How to Investigate an Epidemic?

In Epidemiology an Epidemic means:-

Epi= means ‘upon or above’ Demos= means ‘people’

Epidemic is defined as ‘sudden and abrupt rise of new cases of a disease in a given population, in a short time, exceeding the expectation as compared to past experience during the same time period.’

Consistent and continued high incidence of a disease in given geographic area is called ‘Endemic'. Sudden rise of incidence of a disease in one or more geographic areas of a country in a fixed period is called ‘Epidemic’.When it spreads from one country to other it is called ‘Pandemic’

A lay person may not be aware of the definition of epidemic but must have experienced its effects how severe it is during epidemic of ‘Dengue’ and ‘Swine Flu’.Under the circumstances all must know how to investigate and control the epidemic.

The presentation below deals with, what are the types of epidemics, what is the importance of investigation and how to proceed step by step to investigate an Epidemic.

Next blog post: How to manage an Epidemic?

CONCEPT OF HEALTH AND DISEASE

Like day and night, Health and Disease are the two sides of the same coin. These are critical concepts in bioethics having far-reaching social and political implications. There has to be some standards that can be used to assess whether people are ill or not.

Concepts of health and disease also connect themselves with environmental issues and theories of well-being.It is very complex to define what is health and disease. When person is well, and when sick. No single factor can decide this. Multiple factors are to be taken in to consideration to define what is health and what is disease.

Health is multidimensional, which explains its criticality, similarly disease is also difficult to define, which has different stages and occurs when there is an interaction between host and disease agent in a suitable environment.

Similarly there are some factors which influence health and certain conditions which are responsible for diseases condition.

Health is multidimensional, when a person is having healthy body, mind, and environment it is called positive health.

If he is sick, weak, bodily and depressed due to environmental and social factors it is called negative health or absence of well-being.

Similarly, Agent ,Host and Environment constitute the ‘Epidemiological triad’. When there is an interaction between the host (human being)

And the agent(Organism responsible for the disease) in a suitable environment, then the disease process starts. It is called as ‘Natural history of disease’.

WHO has defined health as “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely absence of any disease or infirmity”. 

 

What is health, what is well-being, the factors influencing health, what are dimensions of health and how the disease process starts and how it can be controlled.How can person live a disease free life and how diseases can be prevented?

To get an answer to the above quarries let us go to this simple presentation.

Next attraction: EPIDEMICS

Keep reading to know more.

Thank You 

CONCEPT OF EPIDEMIOLOGY

Hi All!

The Idol of Hospital has been constructed in previous presentation.

Now we have to decorate it with inclusion of various hospital services there in, but, this is only possible when I receive comments on previous presentations, and so you have to wait till then.

Start commenting, to know further!

Today we will be discussing on a new subject, ‘The Epidemiology’

Most of you who have a medical background, have read about epidemiology in your graduation courses. Epidemiology is at the core of Public health. It assists in identification of health related conditions and suggests how to control and prevent them to stay healthy.

What is the concept of epidemiology, how it helps in health administration and the factors responsible for causing ill health conditions are explained in this presentation.

Planning for a New Hospital

Let us recapitulate what we have discussed so far. We started with an introduction to career as Hospital Administrator, and the various opportunities available to serve as administrator in the field of Health.

Then we discussed how the name ‘HOSPITAL’ originated and various definitions of hospital.

After this , tried to know more about hospital, like Hospital system, peculiarities of Hospital as an Organisation, with passage of time how the role and function of the hospital is changing(ref) and challenges being faced by the modern hospitals(ref).

Finally we tried to acknowledge the qualities and roles of a Hospital Administrator.

Now we will prepare the Idol of the Hospital and ornament it with various services step by step.

We prepare Idols of Ma Durga, Ma Saraswati, Lord Ganesh and so on, then we decorate them with ornaments and Instruments to give them a complete shape before we start Worshiping.Similarly the Idol of the Hospital starts with planning for a new hospital.

The planning of a hospital begins with formation of a planning team. What is this planning team? What is the necessity of such a team and how it functions?

Planning of a new hospital starts from selection of site to commissioning of the hospital. There are various important steps in hospital planning and each step has its own importance.

Therefore, we will discuss step by step how a new hospital is commissioned from its stage of planning in the today’s presentation.