Objectives:

1. Describe the history, core functions and services of the US Public Health System.
2. Describe current disease surveillance activities in the US.
3. Define public health and explain how it differs and intersects with the medicinal and the biological sciences.
4. Define surveillance and its role in public health practice.
5. Define public health informatics and explain in what ways it is unique/similar to bioinformatics and clinical informatics.
6. Describe the forces driving the increased interest in public health informatics over the last five years.
7. Describe key informatics issues in public health and how these issues differ from bio and clinical informatics

Topics covered:

• Course Overview
• Public Health Elementals:
• History
• Mission/ Core Functions and Ten Essential Services
• Current Workforce/Infrastructure
• Surveillance
• The emergence of public health informatics
• Overview of key informatics issues in public health

Objectives:

1. Understand use of informatics to support surveillance activities for public health
2. List major sources of public health information and their role in evidence based public health / surveillance
3. Define a risk factor data system
4. Describe in detail the history nature use maintenance and limitations of on important risk factor data system
5. Explain how risk factor data systems help public health officials to focus on prevention
6. Introduction to case study: Developing an electronic surveillance system

Topics

•  Information and process needs to support public health surveilance  Applications: Epi software/ PHIN/PHIMS/PHRED
• Risk factor data systems

Objectives:

1. Know the definition and basic principles of epidemiology including incidence, prevalence, infant mortality, life expectancy, adjusted rates.
2. Understand data sources, data quality and data collection and sharing in public health
3. Describe role of standards and vocabulary in facilitating interoperability
4. Describe the PHIN adopted standards and vocabulary in interoperability
5. Understand barriers to interoperability in public health

Topics covered:

• Epidemiology:
• Data sources/data quality
• Surveillance/Outbreak investigation
• Case examples
• Data Standards and Vocabulary
• Interoperability of information systems

Objectives:

1.      List some of the barriers and requirements that public health must address in developing health information systems

2.      Describe the CDC NEDSS's model.

Topics covered:

• Information systems integration
• Public health information and evidence-based public health

Objectives:

Topics covered:

Objectives:

1. Discuss the concepts of environmental disease
2. List the factors influencing environmental disease
3. Describe the toxicity triangle, routes of entry
4. Understand the concept of risk and risk factor information systems
5. Describe the uses and value of geographic information systems to public health
6. Discuss the theoretical foundations of GIS
7. Discuss the social and institutional issues that individual and organizational users of GIS must address
8. Describe the limitations of GIS software and special data.

 Topics covered:    

• Environmental disease
• Toxicology and toxins
• Risk assessment and management
• National Environmental Information Exchange Network;
• Toxline
• Risk assessment software packages in environmental health
• Geographic information systems

Objectives:

1. Describe the Emerging Infections Network's role in prevention and control of emerging diseases

   2. Describe the challenges to be addressed implementing an information technology project that has as its user group representatives from multiple countries and professions that have varying approaches to political decision making and acceptance of using information technology.

Topics covered:

• Tracking emerging infections,
• International Networking
• APEC EINet
• SARS/Bird flu case study

Objectives:

1. List the provisions of the HIPPA with regard to scope, the definition of covered entity and the requirements it must meet in giving consumers control over their health information 
2. List privacy and security challenges in public health information sharing
3. Differentiate between appropriate and inappropriate uses and user of information technology in public health under electronic "standards of care"
4. List and describe the general policy issues that need to be considered in establishing a new surveillance system

Topics covered:

• Privacy and security of public health data and information systems
• Health Policy and Informatics
•  HIPAA
• HIV case study

Objectives:

1. Explain the ethical tensions inherent in attempting to maintain confidentiality of individual information while using modern IT tools to store group data
2. Explain why ethical considerations will not permit scientists to entrust decision about public health interventions to computers alone
3. Explain data-mining and why tools to data mine pose ethical challenges for scientists in making public health decisions.
4. List and describe the general policy issues that need to be considered in establishing a new surveillance system

Topics Covered:

• Public Health Information Policy
• Ethical issues in public health informatics
• Iceland Case Study

Student Presentations