Mock Epidemiology Study Summary

Epidemiological Research Websites for Generating Case Study Ideas

International Public Health Organizations

Canadian Society for Epidemiology and Biostatistics http://www.cseb.ca/resources.php

European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control http://ecdc.europa.eu/en/Pages/home.aspx

World Health Organization http://www.who.int/en/

U.S. Public Health Organizations

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention http://www.cdc.gov/

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services http://www.cms.hhs.gov/

U.S. Census Bureau http://www.census.gov/

U.S. Department of Health & Human Services http://www.hhs.gov/

National Cancer Institute http://resresources.nci.nih.gov/categorydisplay.cfmcatid=666

National Mental Health Information Center http://mentalhealth.samhsa.gov/

Pan American Health Organization http://new.paho.org/

Research Databases

CINAHL (Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature) http://www.ebscohost.com/cinahl/

International Epidemiologic Databases to Evaluate AIDS http://www.iedea-hiv.org/

Medline Plus http://medlineplus.gov/

Medscape http://www.medscape.com/

Oxford Journals, Oxford University Press http://www.oxfordjournals.org/

Public Health Reports http://www.publichealthreports.org/index.cfm

Science Direct http://www.sciencedirect.com/

SpringerLink http://www.springerlink.com/home/main.mpx

Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results http://seer.cancer.gov/

The Cochrane Collaboration http://www.cochrane.org/

University of CA, SF, The WWW Virtual Library: Medicine and Health: Epidemiology http://www.epibiostat.ucsf.edu/epidem/epidem.html#DAT

U.S. National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/

Public Health Journals

American Journal of Epidemiology http://aje.oxfordjournals.org/

American Journal of Public Health http://www.ajph.org/

BMC Public Health http://www.biomedcentral.com/bmcpublichealth/

Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness http://www.dmphp.org/

Emerging Infectious Diseases http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/EID/index.htm

The European Journal of Public Health http://eurpub.oxfordjournals.org/

Global Public Health http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/title~db=all~content=g915842079

Journal of Environmental and Public Health http://www.hindawi.com/journals/jeph/

Journal of Public Health http://jpubhealth.oxfordjournals.org/

Journal of Public Health http://www.palgrave-journals.com/jphp/index.html

Journal of Public Health Management and Practice http://journals.lww.com/jphmp/pages/default.aspx

Journal of Public Health Nursing http://www.wiley.com/bw/journal.asp?ref=0737-1209

Search Engines

Google http://www.google.com/

Bing http://www.bing.com/

Yahoo http://m.www.yahoo.com/

Altavista http://www.altavista.com/

Nationally Notifiable Infectious Diseases, US (updated regularly by the CDC and state PH departments) https://wwwn.cdc.gov/nndss/conditions/

International Data Banks and Resources

European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (replica of the U.S. CDC; focuses on the health of European Union nations) http://ecdc.europa.eu/en/Pages/home.aspx

Public Health Agency of Canada http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/index-eng.php

Health Protection Agency (includes The Centre for Emergency Preparedness and Response, the Centre for Infections, the Centre for Radiation, Chemical and Environmental Hazards, and the National Institute for Biological Standards and Controls are all part of the Health Protection Agency) http://www.hpa.org.uk/HPA/

Institut De Veille Sanitaire, France http://www.invs.sante.fr/

Public Health Foundation of India http://www.phfi.org/home.asp

Centre for Health Protection, Hong Kong http://www.chp.gov.hk/

KEY POINTS regarding PH Agencies

• The collection, maintenance, analysis, and storage of health data are vital for planning effective public health action.

• Public health organizations play an important role in conducting research while also providing services to promote the public’s health.

• Health policy and law can be influenced through epidemiological research.

• Surveillance systems in the community continuously update health status information and provide us with feedback on community medical services.

• Epidemiologists use many types of technology for effective communication. Automation of information systems allows public health professionals to be alerted at all levels.

• Ethical issues, data privacy, quality of data, and storage are some of the challenges associated with the use of information and technology in the field of epidemiology.

Epidemiological Research Websites for Generating Case Study Ideas

Exercise 6.3 epidemiology study summary Guide

Getting Started

Directions: This assignment will give you an opportunity to demonstrate what you have learned about epidemiologic methods, statistical tests, bioethical principles in research, and how to apply these to clinical problems.

Choose a plausible epidemiology topic pertaining to a diverse population you would like to study. The topic should relate to a diverse (in terms of ethnicity, nationality, culture, etc.) population. In APA style, write a formal paper that reads as if you had actually conducted the study. It must include the elements as outlined below and be coherent throughout. The paper should be no longer than 4-6 pages of text; about the length of a published article. Include title, abstract and references pages. Mock Epidemiology Study Summary

1. Write the purpose of your study along with 2-3 sentences elaborating on the problem and significance of the problem related to the purpose. You may use supporting evidence from other published work to explain or support the problem you are describing.

2. Write at least 2 research questions related to the purpose of the study. Be explicit rather than vague.

3. Write a null and an alternative hypothesis for each of these two questions.

4. State which one of your two research questions you are addressing from this point on. Identify and explain the dependent and independent variables, as well as the variable type (nominal, ordinal, etc.) for each variable.

5. Describe the subjects you have included in this study, including the number of subjects and how they were recruited. Describe all the characteristics and factors of the subjects that are relevant to the purpose of the study.

6. What is the basic design or type of study you have used to investigate your hypothesis? Explain how you collected your data.

7. Select the statistical test needed to test the null hypothesis. The selected statistical test must be selected from the ones reviewed in this course, unless you have permission from your course instructor to use a different test. Explain why you selected the test and how you have analyzed the variables. State in general terms (not actual numbers) what your results were from the statistical analyses, and whether they led you to reject or fail to reject your null hypothesis. Mock Epidemiology Study Summary

8. What ethical issues or bias need to be taken into consideration with this study? Please explain.

9. State the implications of these findings for healthcare practice. Discuss the impact these results would have on clinical practice and healthcare policy. Use published work to give support to your discussion. (See next page for grading rubric. )