Core Epidemiologic Function and how It as Demonstrated in the Work of Florence Nightingale

Epidemiology is a discipline often referred to by many as the fundamental science of
public health. Typically, epidemiology involves inquiring into the causes, patterns, and
frequency of health-related events and states, such as diseases, in populations (Frerot et al.,
2018). It also entails applying the findings of these inquiries to determine interventions and
solutions to address public health concerns. Epidemiologists employ a systematic scientific
method to evaluate the how, why, when, where, who, and what of these health-connected events
and states. Therefore, one of the core epidemiologic functions is public health surveillance. This
ongoing process systematically gathers, evaluates, interprets, and disseminates public health
information or data (Groseclose & Buckeride, 2017). For instance, the target of COVID-19
surveillance would be to systematically diagnose infected people and ensuring they are
quarantined and treated in separate rooms to avoid cross-contamination. This data can then be
disseminated for public safety.
The use of public health surveillance to monitor public health events like disease spread
is not a new practice. Florence Nightingale often referred to as the pioneer of modern nursing,
employed public surveillance throughout her career. For example, upon returning from the
Crimean War as a heroine in 1856, Nightingale vowed to design interventions that would avert
the deaths she witnessed in the war. Specifically, she pushed for establishing a royal commission
to look into what caused the high fatality rates during the battle (for example, for one death
caused by wounds, seven others resulted from infections). The royal commission dossier released
later ultimately showcased Nightingale’s effort from data collection to analysis to reform

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recommendations. One of her primary recommendations was establishing a statistics department
for public health surveillance or keeping track of mortality and disease rates (McDonald, 2015).

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References

Frerot, M., et al. (2018). What is epidemiology? Changing definitions of epidemiology 1978-

2017. PLoS One, 13(12). e0208442. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0208442
      Groseclose, S. L., & Buckeride, D. L. (2017). Public health surveillance systems: Recent
      advances in their use and evaluation. Annual Review of Public Health, 38, 57-79.
      https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-publhealth-031816-044348
      McDonald L. (2015). Florence Nightingale: A Research-based approach to health, healthcare,
      and hospital safety. In: Collyer F. (eds), The Palgrave handbook of social theory in
      health, illness, and medicine. Palgrave Macmillan, London.
      https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137355621_4