apply epidemiologic methods and data to a management problem you could have at work which is dental office

 

 

 

The purpose of this assignment is for you to apply epidemiologic methods and data to a management problem you could have at work. You will need to have your topic approved by me by the 3rd class session, 2/21/2013. For example, you could choose to use epidemiologic methods to plan the ing of a clinic or expansion of current services. You need to include data to support your plan, either gathered by yourself through a survey or publicly available data through a national, state, or local data source. You would also need to include information about the service area you intend to supply. Finally, you will also need to compare/contrast at least 3 scientific articles which can help you evaluate this particular management decision. You may also include aIDitional articles from popular press sources which indicate a need for the service you are proposing.

 

The paper should adhere to the following outline:

100 total points

 

I. Introduction (10 pts)

A Put your management decision in some context

B. Describe the decision(s) that needs to be made

C. What kinds of questions need to be answered to make an informed decision?

D. What kinds of epidemiologic data need to be collected?

E. What kinds of studies need to be evaluated?

II. Methods (20 pts)

A. Describe the source(s) of epidemiologic data that you are collecting

B. Describe the three studies that you are evaluating

C. What kind of studies are they? Case-control, cohort, randomized clinical trial.

D. What are the study populations?

E. What are the sources of bias? selection bias, misclassification bias

F. Is confounding a problem and why?

G. Have the authors of the studies acknowledged any limitations of the studies?

III. Results (20 pts)

A. Clearly report the data that you have collected, e.g., incidence, prevalence, mortality and morbidity rates (include graphs and charts if desired)

B. Clearly state the results of each study

IV. Managerial Epidemiology (20 pts)

A. Clearly state how the data and study results inform the management decision

V. Discussion/Conclusion (20 pts)

A. Restate the management decision(s) that needs to be made

B. How were the data/studies helpful in making the decision(s)?

C. What aIDitional data, future research, or different study design might better inform the management decision?

VI. Bibliography (10 pts)

Please include a bibliography at the end of the paper rather than footnotes. Reference studies in the paper by name and date (e.g., Wagner et al., p.xx, 2000) rather than by number.