Deck 9: Epidemiology

Question 1

Case 1 A public health nurse (PHN)is explaining to a fourth-year nursing student how to use health statistics to understand population health.
(Refer to Case 1 above. )The nursing student wants to administer a survey about smoking behaviours to students in various grade levels within the school district to identify the best grade to initiate health education.A follow-up survey will be administered to assess the effectiveness of the educational program.What type of research design would be best at providing the epidemiological information needed in this scenario?

A) Cross-sectional study
B) Cohort design
C) Randomized control trial
D) Case-control methodology

Answer 1

Cross-sectional study

Question 2

What is an example of tertiary prevention of a communicable disease?

A) Observing clients taking tuberculosis medication
B) Demonstrating vaccine efficacy rates
C) Encouraging frequent handwashing during flu season
D) Immunizing students during a meningitis outbreak

Answer 2

Observing clients taking tuberculosis medication

Question 3

A nurse is concerned about a recent outbreak of measles in a group of migrant workers.How would the nurse explain the concept of incidence to a new staff member?

A) The rate at which new cases occur in a population during a specified period
B) A measurement of disease frequency
C) Occurs frequently and with predicted regularity
D) The proportion of a population that is affected by the disease at a specific time

Answer 3

The rate at which new cases occur in a population during a specified period

Question 4

What is the purpose of epidemiology?

A) The study of the occurrence and distribution of health-related states in specified populations
B) To provide statistics to direct health care funding to the appropriate cause
C) To predict and control challenges to population health
D) An area of medicine that deals with the study of the causes of disease in populations

Question 5

What statistic is used to answer the question,"How likely is it that I will die from this disease?"

A) Case-fatality rate
B) Specific mortality rate
C) Relative risk
D) Incidence

Question 6

Case 1 A public health nurse (PHN)is explaining to a fourth-year nursing student how to use health statistics to understand population health.
(Refer to Case 1 above. )The PHN asks the nursing student how participant privacy will be managed in the study.What strategy presented by the student would be best at meeting this ethical concern?

A) Data will be used in a confidential manner.
B) The survey will be anonymous.
C) The participants will sign a consent form.
D) Ethics approval will be sought.

Question 7

A nurse in a large urban centre is working to provide prophylactic agents to exposed vulnerable hosts.What action is the best example of this goal?

A) Providing varicella-zoster immune globin (VZIG)to appropriate children after a classmate is diagnosed with chickenpox
B) Administering human papilloma virus (HPV)vaccine to girls in grade 6
C) Routinely immunizing 1-year-old children for measles,mumps,and rubella
D) Tuberculosis (TB)testing exposed students at a high school after a student is diagnosed with TB

Question 8

Identify four criteria that researchers and practitioners use to assess a causal relationship between a stimulus and the occurrence of a disease.

Question 9

Calculate the odds ratio of developing colorectal cancer related to a low-fibre diet from the following example.Write a statement that would explain your results to a client.
Study group = 300
Risk factor = low-fibre diet
Disease = colorectal cancer
a)persons with low-fibre diet and colorectal cancer = 100
b)persons with high-fibre diet and colorectal cancer = 20
Total persons with colorectal cancer = 120
c)person with low-fibre diet and no colorectal cancer = 20
d)persons with high-fibre diet and no colorectal cancer = 160
Total persons without colorectal cancer = 180

Question 10

Case 2 The public health nurses (PHNs)are busy responding to seasonal influenza in a community of approximately 75 000 people.An assisted living facility has an increased number of influenza cases among the residents.
(Refer to Case 2 above. )The PHNs are trying to protect the residents from the flu.What is an example of a primary prevention initiative?

A) Increasing assessments of the ill to identify complications early
B) Screening individuals for signs of influenza
C) Instructing individuals to sneeze into one's arm
D) Administering Tamiflu to ill residents

Question 11

What statement best describes a cohort study?

A) It focuses on a group of people exposed to a particular health problem or potential stressor over time.
B) The researcher manipulates some of the variables in order to ascertain the effect of the manipulation.
C) The individuals in the group with the disease are matched with individuals who are similar in some characteristics (e.g. ,age,gender)but who have not manifested the disease in question.
D) Selected variables within a specific population are studied to look for evidence of association and causality.

Question 12

A public health nurse has been contacted because 12 students living in a college dormitory are ill with bacterial meningitis.The cases have been confirmed to be caused by Neisseria meningitidis.Using the Venn diagram,describe the environmental characteristics in this scenario and the mode of transmission of this organism.

Question 13

A nurse is working with a student nurse and explains that 12% of deaths were from colorectal cancer in 2010.What word is used to describe this type of statistical information?

A) Crude mortality
B) Potential years of life lost (PYLL)
C) Prevalence
D) Proportional mortality

Question 14

Case 2 The public health nurses (PHNs)are busy responding to seasonal influenza in a community of approximately 75 000 people.An assisted living facility has an increased number of influenza cases among the residents.
(Refer to Case 2 above. )Family members of the residents have been following FluWatch on the Public Health Agency of Canada web page.What type of reporting is FluWatch?

A) Statistics Canada information
B) Surveillance data
C) Health Reports
D) Reportable disease

Question 15

What term refers to "the study of the occurrence and distribution of health-related states or events in specified populations"?

A) Nosology
B) Epidemiology
C) Susceptibility
D) Biologic plausibility

Question 16

A nurse is working with the school-aged population during the prepathogenesis period.What primary prevention activity would promote the health of this population?

A) Case finding children who may have been exposed to a teacher with hepatitis A
B) Teaching handwashing and respiratory hygiene
C) Providing antimicrobials for newly diagnosed contacts
D) Advocating for testing of sexually transmitted infections (STIs)at a school-based clinic

Question 17

Case 1 A public health nurse (PHN)is explaining to a fourth-year nursing student how to use health statistics to understand population health.
(Refer to Case 1 above. )The PHN asks the nursing student to develop some questions for a survey about smoking behaviour.Which question would be best at eliciting information on period prevalence?

A) "Do you currently smoke?"
B) "Have you smoked within the last six months?"
C) "Have you ever smoked?"
D) "At what age did you start smoking?"

Question 18

What type of research design was used in the Framingham Heart Study?

A) Case series
B) Cohort
C) Cross-sectional
D) Case-control

Question 19

Case 2 The public health nurses (PHNs)are busy responding to seasonal influenza in a community of approximately 75 000 people.An assisted living facility has an increased number of influenza cases among the residents.
(Refer to Case 2 above. )A nurse is doing an inservice with the housekeeping staff at the facility about the transmission of the influenza virus.Which is an example of indirect transmission via a fomite?

A) Inhaling a droplet from a sneeze
B) Shaking a contaminated hand
C) Drinking tainted water
D) Touching a contaminated doorknob

Question 20

What agency in Canada is responsible for gathering surveillance data on reportable diseases?

A) Health Canada
B) Statistics Canada
C) Canadian Institutes of Health Information (CIHI)
D) Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC)

Question 21

A nurse wants to know the current rate of human papilloma virus (HPV)infection in women aged 25 years as indicated by abnormal Pap smears.Which type of research design would be best to answer this question?

A) Manipulation methodology
B) Cross-sectional
C) Prospective cohort
D) Randomized controlled

Question 22

Who is believed to be the first person to notice and record the relationship between the environment and health?

A) Labonte
B) Nightingale
C) Epp
D) Hippocrates

Question 23

Which epidemiological model best allows a nurse to visualize the relationships between various determinants of health?

A) Causation criteria
B) Epidemiological triangle
C) Web of causation
D) Venn diagram