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Popular Field Epidemiology Manual Revised And Updated To Cover Wider
Spectrum Of Public Health Events That Need To Be Investigated
Lead Co-Editor
Rasmussen Interviewed
A new outbreak
investigation manual based on the well-honed approaches developed at
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention over many years and
revised extensively over the last decade by Sonja Rasmussen and
Richard Goodman has been published by Oxford University Press.
Both Rasmussen and Goodman are former editors-in-chief of CDC’s
Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Goodman served along with CDC’s
Richard Dicker as one of two Associate Editors for the First
Edition as published in 1996. Rasmussen carried the heaviest burdens
in producing the latest book and was the leading co-editor, but each
played excellent complementary roles in creating the manual, said
Goodman.
Entitled The CDC Field
Epidemiology Manual, the new book is designed to be portable with
helpful information made available at a glance for shoe-leather
epidemiologists working in the midst of an acute event or one of
increased public health concern.
The Tyler Vision
According to Goodman,
the original vision for the manual was articulated by Carl Tyler,
a former director of the Epidemiology Program Office. He stated “There
is a need for a clearly written, highly usable book devoted to field
epidemiology---the timely use of epidemiology in solving public health
problems. This process involves the application of basic epidemiologic
principles as in real time, place, and person to solve health problems
of an urgent or emergency nature.”
According to Goodman,
after the first edition was published, subsequent editions drifted
away from the initial vision, and the manual just released has been
designed to take the book back to its roots as a pithy, useful
portable companion for shoe-leather epidemiologists.
Manual Organization
The first part of the
book is organized by the series of steps that must be taken in
conducting investigations and the second part, entitled Special
Considerations, describes how to apply epidemiologic principles in
special settings.
More than 50 separate
contributors worked to produce the 25 different chapters in the two
parts of the book. Oxford is providing a portion of the proceeds of
each Manual’s sale to the CDC Foundation for use in supporting field
epidemiology at CDC and no proceeds go to the editors or authors.
The Epidemiology
Monitor posed questions directly to Rasmussen who was the leading
co-editor for the new manual.
Interview
EM:
One
can imagine there are thousands of epi field investigations conducted
around the world each year. What can you tell our readers about the
anticipated demand or use for the new manual?
Rasmussen:
This is the fourth edition of this book (previous editions were edited
by Michael Gregg and the book was previously titled “Field
Epidemiology”). More than 12,000 copies of the previous editions have
been sold, so we expect that the book will be in high demand. The new
manual offers current and new tools, which are needed now more than
ever to address acute public health events. We also designed the
manual to be used not only within the U.S. public health
infrastructure, but also in other countries around the world of all
categories (developed, transitional, developing), including those with
established public health practice systems that operate their own
integrated Field Epidemiology Training Programs. For these reasons, we
expect that the demand for the new manual will be even greater than
that for previous editions.
EM:
The ground work for this manual was laid with three previous editions.
What do you see are the biggest differences with previous editions?
Rasmussen:
The
core principles of field epidemiology remain the same. However, all
chapters have been updated to include the latest advances in field
epidemiology, and several new chapters have been added.
Throughout the book,
we placed increased emphasis on the importance of collaborations
during field investigations – collaborations with laboratory
colleagues, collaborations in multistate and international settings,
and collaborations with law enforcement in investigations of public
health problems that might be associated with malicious use of
biologic or toxic agents.
We also had the goal
of the book being useful in a greater spectrum of field settings, from
city and state, national, and international settings, and hope that
the more broad approach will serve investigators in these settings
well.
Examples of new
chapters include “Using Technologies for Data Collection and
Management”, which discusses a wide array of technologies from mobile
devices to environmental sensors, “Collecting and Analyzing
Qualitative Data” to recognize the increasing use of qualitative data
in epidemiology, and “Geographic Information System Data”, to provide
information on a new tool for field investigators.
And new chapters have
been added on responding to different types of outbreaks in different
settings for field investigations. For example, the chapter entitled
“Community Congregate Settings” discusses investigations in
educational institutions, workplaces, mass gatherings, and detention
facilities, and on different types of events -- the chapter “Suicide,
Violence and Other Forms of Injury” addresses field investigations of
these violent injuries. We hope that these new chapters will help
public health professionals in their future investigations.
Finally, our goal was
to make the book more usable – we increased the number of examples and
when possible, used bullets and boxes with the goal of making the book
more relevant to a busy investigator in the field.
EM:
There are things you must like the most about the book. What are some
of your personal highlights in the book?
Rasmussen:
I
like the mix of the old chapters that focus on the basics of field
epidemiology with examples from the classic public health stories of
the past with the new chapters with a focus on new tools, settings,
and collaborations. I also like the new case-studies that focus on
lessons learned from recent field investigations. I hope that field
investigators will benefit from these real-life experiences.
EM:
There are both experienced and would-be editors out there. What are
some of your lessons learned as co-editor of the book?
Rasmussen:
I have served as an editor-in-chief of MMWR, as well as guest editor
for several special journal issues and as an associate editor for
several journals. While these roles are important, a book is different
because it’s likely that it will be used for many years (the previous
edition of this book was published in 2008). It’s a challenge to
figure out what will be needed for field investigations in 10 years or
more – before another edition will become available. And the breadth
of field epidemiology is much more than two editors can cover. We were
fortunate to engage a Steering Committee of public health
professionals with many years of experience in field investigations
who guided us as we planned the latest edition – their contributions
were invaluable. ■
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