PDQ Public Health

by David L. Streiner PhD, Douglas W. MacPherson MD, MSc, Brian D. Gushulak MD

Overview

To introduce a firm understanding of public health, PDQ Public Health presents the history of how the tools of public health have evolved and are applied for the detection, measurement, and intervention in public health threats and risks.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781607951476
Publisher:	PMPH USA, Ltd.
Publication date:	12/01/2010
Series:	PDQ
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	276
File size:	11 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

David L. Streiner is Professor of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics and of Psychiatry at McMaster University Faculty of Health Sciences in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
Douglas W. MacPherson is Professor of Pathology and Molecular Medicine at McMaster University Faculty of Health Sciences, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
Dr. Brian D. Gushulak is Consultant at Migration Health Consultants in Cheltenham, Ontario, Canada. Previously, Dr. Gushulak was Director General, Medical Services Branch of Citizenship and Immigration Canada.

Editorial Reviews

Reviewer: Maryn Elizabeth Torner, BA, MPH (University of Iowa College of Public Health)
Description: This is a quick introduction to public health concepts, its history, and future trends, filtered through a humorous lens.
Purpose: The purpose is to address the transitional periods that have marked public health past and present by incorporating humor. However, although it is a well-intentioned approach to increasing accessibility to readers, the humor and sarcastic comments are often inappropriate to the context or political in nature and thus have the capacity to alienate the intended audience instead of drawing them in.
Audience: The book appears to be written for individuals who are practitioners in public health or health administration fields who have not necessarily received formal public health education and are looking to become familiar with the basics.
Features: It depicts how public health infrastructure and policy development have been influenced by historical events and are constantly evolving through new frameworks. It describes how surveillance is conducted, how epidemiologists interpret statistics, and the results are implemented through appropriate response activities requiring multidisciplinary collaboration and policies.
Assessment: Although a commendable effort of extending knowledge of what public health is to new audiences, the book has its flaws and does not have an advantage or a unique perspective over other general books. Although a book in the Pretty Darned Quick series, the authors are not as succinct as would be expected and have a habit of talking around the point. There are basic editorial errors that could use revision, e.g., graph 2-4 on migrant population is not referenced in the section in which it is located and would have been better situated in the subsequent section on international population mobility and determinants of health. This is not a book that would be considered ideal for use in a graduate course, but is generally useful as a quick overview.

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