Epidemiology and Health Services

Book excerpt: What is the relevance of epidemiology to decision making in the health services? If our ability to launch large-scale experimental studies of health services is limited, what are some alternative approaches to study design? How can we best make use of routinely collected data from health information systems? How can we best synthesize information to make more reasonable inferences? Epidemiology and Health Services is different from other books in the field. Many books and specialized publications have presented a comprehensive picture of epidemiologic methods, but they have not shown in a systematic way how these methods apply to health services. This book fills the gap, and goes even further by analyzing the strengths and limitations of epidemiologic methods in the context of health care delivery, and discussing approaches for making pertinent inferences in actual cases. The book addresses the needs of a broad spectrum of health professionals. It will help health service administrators, managers and other professionals design and conduct evaluative and intervention research on the delivery of health services. It will also give epidemiology and public health students a wider perspective on the various applications of the discipline.