Intended Audience

Introductory level course for professionals in public health. Also a good refresher course for more experienced public health staff.

Course Description

This course focuses on areas in public health practice where an understanding of epidemiological methods is critical to the assessment, analysis and interpretation of data on health and disease. Areas include planning, surveillance, surveys, screening, outbreak investigations, and communicating health information to the public.

An interactive, problem-solving approach is used to define, measure the magnitude of, and identify the determinants in community health problems. Each area is examined in the context of a case study to provide exposure to situations that have actually been encountered. Approaches to identifying and developing prevention and intervention strategies based on community data and priorities will also be discussed.

Download Course Flyer [66KB Adobe PDF file]

Objectives

• Explain epidemiology as it relates to different contexts (public health, clinical practice, and academic settings)
• Describe key epidemiological concepts as they relate to community assessment
• Clarify the use of data to motivate communities to undertake prevention programs
• Use local data to prioritize health issues at the community level

Format

Course is lecture format and uses case studies to provide exposure to situations typically encountered in practice. Participants are encouraged to submit issues from their own work experience that could be used in conjunction with the case studies.

Estimated Time to Complete

This course is designed as a residential training over two and a half days. However, the scope of the course can be modified to fit into a shorter time frame if desired.

Course Instructor

James L. Gale, MD, MS
Professor, Department of Epidemiology
University of Washington

About the Instructor

Dr. Gale frequently recruits a local epidemiology specialist to be co-instructor of this course. This has been a successful format for integrating current local issues with key course concepts.

Participant Comments

"All instructors were knowledgeable and well-prepared."
"Case studies were great, as well as the interaction between participants."

Previous Offerings

June, 2003. Summer Institute for Public Health in Bozeman, MT.

Scheduling and Additional Information

For more information, or to schedule this course at your organization in the Northwest region (AK, ID, OR, MT, WA, WY), please e-mail NWCPHP or call (206) 685-1130.