diverse responsibilities that include regulatory review, patient safety, quality improvement, clinical practice and education, administration and public reporting of infection, and infection process data. To effectively serve in these various roles, the HE requires formal support to protect time and effort and to support training activities and professional development. The skills and competencies needed to be an effective HE are considerable.” [4]