Public Health and Disease

Epidemiology-Descriptive Method

DESCRIPTIVE EPIDEMIOLOGY IN NURSING PRACTICE

Descriptive Epidemiology in Nursing Science

The genesis for the disease control involves summarizing the different conditions using the variables such as place, time, and person to analyze the disease outbreak, patterns, and the outcomes. Often, sound decisions regarding the outbreak of an epidemic require data collections, hypothesizing the possible causes of diseases outbreak, and using effective strategies for evaluation of the program to understand the health status in the population (Lithovius et al. 2015). The desire of public health professionals in an epidemiological study is to understand the determinants of the disease and its distribution. The distribution and the patterns of a disease are important in determining the intervention programs and evaluations strategies to counter the disease outbreak.

In nursing practices, the descriptive epidemiology is one of the sources of information about the health status of the population. It helps give a picture regarding the distributions of the people and the patterns of disease outbreaks within the populations. Various variables are helpful in descriptive epidemiology. For example, the personal characteristics such as race, age, and sex are the terms used to describe the proportion of the populations that are affected the most by the disease outbreak (Teixeira et al. 2013). The place and year are important descriptive terms in public health because the interest of the public health officer's relates to the region suffering the effects of the disease. Sometimes, the regional imbalance in the spread of a disease creates some interest in the public health with the need to understand the distribution patterns. The time of the outbreak is important for the records where the researcher's users understand the periods when the disease outbreaks were intensive. The population patterns as dense, sparse, and linear types of settlement are some of the terminologies that the researchers need to understand the diseases control and distribution patterns in the population.

Healthcare professionals rely on the data from the public health records to determine the effects of the outbreak in the populations. Apparently, the practitioners use data like time, place, and population distribution in their practice because they are useful in describing the population suffering from the epidemics. The nurses use the knowledge of descriptive epidemiology to understand the determinants of a healthy population ranging from the outcomes of the exposure and the risks of the populations (Assiri, et al. 2013). The nurses are also part of the research team with intentions to understand risks of the exposures and necessary interventions programs in the populations. The ultimate goal of the study of epidemiology in nursing is to understand the spread of the risk factors, the populations that are the most susceptible to the infections and the most reliable interventions methods to use in the disease control measures in the population (Lithovius et al. 2015). The nurse practitioners have an interest in the best methods for monitoring the health status of the patients, the gender disparities in the infections and durations of the spread of the epidemic. The study if the disease outbreak in the population is important in the applications of the measures of control to a specific epidemic (Ausserhofer et al. 2014). The nurses have an interest in the heath personal characteristics, and risk factors that expose and individual to the disease.

Question 2

The study of the rates of infections in the population is not only a source of knowledge but also a guide for actions and decision-making. The public health officers use the knowledge of descriptive epidemiology to understand the patterns of disease outbreak and the most favorable measures to stop the epidemic. The information from the public helps in making an informed decision regarding the regulations of the spread of the epidemic (McElwaine et al. 2015). It is easier to treat the patient when the public health nurse has all the information and data to address the needs of the patients. The scientific knowledge for collecting and analyzing data guides in the decision making regarding the spread of the disease infections in the population.

The knowledge of applied epidemiology has been applied in monitoring the spread of communicable diseases in the community, and in the analysis of the risk factors for the spread of the disease within the environments of the populations. The epidemiology has triggered research in various sections of the public health to understand the variables making the populations susceptible to the spread of an epidemic (Canadas-De la et al. 2015). The idea of descriptive epidemiology helps in connecting the historical trends in the spread of disease with the current data to project for the future preventions measure. The aim of all the public health officials in their field research is to understand the patterns of the populations, and the means reduce susceptibility and the spread of the disease. The epidemiologic methods have been applied to generate information helpful in the decision making process in the population. The work of the public health officials is to make decisions and strategic plans to counter the disease outbreaks.

It is important to assess the situations of the population and determine the existing plans to stop the effects of disease outbreak in the population. Often, the data from the epidemiologic research guide the health professionals in determining whether the health services are accessible, available, efficient, and effective (Lithovius et al. 2015). The public health officers ask themselves important questions such as causes of health problems in the community, some of the existing risk factors, the people at risk, and the problems declining every time. Ideally, determining the relationship between the available services and the spread of the disease infections are important variables in the population (Ausserhofer et al. 2014). The research is interested in questions such as, who are the persons affected by the epidemiology" or how are the physical characteristics of the patients makes them susceptible to the disease infections in the country? The public health questions guide the research and help the research identify the actual needs of the populations. The knowledge of the descriptive epidemiology helps answer some of the questions that bother the public health nurses.

The individual decisions rely on the epidemiological research and information from the research. The population may not realize how epidemiologic information affects their daily decisions. For example, it is apparent to see people quit smoking, change diet, and start exercise because of the release of the public health concerns to curb the health problems that result from the unhealthy practices (Teixeira et al. 2013). The knowledge of descriptive epidemiology is applied in searching for causes of the infections in the community. In the epidemiological research, it is possible to discover the risk factors and the common causes of the disease outbreak. Often, the studies in the epidemiology prove the relationship between the disease and risk of the exposure.

In the 1970s, the outbreak of Pneumonia caused the death of many patients. As a result, the epidemiologic research helped in determining the risk factors, the most affected populations, and the strategies to stop the spreads of the disease in the population (Assiri, et al. 2013). The spread of the phenomena was not until the laboratory research that leads the identification of the cause of the problems and the problems treatment measures. The descriptive epidemiology has been used to diagnose the patients and in determining causes of the disease infections (Ausserhofer et al. 2014). There is a close relationship between clinical physicians and the laboratory research. For example, in the process of diagnosing the patients regarding the causes of the infections the collaborations of the clinical physicians and the laboratory specialist is important.