Competency information
Details
Support the outbreak control team during the investigation.
Considerations
- The principles of outbreak investigation.
- How to establish the existence of the outbreak:
- identification of an outbreak using surveillance data
- confirmation of diagnosis.
- How to establish a hypothesis related to the mode of occurrence.
- Contact cases in attempt to establish possible exposures associated with disease
- Analysis of data collected from cases
- How to test the hypotheses:
- creation of data collection instruments, e.g. questionnaires
- selection of suitable control population to compare cases with
- the principles of epidemiological studies available to test hypotheses, e.g. case-control and cohort studies.
- How to conduct an environmental and/or microbiological investigation.
- How to control the outbreak and prevent further occurrences.
- Social, institutional and political background to outbreak control.
- Need for timeliness to enhance preventive impact of control measures.
- How to build and sustain professional relationships as both an independent practitioner and collaboratively as a member of a team.
Relevant learning outcomes
| # | Outcome |
|---|---|
| # 4 | Outcome Participate in and document the steps that are taken to investigate an outbreak. |