Arab Board Community Medicine Final Written flashcards

32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

Incidence rate

Number of new cases of a disease arising in a population at risk divided by the total person-time of observation. Reported per person-year, it measures how fast new cases appear.

Sensitivity of a screening test

Proportion of people who truly have the disease and test positive, calculated as true positives divided by true positives plus false negatives. A highly sensitive test is useful for ruling out disease.

Confounding

A third variable associated with both the exposure and the outcome, but not on the causal pathway, that distorts the observed association. It is controlled by stratification, matching or multivariable regression.

Lead-time bias

Apparent gain in survival after screening produced only by diagnosing disease earlier, not by postponing death. Survival time lengthens while the true date of death is unchanged.

Number needed to treat

Reciprocal of the absolute risk reduction, calculated as 1 divided by the difference in event rates between control and treated groups. It is the number of patients treated to prevent one extra event.

Type I error

The probability of rejecting a true null hypothesis, symbolised alpha and usually set at 0.05. It represents a false-positive conclusion in a statistical test.

Statistical power

Probability of correctly rejecting a false null hypothesis, equal to 1 minus beta. The conventional minimum is 80%, and power rises with larger samples, larger effects and less variability.

Donabedian quality framework

Framework assessing quality of care through structure (resources and organisation), process (what is actually done for patients) and outcome (the resulting health status).

Span of control

The number of subordinates reporting directly to one manager. Narrow spans allow closer supervision but create tall hierarchies, while wide spans require greater delegation and stronger staff competence.

Herzberg two-factor theory

Theory holding that hygiene factors such as pay and working conditions only prevent dissatisfaction, while motivators such as achievement, recognition and responsibility actually produce job satisfaction.

Cost-effectiveness analysis

Economic evaluation comparing two or more interventions whose effects are measured in the same natural unit, such as lives saved or cases detected, reported as cost per unit of effect.

Quality-adjusted life year

A year lived in perfect health equals 1.0, and years lived with disability are weighted by a utility between 0 and 1. Used as the outcome in cost-utility analysis.

Opportunity cost

The value of the benefits forgone when resources are committed to one programme rather than the next best alternative. It underpins priority setting in resource-constrained health systems.

Hierarchy of controls

Occupational risk controls ranked from most to least effective: elimination, substitution, engineering controls, administrative controls and personal protective equipment. Higher levels protect every worker independent of individual behaviour.

TLV time-weighted average

Threshold limit value–time-weighted average: the average airborne concentration to which nearly all workers may be repeatedly exposed for a conventional eight-hour day and forty-hour week without adverse health effects.

Silicosis

Pneumoconiosis caused by inhaling crystalline silica dust, producing progressive nodular pulmonary fibrosis. It affects miners and construction or stone workers and increases the risk of tuberculosis.

Ottawa Charter

1986 charter identifying five health promotion actions: building healthy public policy, creating supportive environments, strengthening community action, developing personal skills, and reorienting health services.

Stages of change model

Prochaska and DiClemente's model in which behaviour change proceeds through precontemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, maintenance and possible relapse, with interventions matched to the person's current stage.

PRECEDE-PROCEED model

Planning framework that first diagnoses predisposing, enabling and reinforcing factors, then implements the programme and evaluates it through process, impact and outcome measures.

Chain of infection

Six links needed for transmission: infectious agent, reservoir, portal of exit, mode of transmission, portal of entry and susceptible host. Breaking any single link prevents spread.

Outbreak investigation steps

Confirm the diagnosis, define and identify cases, describe them by time, place and person, form hypotheses, test them with an analytic study, apply control measures and communicate the findings.

Cold chain

The system that keeps vaccines within recommended temperatures from manufacture to administration, usually plus 2 to 8 degrees Celsius, using trained staff and continuous temperature monitoring.

Herd immunity threshold

Proportion of a population that must be immune to interrupt sustained transmission, calculated as 1 minus 1/R0. Measles, with R0 of 12 to 18, requires roughly 92 to 95 percent coverage.

Body mass index categories

Body mass index is weight in kilograms divided by height in metres squared. WHO classes: underweight below 18.5, normal 18.5 to 24.9, overweight 25 to 29.9, obese 30 or above.

MPOWER tobacco package

WHO tobacco control package: Monitor tobacco use, Protect people from smoke, Offer help to quit, Warn about harms, Enforce bans on advertising and Raise taxes on tobacco.

Disability-adjusted life year

One lost year of healthy life, calculated as years of life lost from premature death plus years lived with disability. It quantifies total disease burden for priority setting.

Exclusive breastfeeding

Feeding an infant only breast milk, with no other food or water except medicines and vitamins, from birth to six months; complementary foods begin at six months with breastfeeding continued to two years.

Antenatal contact schedule

WHO 2016 model recommending at least eight antenatal contacts, with the first before 12 weeks of gestation, replacing the earlier four-visit focused antenatal care model.

Kangaroo mother care

Care of low birth weight infants through skin-to-skin contact, exclusive breastfeeding and close follow-up. It reduces mortality, hypothermia and infection compared with routine incubator care.

SOAP note

Problem-oriented clinical record with four sections: Subjective (history), Objective (examination and tests), Assessment (diagnosis or problem list) and Plan (management, investigation, referral, follow-up).

PHC core attributes

Starfield's four attributes of primary care: first contact, continuity, comprehensiveness and coordination. Community orientation and accessibility are often added as further defining features.

Chronic care model

Wagner's framework for chronic disease combining community resources, health system organisation, self-management support, delivery system design, decision support and clinical information systems.