Physicians who take a patient-centered orientation, attitude are more likely to treat patients like close associates and assist them in making informed choices among several options. This technique has been linked with a range of helpful outcomes, such as keen patient satisfaction, better adherence, and improved health outcomes.
In terms of legislative health policy implementation, I have learned that epidemiology will likely aims at helping to set objectives for the well-researched policies that will affect general or specific population, inform need-based resource allocation for health services, generate accurate and useful health information and guide development of health information systems.
I have learned that patient ratings should help align physicians to a more patient-centered approach, instead of disease-centered attitude. In this regard, the patients become dynamic contributors in their own care and should receive services intended to solely focus on their individual needs and care, and preferences, in addition to advice and guidance from health professionals. This kind of care should be adopted as a model of medical practice to many primary care physicians, medical educators, and specialists.
I have learned that Epidemiologists see the world in a unique way and share a certain viewpoint, a mind-set, as other professions do; case control and cohort studies, comparative risk, controlling for confounding, and causal extrapolation are all part of this model viewpoint defining us (as population) and binding us (as population) together.
Epidemiologic evidence will remain to be of great interest to the public and to draw the devotion of policy-makers. Additionally, making sure epidemiologic evidences are well put in place to support litigation. However, understanding the role of epidemiology in lawsuit about diseases or injuries requires the comprehension of tort law.
Epidemiology follows the rules of research, underwrites knowledge over time, and suggests hypotheses, subject to testing and refutation. As further investigation unfolds, the need to evidently inform the jury of the strengths and weaknesses of epidemiological studies is equally significant in presenting and finalizing the case. I realized that new tools for steering epidemiologic research, together with the growing capability to accomplish and examine large databases, have improved the helpfulness of epidemiologic evidence for responding to legislators’ questions. For example, large administrative databases, such as the Medicare files of the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA), can be sightsaw for analysis of hypotheses that may have instant applicability to public health policy.
