Epidemiology and the Delivery of Health Care Services Methods and Applications [Paperback]

This completely revised and updated edition of an outstanding text addresses the fundamental knowledge of epidemiological methods and statistics that can be applied to evolving systems, programs, technologies, and policies. This edition presents new chapters on causal thinking, ethics, and web resources, analyzes data on multinational increases in poverty and longevity, details the control of transmissible diseases, and explains quality management, and the evaluation of healthcare system performance.

This fully revised and updated edition addresses the fundamentals of epidemiological methods and statistics applicable to evolving systems, programs, technologies and policies in the healthcare industry. New chapters discuss casual thinking, economics, ethics, and web resources on a global scale.

As the obesity epidemic widens to all age groups and nations, chronic conditions increase in frequency, and populations grow in number, the costs of treatment will exhaust future health care resources. The only alternative is population-based m- agement emphasizing prevention, health promotion, and environmental modifi- tions. Dissemination of information on risk factors derived from epidemiologic studies to evoke individual, community, and policy change is a strategy in suppo- ing this approach. Complementing this needs to be health care services based upon the knowledge and application of epidemiologic concepts and methods to achieve control of existing and emerging health problems given resource constraints and ethical considerations. While some of these health problems and their consequences are predictable and generally addressed by health systems, health care services need to address unpredictable exposures and events as well. Epidemiology also provides a framework for planning health services for unpredictable events such as natural and man-made disasters. This text focuses on the unique application of epidemiology to health care m- agl(