How Have Epidemics Changed? Research Paper

epidemiology changed and evolved from the 1900s to the present? What effects have these changes had in your area of health care?

More than a hundred years ago, the primary focus of epidemiology was on containing the spread of epidemics such as cholera, tuberculosis, and polio. Knowledge about disease transmission, improved sanitation, and vaccinations have made many of these diseases either manageable or eradicated them. Today, the primary challenge for epidemiology is the shift to focusing on lifestyle-related complaints such as obesity, inactivity, and smoking which cause chronic illnesses such as heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. Often, these can be more difficult to treat given that the lifestyle changes that they require both individuals and government to make are more complex and far-reaching than simply improving sanitation or getting vaccinated.

As a result, there is a greater need to educate the public and to encourage changes in habits and behavior, such as eating patterns. The government must take a more holistic focus to make it more difficult to engage in disease-promoting behaviors like eating fast food and smoking. Measures include advising patients about how to make dietary changes and offering support for smoking cessation. Unlike, say, smallpox, it is unlikely that lifestyle-related complaints will ever be completely eradicated: instead, the emphasis is upon risk mitigation and reduction of problem behaviors which will subsequently bring about less disease (Achievements in public health, 1999, MMWR).Q2. A variety of data sources are used in epidemiology, such as vital health care demographic statistics, disease registries, and data from health insurance databases. Select an available data source in your health care organization. What are this source's strengths and weaknesses? Provide an example of its use in your setting. (You can use a hospital setting)

Disease registries offer data such as patient reports, progress reports, and reports stratified according to populations. They can be useful to evaluate what treatments are effective for specific conditions; what populations are most likely to be affected by a specific disease, and other disease-specific information (What are disease registries, 2014, HRSA). They are relatively easy to search and are highly targeted and specific. They are also compiled by relatively objective outside sources: the populations are viewed through a distinctly 'medical' lens, unlike information complied by a health insurance company, which is more influenced by the business' financial needs. A disease registry can help a healthcare provider "identify the top areas to track within your own patient population, including immunizations, pre-hypertension and hypertension, obesity, and other conditions" (Jalkiewicz 2013).

Their main problem with using such registries, however, is that because they are disease-specific, they are not necessarily helpful with diagnosis or patients who have multiple conditions, ambiguous symptoms, or who exhibit pathologies that do not neatly fit into the category of 'disease.' A….....