Applied Epidemiology for Infection Prevention and Control Professionals

The course is fundamental to a successful infection prevention and public health career. Epidemiology is the systematic and rigorous study of health and disease in a population. The purpose of this course is to introduce core concepts in epidemiology as a foundation for further learning in the public health field and the infection prevention field. Students will learn about several aspects of epidemiology and will discover and learn to apply analytical methods to study patterns of disease and injury. Upon learning concepts of inference, bias and confounding the students will assess epidemiological associations and causation of disease. Students will recognize how to apply these concepts to inform basic and clinical science as well as policy. The course requires problem-based learning of epidemiological concepts and methods, so the students will be able to use epidemiology as a scientific tool for addressing the health needs of the community and the hospital environment. Topics covered in this course include basic principles of epidemiology, measures of disease frequency, epidemiologic study designs: experimental and observational, bias; confounding; outbreak investigations; screening; causality; and ethical issues in epidemiologic research. In addition, students will develop skills to read, interpret, and evaluate health information from published epidemiologic studies.