Background & Surveillance
(1) Understand the Clinical Approach (health of individuals) vs Public Health
Approach (health of populations)
(2) Understand the history and development of epidemiology
(3) Understand the roles of epidemiology in public health and the steps in solving
health problems
(4) Understand the Natural History and Spectrum of Disease. Understand in broad
terms the impact of infectious (bacterial, viral, fungal, protest and prion diseases)
and noninfectious causes of disease (such as accidents, exposures, and toxicities)
(5) Understand the basic epidemiological and public health terms found in the
glossary of CDCs Principles of Epidemiology in Public Health Practice (e.g., outbreak,
epidemic, pandemic, surveillance, risk, vector, etc.)
(6) Understand the role of Surveillance in identifying health problems, the 5-Step
Process for Surveillance. the types of surveillance and the attributes of a
surveillance system
Outbreak Investigation
(1) Analyze actual or hypothetical outbreaks given in case scenarios
(2) Understand Experimental and Observational studies and the Types of
Epidemiological Studies (e.g., case control, cohort, ecological, cross-sectional. Know
the advantages and disadvantages of each. Recognize various fundamental study
designs and identify which is appropriate to use in analysis of presented outbreak
scenarios
(3) Identify the Steps in an Outbreak Investigation and how they guide hypothesis
generation (4) Identify the problem using person, place, and time triad to formulate
case definitions
