Data and Health Indicators in Public Health Practice

Data and Health Indicators in Public Health Practice

This course is part of Epidemiology in Public Health Practice Specialization

Instructor: Keri Althoff, PhD, MPH

Access provided by Orange

37,724 already enrolled

4 modules

Gain insight into a topic and learn the fundamentals.

1,230 reviews

Beginner level

No prior experience required

Flexible schedule

6 hours to complete

Learn at your own pace

97%

Most learners liked this course

4 modules

Gain insight into a topic and learn the fundamentals.

1,230 reviews

Beginner level

No prior experience required

Flexible schedule

6 hours to complete

Learn at your own pace

97%

Most learners liked this course

Skills you'll gain

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Assessments

4 assignments

Taught in English

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This course is part of the Epidemiology in Public Health Practice Specialization

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There are 4 modules in this course

Epidemiology is often described as the cornerstone science in public health. Epidemiology in public health practice uses study design and analyses to identify causes in an outbreak situation, guides interventions to improve population health, and evaluates programs and policies.

In this course, we'll define the role of the professional epidemiologist as it relates to public health services, functions, and competencies. With that foundation in mind, we'll introduce you to the problem solving methodology and demonstrate how it can be used in a wide variety of settings to identify problems, propose solutions, and evaluate interventions. This methodology depends on the use of reliable data, so we'll take a deep dive into the routine and public health data systems that lie at the heart of epidemiology and then conclude with how you can use that data to calculate measures of disease burden in populations.

In this module, we will introduce the problem solving methodology. This methodology is a powerful tool that can useful when identifying a public health problem, building the case that there truly is a problem, suggesting interventions, and suggestions ways to evaluate the interventions and disseminate the findings of the evaluation.

What's included

11 videos1 reading1 assignment1 discussion prompt

11 videos Total 57 minutes

Welcome to Epidemiology Methods in Public Health Practice 1 minute
Welcome to Problem-Solving Methodology 1 minute
Introduction to Methodology 5 minutes
Problem Definition Part 1 12 minutes
Problem Definition Part 2 4 minutes
Magnitude of the Problem 4 minutes
Conceptual Framework 10 minutes
Action Plan 9 minutes
Actions and Evaluations 6 minutes
Communication 3 minutes
Summary 2 minutes

1 reading Total 10 minutes

Course Projects 10 minutes

1 assignment Total 30 minutes

Methodology 30 minutes

1 discussion prompt Total 10 minutes

Application of Problem Solving Methodology 10 minutes

In this module, we dive deeper into what lies at the heart of epidemiology: data! More specifically, we will look at routine and public health data systems.

What's included

9 videos1 assignment1 discussion prompt

9 videos Total 55 minutes

Welcome to Data Sources in Public Health 1 minute
Data For Public Health Practice 12 minutes
Medical Record Systems 4 minutes
Administrative Record Systems 4 minutes
Assessing the Quality of Mortality Statistics in the Americas 12 minutes
Public Health information Systems: Population-based Surveys 12 minutes
Public Health Information Systems: Registries 3 minutes
Public Health Information Systems: Surveillance Systems 2 minutes
Common Problems of Routine and Public Health Information Systems 5 minutes

1 assignment Total 30 minutes

Routine and Public Health Information Systems 30 minutes

1 discussion prompt Total 10 minutes

Using Publicly Available Data 10 minutes

In this module we will use data from routine and public health information systems to measure the burden of disease in the population. We will calculate crude mortality rates, and then apply direct and indirect age standardization methods.

What's included

8 videos1 reading1 assignment1 discussion prompt

8 videos Total 50 minutes

Welcome to Measures of Disease Burden 1 minute
Measures of Disease Burden 5 minutes
Direct Age Adjustment 14 minutes
Indirect Age Adjustment 9 minutes
Years of Potential Life Lost 6 minutes
Life Expectancy 5 minutes
Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALY) 5 minutes
Quality-Adjusted Life Years (QALY) 5 minutes

1 reading Total 10 minutes

Direct Age Adjustment Exercise Resources 10 minutes

1 assignment Total 30 minutes

Measures of Disease Burden 30 minutes

1 discussion prompt Total 10 minutes

Most Important Health Indicator? 10 minutes

In this module, we'll discuss health indicators, which are important measurements of the health of a population. There are numerous health indicators that help us paint the picture of a populations health. We'll talk about characteristics of good health indicators to provide a little guidance on how to choose health indicators for the public health problem of interest. Then, we'll use the example of the health indicator of liver cancer incidence to explore descriptive epidemiology. We will stratify liver cancer incidence by person, place, and time, to build our skills in descriptive epidemiology.

What's included

9 videos1 assignment

9 videos Total 39 minutes

Welcome to Health Indicators 1 minute
Health Indicators 12 minutes
Selecting Health Indicators 5 minutes
Descriptive Epidemiology: Person, Place, and Time Trends 2 minutes
Descriptive Epidemiology: Time 6 minutes
Descriptive Epidemiology: Person 5 minutes
Descriptive Epidemiology: Place 5 minutes
Summary 2 minutes
Concluding Thoughts 0 minutes

1 assignment Total 30 minutes

Health Indicators 30 minutes

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Instructor

Instructor ratings

(212 ratings)

Keri Althoff, PhD, MPH

Johns Hopkins University

1 Course 37,724 learners

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Johns Hopkins University

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Reviewed on Dec 13, 2019

Excellent introduction to epidemiology and public health, all the topics link together well and provide a good understanding of the public health basics which assist with related study and work.

Reviewed on Feb 26, 2019

Me encantó, es un buen curso introductorio a la salud pública. Te permite comprender los conceptos básicos con excelentes ejemplos. Es muy rápido pero te brinda material por si quieres profundizar.

Reviewed on Sep 4, 2017

great course even for a beginner like me I found it very clear helpful and the seminars ,videos teacher ,very good and interesting well constructed

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