Verlato G, Patarnello F, Tardivo S, Melotti R, Accordini S, Poli A, Bortolami O, Romano G, de Marco R
Sezione di Epidemiologia e Statistica Medica, Università degli Studi di Verona, Italia.
Ann Ig. 2009 May-Jun;21(3):241-50.
The present study aims at assessing the role of epidemiology on health decision-making processes in the public administrations of the Veneto region, north-eastern Italy. In 2003 a questionnaire was mailed to chief-executives of local public health organizations (21 Local Health Units, 2 Public Hospitals), and 18 responded. All public health organizations were practicing Epidemiology, but only 4 had dedicated services. Sixty-two people were working as epidemiologists in public health, but only half played the role for most of their Full Time Employment. Personal educational qualifications were mainly degree in Medicine (62%) and Statistical Sciences (23%). Among physicians, 78% was specialized in Hygiene and Preventive Medicine. The head office of most public health organizations (15 out of 18) appraised epidemiology as fundamental with regard to the health decision-making process, however two thirds of them reported that the epidemiological informative needs were only little or not at all satisfied. To improve the situation, most Public Health Organizations intended to perform educational activities and to use external advisors. In conclusion, Public Health Organizations of the Veneto region appreciated the importance of epidemiology in the health decision-making process. However, few resources were devoted to this field so that informative needs were only partly satisfied.
本研究旨在评估流行病学在意大利东北部威尼托地区公共管理部门的健康决策过程中所起的作用。2003年，一份调查问卷被邮寄给当地公共卫生组织的行政主管（21个地方卫生单位、2家公立医院），18个单位做出了回复。所有公共卫生组织都开展流行病学工作，但只有4个设有专门的服务部门。有62人在公共卫生领域担任流行病学家，但只有一半的人在大部分全职工作时间里发挥这一作用。个人教育背景主要是医学学位（62%）和统计学学位（23%）。在医生中，78%专门从事卫生与预防医学。大多数公共卫生组织（18个中的15个）的总部认为流行病学在健康决策过程中至关重要，然而其中三分之二的组织报告称，其流行病学信息需求仅得到部分满足或完全未得到满足。为改善这种情况，大多数公共卫生组织打算开展教育活动并聘请外部顾问。总之，威尼托地区的公共卫生组织认识到流行病学在健康决策过程中的重要性。然而，该领域投入的资源很少，以至于信息需求仅得到部分满足。
