Course on principles and computer tools for outbreak investigations
The objective of this course was to strengthen the participants’ knowledge and skills related to the investigation of communicable disease outbreaks affecting one or several European Union countries.
Objective
The course had two major pedagogical components: the self- learning module and a face-to-face training workshop. The curriculum included topics such as:
- Components of an outbreak investigation;
- Descriptive epidemiology (person, space and time), applied to outbreak situations;
- Study design in analytic epidemiology, applied to outbreak situations;
- Data collection;
- Data analysis;
- Report writing;
- Short presentations from participants.
Competencies acquired enabled participants, to conduct the following activities independently:
- Plan and conduct a descriptive study of an outbreak investigation;
- Choose between different designs for conducting analytical epidemiological investigations of an outbreak;
- Communicate the results of outbreak investigations.