Data and Health Indicators in Public Health Practice

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Data and Health Indicators in Public Health Practice

This course is part of Epidemiology in Public Health Practice Specialization

Instructor: Keri Althoff, PhD, MPH

38,629 already enrolled

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4 modules

Gain insight into a topic and learn the fundamentals.

1,259 reviews

Beginner level

No prior experience required

Flexible schedule

6 hours to complete

Learn at your own pace

97%

Most learners liked this course

4 modules

Gain insight into a topic and learn the fundamentals.

1,259 reviews

Beginner level

No prior experience required

Flexible schedule

6 hours to complete

Learn at your own pace

97%

Most learners liked this course

Skills you'll gain

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Shareable certificate

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Assessments

4 assignments

Taught in English

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This course is part of the Epidemiology in Public Health Practice Specialization

When you enroll in this course, you'll also be enrolled in this Specialization.

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There are 4 modules in this course

Epidemiology is often described as the cornerstone science in public health. Epidemiology in public health practice uses study design and analyses to identify causes in an outbreak situation, guides interventions to improve population health, and evaluates programs and policies.

In this course, we'll define the role of the professional epidemiologist as it relates to public health services, functions, and competencies. With that foundation in mind, we'll introduce you to the problem solving methodology and demonstrate how it can be used in a wide variety of settings to identify problems, propose solutions, and evaluate interventions. This methodology depends on the use of reliable data, so we'll take a deep dive into the routine and public health data systems that lie at the heart of epidemiology and then conclude with how you can use that data to calculate measures of disease burden in populations.

In this module, we will introduce the problem solving methodology. This methodology is a powerful tool that can useful when identifying a public health problem, building the case that there truly is a problem, suggesting interventions, and suggestions ways to evaluate the interventions and disseminate the findings of the evaluation.

What's included

11 videos1 reading1 assignment1 discussion prompt

11 videosTotal 57 minutes

Welcome to Epidemiology Methods in Public Health Practice1 minute
Welcome to Problem-Solving Methodology1 minute
Introduction to Methodology5 minutes
Problem Definition Part 112 minutes
Problem Definition Part 24 minutes
Magnitude of the Problem4 minutes
Conceptual Framework10 minutes
Action Plan9 minutes
Actions and Evaluations6 minutes
Communication3 minutes
Summary2 minutes

1 readingTotal 10 minutes

Course Projects10 minutes

1 assignmentTotal 30 minutes

Methodology30 minutes

1 discussion promptTotal 10 minutes

Application of Problem Solving Methodology10 minutes

In this module, we dive deeper into what lies at the heart of epidemiology: data! More specifically, we will look at routine and public health data systems.

What's included

9 videos1 assignment1 discussion prompt

9 videosTotal 55 minutes

Welcome to Data Sources in Public Health1 minute
Data For Public Health Practice12 minutes
Medical Record Systems4 minutes
Administrative Record Systems4 minutes
Assessing the Quality of Mortality Statistics in the Americas12 minutes
Public Health information Systems: Population-based Surveys12 minutes
Public Health Information Systems: Registries3 minutes
Public Health Information Systems: Surveillance Systems2 minutes
Common Problems of Routine and Public Health Information Systems5 minutes

1 assignmentTotal 30 minutes

Routine and Public Health Information Systems30 minutes

1 discussion promptTotal 10 minutes

Using Publicly Available Data10 minutes

In this module we will use data from routine and public health information systems to measure the burden of disease in the population. We will calculate crude mortality rates, and then apply direct and indirect age standardization methods.

What's included

8 videos1 reading1 assignment1 discussion prompt

8 videosTotal 50 minutes

Welcome to Measures of Disease Burden1 minute
Measures of Disease Burden5 minutes
Direct Age Adjustment14 minutes
Indirect Age Adjustment9 minutes
Years of Potential Life Lost6 minutes
Life Expectancy5 minutes
Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALY)5 minutes
Quality-Adjusted Life Years (QALY)5 minutes

1 readingTotal 10 minutes

Direct Age Adjustment Exercise Resources10 minutes

1 assignmentTotal 30 minutes

Measures of Disease Burden30 minutes

1 discussion promptTotal 10 minutes

Most Important Health Indicator?10 minutes

In this module, we'll discuss health indicators, which are important measurements of the health of a population. There are numerous health indicators that help us paint the picture of a populations health. We'll talk about characteristics of good health indicators to provide a little guidance on how to choose health indicators for the public health problem of interest. Then, we'll use the example of the health indicator of liver cancer incidence to explore descriptive epidemiology. We will stratify liver cancer incidence by person, place, and time, to build our skills in descriptive epidemiology.

What's included

9 videos1 assignment

9 videosTotal 39 minutes

Welcome to Health Indicators1 minute
Health Indicators12 minutes
Selecting Health Indicators5 minutes
Descriptive Epidemiology: Person, Place, and Time Trends2 minutes
Descriptive Epidemiology: Time6 minutes
Descriptive Epidemiology: Person5 minutes
Descriptive Epidemiology: Place5 minutes
Summary2 minutes
Concluding Thoughts0 minutes

1 assignmentTotal 30 minutes

Health Indicators30 minutes

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Instructor

Instructor ratings

(233 ratings)

Keri Althoff, PhD, MPH

Johns Hopkins University

1 Course38,629 learners

Offered by

Johns Hopkins University

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Reviewed on Dec 13, 2019

Excellent introduction to epidemiology and public health, all the topics link together well and provide a good understanding of the public health basics which assist with related study and work.

Reviewed on Feb 8, 2020

Very useful course. Calculations of age adjusted mortality rates is difficult to understand, although very useful to have the Excel sheets.

Reviewed on Nov 19, 2017

I loved how everything was explained in such a simple and understandable manner. Thank you for providing me with immense knowledge in this field.

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To access the course materials, assignments and to earn a Certificate, you will need to purchase the Certificate experience when you enroll in a course. You can try a Free Trial instead, or apply for Financial Aid. The course may offer 'Full Course, No Certificate' instead. This option lets you see all course materials, submit required assessments, and get a final grade. This also means that you will not be able to purchase a Certificate experience.

When you enroll in the course, you get access to all of the courses in the Specialization, and you earn a certificate when you complete the work. Your electronic Certificate will be added to your Accomplishments page - from there, you can print your Certificate or add it to your LinkedIn profile.

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