Briefly describe several actions the APN, the state, and the US could take to contribute to primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention of your chosen chronic disease. Please address each of the following points in 200 to 300 words:

Epidemiology in Disease Control and Prevention

The purpose of this discussion is to talk about the concept of epidemiology in disease control and prevention and apply the eco-social epidemiology paradigm (macro-level) to my previous assignment. In its most simple form, epidemiology is the study of the origin of a disease to determine its frequency, pattern, cause, and risk factors. It is a fundamental concept of public health that uses a problem-solving approach and is used by many professionals to best understand the health of a community. Epidemiology has three functions: monitoring, investigating, and evaluation of a disease. Community health nurses use epidemiological concepts in assessing and evaluating a community’s health to both promote good health and reduce the risk of preventive disease (Nies & McEwen, 2019, p. 70).

There are a few different methods that can be used when applying epidemiology in disease prevention and control. The first is known as descriptive epidemiology. This method is used to analyze a pattern of characteristics: person, place, and time. By using descriptive epidemiology, investigators can form a hypothesis based on the socioeconomic status, environmental conditions, and when the disease developed. The second method is called the epidemiological triangle, which is a model that evaluates relationships between causative agents and their hosts and the condition in which the agents can reproduce and spread. This method is beneficial in community health nursing to assess a health problem, determine preventative measures, and evaluate the cause of the disease along with the vulnerable population (Nies & McEwen, 2019, pp. 71-72). Eco-social epidemiology is an approach that identifies an affected population’s social habits and socioeconomic status in order to determine their susceptibility to illness. From a previous assignment, I have come up with a nursing diagnosis that poses a risk in my community: the risk of cardiovascular disease among adults in Yuba County, California, which is related to a high smoking and obesity rate, lack of access to healthy foods, and lack of knowledge regarding risk factors as evidenced by a high mortality rate caused by cardiovascular disease.

In conclusion, to best understand the well-being of a community, many healthcare professionals, including nurses, participate in assessing and evaluating the management of the disease. By understating epidemiology and using various tools, community health nurses can identify populations who are at risk, monitor the progression of disease, and participate in prevention and disease control to promote health in the community.

References

Nies, M., & McEwen, M. (2019). Community/Public Health Nursing: Promoting the Health of Populations (7th ed.). St. Louis, MO: Elsevier.