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1Department of Preventive Medicine, Konyang University College of Medicine, Daejeon, Korea
2Division of Public Health Preparedness and Response, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Cheongju, Korea
©2017, Korean Society of Epidemiology
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• Establishment of plans for epidemiological investigations
• Administration and analysis of epidemiological investigations
• Development of the criteria and methods of epidemiological investigations
• Training on techniques for epidemiological investigations
• Education and training on epidemiological investigations
• Epidemiological research on infectious diseases
• In outbreaks or epidemics of infectious diseases, field epidemiologists conduct investigations in cooperation with the central government and municipal, county and district disease prevention agencies.
• In outbreaks or cases of eradicated infectious diseases, such as measles, field epidemiologists conduct case and epidemiological investigations.
• In outbreaks or cases of adverse reactions to vaccination, field epidemiologists conduct case and epidemiological investigations.
• When diseases that are not indigenous to Korea (e.g., Plasmodium falciparum malaria) are introduced from overseas, field epidemiologists conduct case investigations.
Location | Specialty | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | Total |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Central | Internal medicine | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 16 | |||||||||
Pediatrics | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 17 | ||||||
Family medicine | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 8 | ||||||||||||
Preventive medicine | 1 | 3 | 4 | ||||||||||||||||
Neurology | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 10 | |||||||||||
Occupational and enviromental medicine | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 | ||||||||||||||
Other specialty1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 6 | |||||||||||||
Subtotal | 4 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 8 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 66 | |
Provincial | Internal medicine | 4 | 4 | 3 | 15 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 9 | 6 | 5 | 7 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 99 | |
Pediatrics | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 17 | ||||||||
Family medicine | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 7 | |||||||||||||
Preventive medicine | 1 | 1 | 2 | ||||||||||||||||
Neurology | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 5 | ||||||||||||||
Occupational and environmental medicine | 1 | 1 | |||||||||||||||||
Other specialty2 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 24 | |||||
General practitioner | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 15 | |||||||||
No information | 7 | 7 | 4 | 1 | 19 | ||||||||||||||
Subtotal | 14 | 15 | 7 | 18 | 11 | 11 | 15 | 13 | 11 | 10 | 10 | 11 | 6 | 8 | 11 | 9 | 9 | 189 | |
Total | 18 | 19 | 10 | 23 | 13 | 14 | 19 | 15 | 16 | 14 | 11 | 19 | 9 | 13 | 17 | 12 | 13 | 255 |
Unit: persons.
1 Other specialty in central government: laboratory medicine, urology, obstetrics and gynecology, pathology etc.
2 Other specialty in provincial government: anesthesiology, urology, obstetrics and gynecology, thoracic surgery, radiology, orthopedics, rehabilitation medicine, surgery, ear, nose and throat, dermatology, ophthalmology, etc.
Location | Specialty | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | Total |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Central | Internal medicine | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 16 | |||||||||
Pediatrics | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 17 | ||||||
Family medicine | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 8 | ||||||||||||
Preventive medicine | 1 | 3 | 4 | ||||||||||||||||
Neurology | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 10 | |||||||||||
Occupational and enviromental medicine | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 | ||||||||||||||
Other specialty |
1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 6 | |||||||||||||
Subtotal | 4 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 8 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 66 | |
Provincial | Internal medicine | 4 | 4 | 3 | 15 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 9 | 6 | 5 | 7 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 99 | |
Pediatrics | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 17 | ||||||||
Family medicine | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 7 | |||||||||||||
Preventive medicine | 1 | 1 | 2 | ||||||||||||||||
Neurology | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 5 | ||||||||||||||
Occupational and environmental medicine | 1 | 1 | |||||||||||||||||
Other specialty |
3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 24 | |||||
General practitioner | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 15 | |||||||||
No information | 7 | 7 | 4 | 1 | 19 | ||||||||||||||
Subtotal | 14 | 15 | 7 | 18 | 11 | 11 | 15 | 13 | 11 | 10 | 10 | 11 | 6 | 8 | 11 | 9 | 9 | 189 | |
Total | 18 | 19 | 10 | 23 | 13 | 14 | 19 | 15 | 16 | 14 | 11 | 19 | 9 | 13 | 17 | 12 | 13 | 255 |
Programs | Duration | Date | Contents | |
---|---|---|---|---|
During the 1st year | ||||
Introductory course | 3 wk | April - May | Acquisition of basic knowledge and techniques for epidemiology and infectious disease management | |
Workshop | 2 d | July | Discussion of improvements for the field epidemiologist system | |
First on-the-job training | 3 d | September | Sharing of experiences and knowledge gained through actual investigations and in-depth analysis and training on epidemiological investigations of infectious diseases | |
Second on-the-job training | 3 d | December | Sharing of experiences and knowledge gained through actual investigations and in-depth analysis and training on epidemiological investigations of infectious diseases | |
Conference | 1 d | February | Sharing of results and related information of epidemiological investigations | |
Grand rounds | 1/mo | Every month | Analysis of current outbreaks of infectious diseases and epidemiological investigation cases | |
During the 2nd year | ||||
Workshop | 2 d | July | Discussion of improvements for the field epidemiologist system | |
First on-the-job training | 3 d | September | Sharing of experiences and knowledge gained through actual investigations and in-depth analysis and training on epidemiological investigations of infectious diseases | |
Second on-the-job training | 3 d | December | Sharing of experiences and knowledge gained through actual investigations and in-depth analysis and training on epidemiological investigations of infectious diseases | |
Conference | 1 d | February | Sharing of results and related information of epidemiological investigations | |
Grand rounds | 1/mo | Every month | Analysis of current outbreaks of infectious diseases and epidemiological investigation cases |
Epidemiology and statistics of infectious diseases |
Waterborne and foodborne diseases |
Diseases for vaccination |
Responses to public health crisis |
Epidemiological investigation of other infectious diseases |
Lecture on administrative measures |
||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Course | Time (hr) | Course | Time (hr) | Course | Time (hr) | Course | Time (hr) | Course | Time (hr) | Course | Time (hr) |
Epidemiology of infectious diseases | 3 | Epidemiology of waterborne and foodborne diseases | 1 | Understanding national vaccination projects | 1 | Epidemiology of influenza | 2 | Understanding of insect vectors of diseases | 2 | Ice breaking | 2 |
Methodologies in epidemiological research | 3 | Prevention and management of food poisoning and the role of the Ministry of Food and Drug Administration | 1 | Epidemiological investigation of infectious diseases for vaccination | 1 | Responses to human infections of Aland/VERS | 1 | Epidemiological investigations of mosquito-borne infectious diseases | 1 | Introduction of the field epidemiologist system | 1 |
Epidemiological correlation and causality | 2 | Field epidemiological investigation of waterborne and foodborne diseases | 2 | Epidemiological investigation of adverse reactions to vaccination | 1 | Newest findings on new infectious diseases | 2 | Epidemiological investigation of febrile diseases common in fall | 1 | Public health and communication | 2 |
Measurement of risk | 1 | Introduction on the collection of samples and laboratory diagnostic methods | 2 | Coursework training 3 | 4 | Response system for biological terrorism | 1 | Epidemiology of healthcare-associated infectious diseases | 2 | Realities of the tasks of field epidemiologists | 3 |
Investigation of spreading | 2 | Practice and tour of laboratory diagnostic methods | 2 | Responses to Al in Korea (H5N1 and H5N8) | 1 | Realities of epidemiological investigation of infections in hospitals | 1 | Field epidemiologists and public service after retirement | 1 | ||
Measurement and screening test of diseases | 2 | Coursework training 1 | 4 | Responses to and epidemiological investigation of Ebola occurrence in Korea | 2 | Epidemiological investigation of tuberculosis | 2 | Surveillance system of infectious diseases and management of information on infectious diseases | 1 | ||
Completion of questionnaires and data entry | 2 | Coursework training 2 | 4 | The role of rapid response bureau for prevention of human infection of Al and practice of putting g on and off of personal protective equipment (A, C, and D) | 4 | Zoonosis | 2 | Introduction of the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys | 1 | ||
Statistics for epidemiological investigation | 2 | Field responses to Ebola (activities of emergency disaster relief teams) | 1 | Non-nationally notifiable infectious diseases | 1 | Meeting with experienced field epidemiologists | 4 | ||||
How to use Excel and SPSS | 3 | Understanding epidemiological investigations seen in movies | 2 | Understanding high-risk pathogens and BSL3 | 2 | ||||||
History of infectious diseases | 2 | Epidemiological investigation ofSFTS | 1 | ||||||||
Epidemiological investigation of respiratory diseases | 2 | ||||||||||
Coursework training 4 | 4 | ||||||||||
Coursework training 5 | 4 | ||||||||||
Total | 22 | 16 | 7 | 16 | 28 | 15 |
First on-the-job training |
Second on-the-job training |
Third on-the-job training |
||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Category | Course | Time (hr) | Category | Course | Time (hr) | Category | Course | Time (hr) |
Epidemiology of infectious diseases | Case report of major epidemiological investigations of MERS outbreak: cases with uncertain routes of infection | 1.0 | Methodologies in epidemiological research | Revisions of pertussis guidelines | 2.0 | Methodologies in epidemiological research | Distribution of incubation period for infectious diseases and estimation and modeling of common exposure | 2.5 |
Case report of major epidemiological investigations of MERS outbreak: cases with long incubation periods | 1.0 | Epidemiology of infectious diseases | Management of latent tuberculosis | 1.0 | R statistics and graphs | 2.5 | ||
Public health practitioners and new infectious diseases | 1.0 | Discussion of cases | Review of MERS manual | 2.0 | Preparation of manuscripts in English for field epidemiologist | 2.5 | ||
Discussion of cases | Discussion of future responses for sporadic occurrences of MERS | 1.0 | Review of the AI manual | 2.0 | Discussion of cases | Discussion for improvement of the field epidemiologist system | 0.5 | |
Improvement of competencies | Discussion of findings of MERS-related epidemiological investigations | 2.0 | Review of the Ebola manual | 2.0 | Improvement of competencies | EOC in Korea | 0.5 | |
Discussion for improvement of the field epidemiologist system | 5.0 | Post-MERS measures from the Korean Medical Association | 2.5 | |||||
Improvement of competencies | Revisions of pertussis guidelines | 2.0 | Doctors and KCDC seen through the media | 2.5 | ||||
Field epidemiologist systems, such as EIS, FETP, and CSTE | 1.0 | |||||||
Evaluative tests for on-the-job training | 0.5 | |||||||
Total | 6.0 | 16.0 | 15.0 |
Year | Disease | Region | Investigation (No. of patients) |
---|---|---|---|
2000 | Malaria | National | Outbreak (32,647) |
2001 | Cholera | Goseong | Outbreak (18) |
2003 | Severe acute respiratory syndrome | National | Suspected case |
2004 | Hepatitis A virus | Gongju | Outbreak (105) |
2005 | Avian influenza virus | National | High risk group |
2006 | Shigellosis | Sancheong | Outbreak (198) |
2007 | Falciparum malaria | Busan | Confirmed case |
Human monkey pox | Seoul | Suspected case | |
2008 | Norovirus | Churwon | Outbreak (625) |
2009 | Pandemic influenza A (H1N1) | National | Outbreak (>100,000) |
Hepatitis A virus | Seoul | Outbreak (33) | |
2010 | Hepatitis A virus | Inje | Outbreak (44) |
2011 | Humidifier disinfectant lung injury | National | Outbreak (>100) |
2012 | Pertussis | Yeongam | Outbreak (154) |
Lyme disease | Hwacheon | Confirmed case | |
2015 | Middle East Respiratory Syndrome | National | Outbreak (186) |
Description of each competency | n | Mean |
Mean difference | Standard error of difference | p-value | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Before | After | ||||||
Epidemiological method | |||||||
I can use epidemiological methods in conducting research to improve public health programs. | 26 | 1.58 | 2.08 | -0.50 | 0.71 | 0.001 | |
I can respond to epidemics of diseases | 26 | 1.46 | 2.12 | -0.66 | 0.69 | <0.001 | |
Statistics | |||||||
I can analyze epidemiological data using appropriate statistical methods | 26 | 1.54 | 2.08 | -0.54 | 0.76 | 0.001 | |
Public health surveillance | |||||||
I can manage public health surveillance systems | 26 | 1.46 | 2.08 | -0.62 | 0.64 | <0.001 | |
Experiment and safety | |||||||
I can use laboratory resources to support epidemiological activities | 26 | 1.35 | 1.92 | -0.57 | 0.81 | 0.001 | |
Communication | |||||||
I can develop documented public health communications | 26 | 1.38 | 2.08 | -0.70 | 0.68 | <0.001 | |
I can develop and provide oral public health communications | 26 | 1.46 | 2.08 | -0.62 | 0.64 | <0.001 | |
Computer techniques | |||||||
I can use computers for special tasks related to public health | 26 | 1.62 | 2.04 | -0.42 | 0.76 | 0.009 | |
Management and leadership | |||||||
I can manage field projects | 26 | 1.35 | 2.04 | -0.69 | 0.68 | <0.001 | |
I can manage the staff and resources | 26 | 1.50 | 2.04 | -0.54 | 0.71 | 0.001 | |
I can become an effective team leader and member | 26 | 1.46 | 2.04 | -0.58 | 0.64 | <0.001 | |
I can manage my own tasks | 26 | 1.62 | 2.23 | -0.61 | 0.64 | <0.001 | |
Preventive effects | |||||||
I can apply simple tools to analyze economic efficiency | 26 | 1.35 | 1.92 | -0.57 | 0.70 | <0.001 | |
Teaching and mentoring | |||||||
I can train public health experts | 26 | 1.15 | 1.88 | -0.73 | 0.67 | <0.001 | |
I can mentor public health experts | 26 | 1.19 | 2.00 | -0.81 | 0.63 | <0.001 | |
Determination of the order of priority of diseases | |||||||
I can evaluate the importance of diseases or national public health projects and determine the order of priority | 26 | 1.42 | 1.96 | -0.54 | 0.71 | 0.001 | |
Total | 26 | 1.43 | 2.04 | -0.61 | 0.52 | <0.001 |
Unit: persons. Other specialty in central government: laboratory medicine, urology, obstetrics and gynecology, pathology etc. Other specialty in provincial government: anesthesiology, urology, obstetrics and gynecology, thoracic surgery, radiology, orthopedics, rehabilitation medicine, surgery, ear, nose and throat, dermatology, ophthalmology, etc.
AI, avian influenza; MERS, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome; BSL, bio-safety level; SFTS, severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome.
AI, avian influenza; EOC, Emergency Operations Center; EIS, Epidemic Intelligence Service; FETP, Field Epidemiology Training Program; CSTE, Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists; MERS, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome; KCDC, Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.