Methodology of Investigation/Health Population III

Recommended Prerequisites

Knowledge and skills that students should know how to use before they begin studying this curricular unit:

A: Knowledge:

It is taken for granted that students already have basic knowledge before they begin studying this unit which is enough to acquire its content. This basic knowledge includes specially the following items:

- Biostatistics – know how to use the main descriptive and inferential statistics techniques.

- Sociology – ability to understand the main sociological problems.

- Medicine History – knowledge concerning evolution of Medicine throughout times.

- Medical Pathology – basic knowledge about the main diseases and risk factors.

- Planning in health and knowledge of Health Systems and Services (within the National Health Service).

B. Skills and Attitudes:

English Language – ability to read, understand, write and speak English at a level which is enough to understand the recommended bibliography and communicate scientifically.      

Teaching Methods

Theoretical and practical lessons

Learning Outcomes

Students should achieve the following specific objectives:

In the cognitive domain: allow and encourage the acquisition of knowledge about:

1. Epidemiology History.

2. Epidemiology Methods.

3. Epidemiology Techniques.

In the affective domain: creation and development of the following attitudes:

1. Preventionist.

2. Interest for the study and behaviour of diseases.

3. Interest for the study of environmental and behaviour conditions and their improvement.

4. Concern with population’s quality of life in general.

5. Interest for the study of the main medical and social problems.

In the physical and motor domain: acquisition of the following abilities:

1.  Know how to use, calculate and interpret the different epidemiological techniques.

2. Elaborate and apply epidemiological surveys.

3. Apply the epidemiological principles and techniques to the clinical practice.

4. Apply informatics means to epidemiology.

     

Work Placement(s)

No

Syllabus

• Concept of normality
• Population at risk
• Usual Techniques in Epidemiology
• Taxes
• Ratios
• Proportions
• Prevalence
• Incidence
• Cumulative Incidence
• Raw and standardized Taxes
• Denominators
• Models of epidemiological investigation
• Indicators of Health
• Potential Years of Life Lost (PYLL)
• Relative Risk
• Odds Ratio
• Main epidemiological studies
• Bias
• Confounding factors
• Screening tests
• Inquiry  
• Brief summary of the history of science
• Main stages of the Investigation
• Diagnostic Tests and procedures, selection, use and interpretation
• The process of clinical reasoning.   

Head Lecturer(s)

Salvador Manuel Correia Massano Cardoso

Assessment Methods

Assessment
Exam: 100.0%

Bibliography

- Notas e Técnicas Epidemiológicas -Salvador Massano Cardoso - Fac. Medicina - Coimbra, 5ª edição 2005.

- Epidemiologie, Principes, Techniques, Applications - J. Jenicek e R. Cleroux .  

- Clinical Epidemiology. The Architecture of Clinical Researche - Alvan R. Feisten - W. B. Saunders Company, Philadelphia, 1985.

- Moderna Saúde Pública - F. A. Gonçalves Ferreira - Fundação CaloustGulbenkian - 5a ed. - 2 Vol., Lisboa.

- Nutrição Humana - F. A. Gonçalves Ferreira - Fundação Caloust Gulbenkian 1 Vol., Lisboa. .  

- Medicina Preventiva e Saúde Pública - Sartwell e Maxey - F. C. Gulbenkian- 2a ed.-2 Vol., Lisboa.

- Nutrition and its Disorders - Donald S. Maclaren - Churchill Livingston - 3a ed. Edimburg.

- Principles of Epidemiology - L. H. Roht - Academic Press - London, 1982.

- Primer of Epidemiology - G. Friedman - McGraw - Hill, 1980.

- Epidemiology - J. Mausner e A. Baling - W. B. Saunders, Co., 1974.

- Foudation of Epidemiology - Lilienfeld and Lilienf