Public Health and Epidemiology (SVUEK_089)
About Study Course
Objective
The aim of the course is to provide knowledge and understanding in the basic questions of public health and epidemiology, as well as to create scientific, critical, systematic and analytic thinking of the students.
Prerequisites
Required preliminary knowledge in the philosophy of causation, probability theory and mathematical statistics. Desirable preliminary knowledge in normal and pathological physiology as well as in prophedetics.
Learning outcomes
Will define the term health and name main groups of health determining factors.
Will formulate public health scientific and practical objectives.
Will define disease prevention levels and main functions of health promotion.
Will outline historic development of epidemiology and current understanding with future challenges.
Will identify and interpret causal, risk, associated health and disease factors within the frame of multi factorial disease causation theory.
Will define principles to measure health events and states.
Will formulate basic demographic measures.
Will describe types of health information, their sources and quality influencing factors.
Will differ reliability, accuracy and performance measures in health.
Will classify main designs of epidemiological studies. Will name their advantages and disadvantages.
Will explain concepts of confounding and bias.
Will distinguish causal and non-causal associations between factors and health.
Will calculate measures of health events and states.
Will calculate demographic measures.
Will use direct and indirect method for measure comparisons.
Will calculate reliability, specificity, sensitivity and predictive value of tests.
Will use electronic databases to acquire health information.
Will assess validity of epidemiological studies according to their design.
Will justify the necessity of empiric data in the practice of public health and its use to define and solve public health problems.
Using quantitative empiric data will assess public health and health care priorities.
Will use epidemiological and demographic measures in the health research.
Will critically assess health information in relation to it's data sources.
Will assess effectiveness of treatment, prevention and health promotion.
