Outbreak at Watersedge - A Public Health Discovery Game

Outbreak at Watersedge - A Public Health Discovery Game

Introduction

Public health surveillance is a methodical process of collecting evidences, analyzing the data for prospective health concerns, and inferring details into a comprehensible theory (Nsubuga, 2006). The public health monitoring team uses such theories to save the community from epidemic outbursts of diseases. University of Minnesota has launched an online game by the name of “Outbreak at watersedge” (www.mclph.umn.edu/watersedge). The game is an exciting experience for those who are fascinated by the dynamics of public health surveillance.

Discussions

Constituent members of public health team

Public health team is a multi-sector team. Every individual has a unique and indispensable part in proceedings of the system. Members of the team usually include healthcare personnel, health surveyors, health planner, health educator, epidemiologist, microbiologist, environmental health specialist, health information officer and health analyst. Every responsible citizen can contribute to public health by offering information and being vigilant.

Role of healthcare and public health team in epidemic episodes

Public health is a vast field of action. Some of the team members are playing on the front, for instance health care team. Physicians, nurses, and paramedical personnel attend the sick community, and strive to restore the patients' health.Surveyors collect records from hospitals and other healthcare settings and deliver the information to public health sector. The health planner organizes and assigns duties to its team members. The health planner has to articulate team activities and generate co-ordination among team members.

The epidemiologist studies the facts and figures and designs an outline for a plan of action. The data collectors follow epidemiologist's plan to gather required evidences. Laboratory staff analyzes data for scientific evidence and report their findings to epidemiologist. The epidemiologist performs data mapping, draws conclusions from it, and submits a report to public health information officer.

The officer ...