Epidemiology and the Delivery of Health Care Services - Essay Example

An archetypal epidemiologic question may entail the number of new cases of AIDS that were reported about teenagers in American society in a given year. The estimates will demonstrate the occurrence of the disease and whether an increase or decrease is experienced in the age group.

Epidemiology is a vital tool for the health and safety of communities, and the whole populace, as epidemiologists discover and measure events associated with health within a chosen population. As a result, the scientific field formulates various models of how an event occurs to develop a better understanding of health events on an advanced level. In this case, the field is utilized as a problem-solving process. For instance, the occurrence of an unknown virus within a population requires the expertise of epidemiologists to analyze its root causes. The analysis results in advanced knowledge about the virus and, as a result, its root causes are discovered, which proves beneficial in the prevention of a similar occurrence (Oleske, 2009).

The scientific field is imperative to public health as it provides a basis for scrutinizing, prioritizing, and evaluating as well as developing public health activities and programs. Health programs are developed when the need arises, and the field of epidemiology is beneficial in the assessment of needs. For instance, the scientific study answers questions associated with current problems typifying a community and the adequacy and accessibility of health services. In this context, epidemiology can be utilized as a health surveillance tool to assess the scope and frequency of potential health problems through surveys to evaluate the need for health programs (Smith, 2001).

The realm of medicine requires more studies that analyze the various aspects of contemporary issues because it is a human biology as well as a social science typified by rapid changes. Epidemiology is broad with enormous suggestions for laboratory, and clinical research, and offers numerous possibilities for the testing hypothesis that emerges from contemporary research about the emergence of diseases. Therefore, medicine requires the help of epidemiology studies to enhance its scope.  Read More