Chapter 10: Epidemiological Applications Study
Guide Questions with Definitive Solutions
A nurse is using analytic epidemiology when conducting a research project. Which of the following
projects is the nurse most likely completing?
a. Reviewing communicable disease statistics
b. Determining factors contributing to childhood obesity
c. Analyzing locations where family violence is increasing
d. Documenting population characteristics for healthy older citizens - Answer ANS: B
Epidemiology refers not only to infectious epidemics but also to other health-related events. The goal of
analytic epidemiology is to discover the determinants of outcomes—the how and the why. Analytic
epidemiology looks at the etiology (origins or causes) of disease. It discusses the disease in terms of how
and why. Descriptive epidemiology considers health outcomes in terms of what, who, where, and when.
It discusses a disease in terms of person, place, and time.
A nurse is employed as a nurse epidemiologist. Which of the following activities would most likely be
completed by the nurse?
a. Eliciting the health history of a client presenting with an illness
b. Evaluating the number of clients presenting with similar diseases
c. Performing a physical examination of an ill client
d. Providing treatment and health education to a client with a disease - Answer ANS: B
Epidemiology monitors the health of the population by examining measures of morbidity, especially
incidence proportions, incidence rates, and prevalence proportions and learning about the risk for
disease, the rate of disease development, and the levels of existing disease in a population, respectively.
Epidemiology differs from clinical medicine, which focuses on the diagnosis and treatment of disease in
individuals.
Which of the following actions by Florence Nightingale demonstrates her role as an epidemiologist?
a. She convinced other women to join her in giving nursing care to all the soldiers.
b. She demonstrated that a safer environment resulted in decreased mortality rate.
c. She obtained safe water and better food supplies and fought the lice and rats.
d. She met with each soldier each evening to say goodnight, thereby giving psychological support. -
Answer ANS: B
, Nightingale examined the relationship between the environment and the recovery of the soldiers. Using
simple epidemiological measures, she was able to show that improving environmental conditions and
adding nursing care decreased the mortality rates of the soldiers.
Which of the following statements describes how nursing in the community is more challenging than
nursing in an acute care setting?
A.There is limited access to information useful to the nurse in giving care in the community.
B.More paperwork and forms are required when giving care in the home.
C.It is more challenging to control the environment in the community.
D. Specialization isn't possible in the community setting. - Answer ANS: C
In the community, nurses often use epidemiology, since the factors that affect the individual, family, and
population group cannot be as easily controlled as in acute care settings. It is essentially impossible to
control the environment in the community.
Several small communities have applied for grant funding from the state department of health to help
decrease their teenage pregnancy rate. Which of the following communities should the nurse suggest
receive funding first?
a. Community A—with 23 single teenage pregnancies in a city of 500
b. Community B—with 45 single teenage pregnancies in a city of 1000
c. Community C—with 90 single teenage pregnancies in a city of 2000
d. Community D—with 90 single teenage pregnancies in a city of 1500 - Answer ANS: D
The pregnancy rates of A, B, and C are 45-46:1000, whereas the rate in Community D is 60:1000.
Without doing any actual math, it should be fairly obvious that 23:500, 45:1000, and 90:2000 are all
about the same proportion but that 90:1500 is a larger proportion.
Between 2010 and 2015, 1000 of 10,000 young women age 17 to 20 years at a university tested positive
for a sexually transmitted infection (STI). Of the 1000 diagnosed STIs, 300 were gonorrhea and 500 were
chlamydia. Which of the following statements best summarizes these findings?
a. The proportion of cases of gonorrhea to all STIs was 300:1300.
b. The proportion of cases of gonorrhea to chlamydia was 300:500.
c. The proportion of cases of gonorrhea to all STIs was 50%.
d. The proportion of STIs to the total population was 100:1000. - Answer ANS: D
Guide Questions with Definitive Solutions
A nurse is using analytic epidemiology when conducting a research project. Which of the following
projects is the nurse most likely completing?
a. Reviewing communicable disease statistics
b. Determining factors contributing to childhood obesity
c. Analyzing locations where family violence is increasing
d. Documenting population characteristics for healthy older citizens - Answer ANS: B
Epidemiology refers not only to infectious epidemics but also to other health-related events. The goal of
analytic epidemiology is to discover the determinants of outcomes—the how and the why. Analytic
epidemiology looks at the etiology (origins or causes) of disease. It discusses the disease in terms of how
and why. Descriptive epidemiology considers health outcomes in terms of what, who, where, and when.
It discusses a disease in terms of person, place, and time.
A nurse is employed as a nurse epidemiologist. Which of the following activities would most likely be
completed by the nurse?
a. Eliciting the health history of a client presenting with an illness
b. Evaluating the number of clients presenting with similar diseases
c. Performing a physical examination of an ill client
d. Providing treatment and health education to a client with a disease - Answer ANS: B
Epidemiology monitors the health of the population by examining measures of morbidity, especially
incidence proportions, incidence rates, and prevalence proportions and learning about the risk for
disease, the rate of disease development, and the levels of existing disease in a population, respectively.
Epidemiology differs from clinical medicine, which focuses on the diagnosis and treatment of disease in
individuals.
Which of the following actions by Florence Nightingale demonstrates her role as an epidemiologist?
a. She convinced other women to join her in giving nursing care to all the soldiers.
b. She demonstrated that a safer environment resulted in decreased mortality rate.
c. She obtained safe water and better food supplies and fought the lice and rats.
d. She met with each soldier each evening to say goodnight, thereby giving psychological support. -
Answer ANS: B
, Nightingale examined the relationship between the environment and the recovery of the soldiers. Using
simple epidemiological measures, she was able to show that improving environmental conditions and
adding nursing care decreased the mortality rates of the soldiers.
Which of the following statements describes how nursing in the community is more challenging than
nursing in an acute care setting?
A.There is limited access to information useful to the nurse in giving care in the community.
B.More paperwork and forms are required when giving care in the home.
C.It is more challenging to control the environment in the community.
D. Specialization isn't possible in the community setting. - Answer ANS: C
In the community, nurses often use epidemiology, since the factors that affect the individual, family, and
population group cannot be as easily controlled as in acute care settings. It is essentially impossible to
control the environment in the community.
Several small communities have applied for grant funding from the state department of health to help
decrease their teenage pregnancy rate. Which of the following communities should the nurse suggest
receive funding first?
a. Community A—with 23 single teenage pregnancies in a city of 500
b. Community B—with 45 single teenage pregnancies in a city of 1000
c. Community C—with 90 single teenage pregnancies in a city of 2000
d. Community D—with 90 single teenage pregnancies in a city of 1500 - Answer ANS: D
The pregnancy rates of A, B, and C are 45-46:1000, whereas the rate in Community D is 60:1000.
Without doing any actual math, it should be fairly obvious that 23:500, 45:1000, and 90:2000 are all
about the same proportion but that 90:1500 is a larger proportion.
Between 2010 and 2015, 1000 of 10,000 young women age 17 to 20 years at a university tested positive
for a sexually transmitted infection (STI). Of the 1000 diagnosed STIs, 300 were gonorrhea and 500 were
chlamydia. Which of the following statements best summarizes these findings?
a. The proportion of cases of gonorrhea to all STIs was 300:1300.
b. The proportion of cases of gonorrhea to chlamydia was 300:500.
c. The proportion of cases of gonorrhea to all STIs was 50%.
d. The proportion of STIs to the total population was 100:1000. - Answer ANS: D
