JORDAN UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Faculty of Medicine - DEPT. of Public Health.
EPIDEMIOLOGY (PH 760) - 3 Credit Hours
Coordinator: Professor Anwar Batieha
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This course describes the principal epidemiological concepts and their
role to improve public health program delivery. The core epidemiological
functions are substantiated by the main uses of epidemiology in health
services.
The course would also include identifying those components of the applied
epidemiology training that are relevant to public health problems in
Jordan.
The course covers: sources of epidemiological data; dynamics of disease
transmission; types of epidemiological methods; measuring disease
occurrence; assessing the natural history of disease; identifying the
cause of disease; assessing the efficacy of preventing and therapeutic
measures; examining validity and reliability of diagnostic tests
2. GENERAL LEARNING OBJECTIVES
By the end of this course, trainees are expected to:
- Summarize epidemiological approach to address public health
problems.
- Explain the core epidemiological functions
- Describe the role of applied epidemiology in support of MoH
mission and goals
- Discuss main uses of epidemiology
- Identify sources of epidemiological data
- Describe dynamics of disease transmission
- Assess indices used in measuring disease occurrence
- Examine potential uses of different types of epidemiological methods
-
Examine methods to identify the cause of disease
-
Assess the validity and reliability of diagnostic and screening tests
- diagnosis
assessing the natural history of disease - prognosis
assessing the efficacy of preventing and therapeutic measures –
therapy
Using epidemiology in health service evaluation and in evaluation of
screening
3. METHODS OF INSTRUCTION
Emphasis is on case-based instruction, with students actively
participating in their learning. Instructional methods include:
- Lectures
- Group discussion
- Group projects
- Homework assignments
- Library meetings and reviewing literatures
4. RECOMMENDED TEXT BOOKS
Epidemiology by Leon Gordis, 3rd. edition
Principles of epidemiology 2nd. Edition, US Department of Health and
Human Services, CDC, Epidemiology Program Office.
5. COURSE LEARNING OBJECTIVES
No.
Title
Learning Objectives
1
Epidemiological
concepts
2
Uses of
epidemiology
3
Sources of
epidemiology
data
Explain foundation of role of epidemiology in improving
population health
Describe functions of epidemiologist
Describe epidemiology approach to disease and
intervention
Explain use of epidemiology in identifying disease
causation
Discuss the use of epidemiology in health service
evaluation and policy
Explain concept and application of clinical epidemiology
list main sources of epidemiology data
Differentiate between routine and survey data
No.
Title
Learning Objectives
4
Dynamics of
disease
transmission
Identify modes of transmission
Differentiate between clinical and sub clinical disease
Differentiate between endemic, epidemic and pandemic
status
Define herd immunity
5
Measuring
disease
occurrence
6
Descriptive
Epidemiological
methods
Differentiate between incidence and prevalence
Identify problems with incidence and prevalence
Describe relationship between incidence and prevalence
Describe measures of mortality
Identify proportional rates
Describe years of potential life lost
Summarize problems with mortality data
Calculate direct and indirect age adjustment
Identify measures of quality of life
Describe the different types of descriptive
epidemiological studies
List uses of descriptive studies
Describe the differences between a survey and
surveillance
7
Analytic
Epidemiological
studies
Describe the differences between descriptive and analytic
studies
Describe characteristics of a cohort (prospective) study
Describe characteristics of a case control (retrospective)
study
8
Association and
causation
9
Validity and
reliability of
diagnostic tests
Explain the differences between the various models of
causation
State the relationship between association and causation
Explain the different types of causal inference
List Hill's causal criteria
Identify: Bias, confounding and interaction
Describe concept of sensitivity and specificity
Discuss Bayes' rule
Compute predictive value of a test
Calculate likelihood ratio
Describe trade off between sensitivity and specificity
Identify uses of Receiver operator characteristic
Describe relation of prevalence to PVP
Discuss multiple testing
Calculate reliability indices of tests
No.
Title
Learning Objectives
10
Natural history
of disease –
Expressing
prognosis
11
Efficacy of
preventive and
therapeutic
measures
Compute case fatality rate
compute person – years
Discuss survival measures
Calculate a life table
Describe the Kaplan – Meier method
Describe randomization in clinical trails
Discuss measurement of outcome
Describe crossover design
Describe factorial design
Discuss ethical considerations in clinical trails
12
Evaluation of
health service
and evaluation of
screening
programs
Differentiate: Efficacy, effectiveness and efficiency
Identify measures of outcome
Evaluation using individual data
Natural history of disease and disease progression
Study designs for evaluation of screening programs