Even though health costs growth has decelerated of late, over the long-run healthcare expenditures have increased considerably, with per capita expenditure growing roughly tenfold from the 1980s (Radley & Schoen, 2012). The health expenditure growth has steadily outdone United States economic growth and is greater than health expenditure in other rich nations. In spite of spending more, America doesn’t have better outcomes regarding longer life or better health. Furthermore, the country has the greatest chronic illness burden and a higher rate of obesity compared to other developed countries. Also, American residents have fewer doctor visits than counterparts in most nations, which might be associated with a small supply of doctors in the United States. However, the United States outdoes its peers regarding preventive steps — the country has the uppermost levels of breast cancer screening amongst females aged between fifty to sixty-nine years and the 2nd-top rate of influenza vaccinations amongst persons aged sixty-five years and above (Mossialos et al., 2016).
What are the core functions of epidemiology? Select a core function and provide an example of how the choice can be demonstrated in healthcare practice.
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Epidemiology can be described as the analysis and study of the distribution, patterns and determining factors of health and illness conditions in given populaces (Last et al., 2001). The core functions of epidemiology include policy development, field investigation, public health surveillance, analytic studies, linkages, and evaluation. Epidemiologists, who are used to employing quantitative and systematic methods, play a vital role in the evaluation of community health services (Rothman, Greenland & Lash, 2008). Evaluation denotes the procedure of determining, as objectively and systematically as conceivable, the efficiency, effectiveness, relevance and effect of activities in regard to set goals. It can focus on plans, operations, impact, or outcomes — or some mixture of these. For example, the evaluation of an immunization initiative may evaluate the efficacy of the processes, the percentage of the target populace immunized, and the superficial effect of the intervention on the prevalence of vaccine-preventable illnesses.
References
Last, J. M., Harris, S. S., Thuriaux, M. C., & Spasoff, R. A. (2001). A dictionary of epidemiology . International Epidemiological Association, Inc..
Mossialos, E., Wenzl, M., Osborn, R., & Sarnak, D. (2016). 2015 international profiles of health care systems . Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health.
Radley, D. C., & Schoen, C. (2012). Geographic variation in access to care—the relationship with quality. N Engl J Med , 367 (1), 3-6.
Rothman, K. J., Greenland, S., & Lash, T. L. (Eds.). (2008). Modern epidemiology . Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
