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Having covered
the concepts of epidemiology, we now consider how it can be applied.
Epidemiology can be applied in many situations such as research,
clinical practice, audits, and assessment of need. The following
section works through an example of the last, which readers may
find useful to apply in their own setting. In the example, we
have used epidemiological data to estimate the need for palliative
care in London, England. We consider background data on the characteristics
of the population, important in epidemiology for establishing
the context, and then used data on mortality and prevalence of
symptoms to estimate the numbers who will need palliative care
services.
Question
15.1
Imagine
you have just been appointed to be director of palliative care
for a region. You have two years of start-up funding and must
develop a plan for the province health department to justify your
future budget and care activities. Click on each of the possibilities
listed for our opinions.
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