When I first embarked on undertaking this epidemiology course, I believed that the subject only covered a few basic areas of public health research. For example, I knew that epidemiology describes the patterns, causes, and effects of diseases that affected most human societies. Similarly, I understood that the area of study helped to identify risk factors (such as unhealthy lifestyles and environmental exposures to pollutants) that cause diseases and how such factors could help to formulate preventive health interventions. However, I was surprised to find out that the depth of epidemiology was further than I thought. For example, instead of being a small aspect of public health, I found out that epidemiology was the cornerstone of public health (Szklo & Nieto, 2014). I also found out that the study area informed policy decisions, and contributed to developing clinical health methodologies.
Based on the importance of epidemiology to public health practice, I also learned that epidemiology could not stand on its own; it depends on other facets of clinical research to provide a holistic understanding of the public health practice (Winkelstein, 2004). For example, I found out that epidemiology depends on biology to outline disease patterns that cause health outbreaks (Szklo & Nieto, 2014). Similarly, I found out that statistics were vital for the efficient use of data in the study area. Similarly, they were useful in making informed decisions in public health (this is why it was interesting that we seldom used statistical techniques in the course). Lastly, I learned that epidemiology relies on social sciences to investigate proximate and distal causes of disease outbreaks because this was the best way for understanding the relationship between environmental agents and disease patterns (Szklo & Nieto, 2014). Collectively, these insights explain the knowledge gained from taking the course.
Although the entire epidemiology course was useful to the public health practice, I found that disease transmission was a more useful topic area (compared to other topic areas). This statement stems from the importance of transmission prevention skills in managing public health crises. For example, I used epidemiology concepts in evaluating my Sierra Leone-based public health for preventing Ebola and found out that managing disease transmission was the solution to containing the crisis.
Throughout the course, I realized that the types of epidemiology studies and measures of association were the most useful discussions in the study area. The need for focused public health interventions highlighted the importance of understanding different types of epidemiology studies. Similarly, the need for understanding causation in public health practice emphasizes the need for comprehending measures of association as an important discussion in epidemiology (LaMorte, 2014).
Since epidemiology bases its findings on scientific data, I expected that we would use statistical analysis techniques, such as SPSS, extensively, in this topic area. However, this was not the case. For example, throughout the course, we discussed the importance of disease surveillance and descriptive studies when investigating the epidemiology of diseases. SPSS could have provided a deep insight into descriptive metrics and frequency of distribution. Although partly covered, there was more room to include such statistical tools in the topic.
Given the knowledge I have acquired by studying epidemiology, I find that my newly acquired skills would help me to contribute to lowering the risk of future health outbreaks. Similarly, I would use the information obtained from this study focus to improve my effectiveness in disease detection. This advantage would allow me to improve my response time to disease outbreaks. Collectively, these skills would help me to promote positive social change.
References
LaMorte, W. W. (2014). Historical views of causation. Web.
Szklo, M., & Nieto, J. (2014). Epidemiology: Beyond the Basics. Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Publishers.
Winkelstein, W. (2004). Vignettes of the history of epidemiology: Three firsts by Janet Elizabeth Lane-Claypon. American Journal of Epidemiology, 160(2), 97–101.