Descriptive Epidemiology

Running Head: DESCRIPTIVE EPIDEMIOLOGY
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Descriptive Epidemiology
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DESCRIPTIVE EPIDEMIOLOGY 2
Descriptive Epidemiology
Descriptive epidemiology focuses on describing the allotments of various determinants
and disease. Most importantly it offers a method for systematizing and analyzing the data so that
it can be used in describing the disease variations based on frequency within populations by over
time and geographical areas such as a person, time, and place (Siegel, Miller & Jemal, 2018).
Additionally, the epidemiologists use descriptive epidemiology to discover different disease and
well-being trends and at the same time, it creates ways of arranging the resources among various
populations. Specifically, descriptive epidemiology can be used to produce hypotheses of an
etiologic study. Notably, the hypotheses that are generated through descriptive epidemiology
create a pathway for vital analytic epidemiology thus it becomes possible for testing the
prevailing relationships between the determinants, health outcomes, and diseases.
The Relationship and Role of Descriptive Epidemiology with Nursing Science
Descriptive epidemiology relates to the field of nursing science today that involves
dealing with concepts and nursing applications and other connected services. In this case,
descriptive epidemiology is used to identify the health issues that emerge, monitored, or reported
based on the health-related behaviours as well as the health condition in the populations (Motl,
McAuley, Sandroff & Hubbard, 2015). Further, it lays down the health priorities of populations
by examining the potential connections between the risk factors and health outcomes that can be
used to generate probable hypotheses concerning the possible disease determinants and also, it
notifies regarding the threats of bioterrorism and estimates the effectiveness of intervention
programs.

DESCRIPTIVE EPIDEMIOLOGY 3
As mentioned earlier, descriptive epidemiology contains the elements of time, person,
and place. Therefore, it plays a significant role in nursing science since the epidemiologists
analyze and compile information based on time, person, and the place is important in nursing
science since it is associated with various advantages (Li, Mello-Thoms & Brennan, 2016).
Moreover, the epidemiologists use the descriptive technology to generate a comprehensive
account about the health of various populations thus it can be illustrated in graphs, maps, or
tables.
To begin with the element of time, nursing science as a discipline evaluates the
application of descriptive epidemiology. Notably, any disease occurrence plays a significant role
in changing as time changes while at some point some changes that arise may occur
unpredictable and others regularly (Makino et al., 2015). Additionally, some conditions like
salmonellosis might transpire any time. However, in case of the health conditions that happen
based on seasons, the medical professionals determine their occurrence by placing various
measures. For example, the graph that includes date and time can be outlined in a two-dimension
graph that constitutes a y-axis that has several cases.
On the other hand, the person element in nursing science is used to analyze information
concerning an individual by employing the traits like sex or age, others that can be biological,
acquired, or conditions in which that they survive in. In this case, age is a vital element that is
used in descriptive epidemiology to stipulate the health of an individual.
Lastly, the place element involves the disease occurrence and it offers insights about the
prevalence of an illness based on the geographical aspect and how it changes in various
geographies. In case of doing characterization through a place, it appears like the place where a
disease resides or other appropriate geographical locations of the illness.