Nasca P C
Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, School of Public Health and Health Sciences, University of Massachusetts at Amherst 01003-0430, USA.
Am J Epidemiol. 1997 Dec 1;146(11):907-11. doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a009216.
The current discussion focuses on criticism as a positive force for improving epidemiologic practice through periodic reexamination of the basic approach to the discipline and the strategy for meeting the future educational needs of students and practicing epidemiologists. The types of epidemiologic research conducted and the settings within which the research will be conducted are also discussed. Epidemiology can be expected to play a major role in new areas of research that are created by changes in the medical care system and the development of large data systems associated with these approaches to health care delivery. This paper also discusses the growing threat to data access, the problems of communicating epidemiologic research findings to the public through the media, and the expanding interface between epidemiologic research and the legal system. The role of epidemiologic organizations in helping to shape the discipline's response to these issues and the opportunities these issues or problems present for improving epidemiologic research are also discussed.
当前的讨论聚焦于批评，将其视为一股积极力量，可通过定期重新审视该学科的基本方法以及满足学生和执业流行病学家未来教育需求的策略，来改进流行病学实践。还讨论了所开展的流行病学研究类型以及进行研究的环境。随着医疗保健系统的变革以及与这些医疗保健提供方式相关的大数据系统的发展，流行病学有望在新的研究领域发挥重要作用。本文还讨论了数据获取面临的日益严重的威胁、通过媒体向公众传播流行病学研究结果的问题，以及流行病学研究与法律系统之间不断扩大的交叉领域。还讨论了流行病学组织在帮助塑造该学科对这些问题的应对方面所起的作用，以及这些问题为改进流行病学研究带来的机遇。
