HS1000:03
Epidemiology
| Townsville | HECS Band 3 |
36 hours lectures, 6 hours tutorials, 24 hours practicals. Semester 1.
Available to level 1 and subsequent year students.
Staff: Dr L Owens.
The subject includes a consideration of terms and methods used to describe the occurrence of disease; the concept and measurement of cause and effect; factors affecting validity and types and choice of diagnostic tests; the design and interpretation of clinical trials and economics of disease. Practical classes will be conducted on the application of biostatistical software which supports these topics.
Learning Objectives:
- know the meaning of specialised terms used in epidemiology;
- understand the complex patterns of cause and effect of disease;
- know sources of epidemiological data and be able to apply basic exploratory statistical methods to such data using statistical software;
- understand the concepts of sensitivity, specificity and predictive value of diagnostic tests;
- be able to design and analyse results of surveys, case control and cohort studies and randomised controlled trials;
- understand the concept and know the causes of bias in designing biomedical experiments and interpreting data;
- know the economic measures applied to assess costs and benefits of disease control.
Assessment by a three-hour end-of-semester examination (70%); tutorial and practical assignments (30%).