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Unit of study_

PUBH5010: Epidemiology Methods and Uses

This unit provides students with core skills in epidemiology, particularly the ability to critically appraise public health and clinical epidemiological research literature regarding public health and clinical issues. This unit covers: study types; measures of frequency and association; measurement bias; confounding/effect modification; randomized trials; systematic reviews; screening and test evaluation; infectious disease outbreaks; measuring public health impact and use and interpretation of population health data. CIasses may be face to face or on-line and student attendance is expected at ALL classes. Students are expected to spend an additional two to three hours at least each week preparing for their classes.

Code PUBH5010
Academic unit Public Health
Credit points 6
Prerequisites:
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None
Corequisites:
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None
Prohibitions:
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BSTA5011

At the completion of this unit, you should be able to:

  • LO1. identify whether the hypothesis of a paper is concerned with the efficacy of intervention, causality, test accuracy, or determining the magnitude of the health problem
  • LO2. identify which study type has been used, and judge how this affects the interpretation of the results
  • LO3. calculate and interpret measures of disease frequency and measures of association
  • LO4. identify and assess the implications of the main forms of bias (selection, measurement, confounding, lead time, and length time) in epidemiological and clinical medicine research
  • LO5. distinguish which of the methodological flaws in any paper are the most important
  • LO6. assess the overall quality of a research paper or report concerned with defining the magnitude of a health problem, evaluating the effect of a health intervention, causal inference, evaluating screening tests, and interpreting their use in different populations
  • LO7. assess the reliability, validity, and efficacy of a diagnostic test
  • LO8. (critically) appraise and use a systematic review
  • LO9. assess infectious disease outbreaks
  • LO10. identify and interpret key sources of population health data.