Tag Archives: epidemiologic surveillance

NHANES Data: Pitfalls, Pranks, Possibilities, and Practical Advice

If you are interested in population-level surveillance data, you might have thought about using NHANES data in portfolio projects.

NHANES data piqued your interest? It’s not all sunshine and roses. Read my blog post to see the pitfalls of NHANES data, and get practical advice about using them in a project.

Curated Datasets: Great for Data Science Portfolio Projects!

If you need data to do a project, read this blog post for information.

Curated datasets are useful to know about if you want to do a data science portfolio project on your own. I made this blog post for our group mentoring program. Check out the ones I am promoting on my blog!

US Public Health Alphabet Soup Explained: What is the ONC?

Before the ONC office was established in 2009, there was no federal oversight of medical record systems.

“What is the ONC?” is what I used to ask before I realized it involves health technology. Although ONC just means “Office of the National Coordinator”, this agency is now known as HealthIT.gov, as I explain in my blog post.

US Public Health Alphabet Soup Explained: What is the NACCHO?

You may have wondered if public health workers who are employed by local public health departments have a professional society devoted just to them. That's NACCHO.

You may already know that NACCHO is NOT cheese – but what is it? It’s a professional society for local public health officials. Read my blog post to learn what NACCHO does, and who it serves.

US Public Health Alphabet Soup Explained: What is the VA?

Veterans in the United States can choose healthcare from a public system after leaving the active duty military.

What is the VA – which stands for Veterans Affairs? This United States federal agency is tasked with ensuring veterans receive their benefits – especially health benefits. Unfortunately, as my blog post explains, the VA is facing a myriad of challenges today, including funding problems as well as corruption.

Recommended Model for QA/QI in Healthcare: Epidemiology and Biostatistics, not PDSA! Part 5 of 5

The Plan Do Study Act model does not use traditional epidemiological study designs that are peer-reviewed

I describe the three steps of my alternative model to the Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) model for quality assurance/quality improvement (QA/QI) in healthcare.

Does the PDSA Model Work? Part 3 of 5

Quality assurance and improvement specialists wonder whether the Plan Do Study Act model works or not

The Plan-Do-Study-Act model is promoted for quality assurance/quality improvement in healthcare. But does it have any peer-reviewed evidence base behind it? I examine that in this blog post.

Why COVID-19 is Overrunning the US in Late 2020: Overlapping Epicurves

Data in simulated epicurves show frequencies and explain outbreak timing

While other countries have found a way to control their community spread of COVID-19 while waiting for the vaccine program to be implemented, the United States has totally failed at this. An epicurve is a diagram of the timing of an outbreak, and in other countries, this curve has been flattened. But in the United […]

Here is the Statistical Reason why Calculating the Coronavirus Mortality Rate is so Difficult

Purple top test tubes held by a hand with purple gloves in a lab

Since the coronavirus (COVID-19) registered on our public health radar as a communicable infectious disease amongst humans, countries try to calculate their coronavirus mortality rate (otherwise known as case fatality rate). As a result, many different mortality rates have been reported, causing confusion. This article from Business Insider reports country-wide mortality rates that range from […]

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