Impact of Norovirus Disease in Vulnerable Population
The Signature Assignment will be an 8-10 page (excluding cover page and references) and include a minimum of 7 sources from the Touro library.
Using previous and current readings, your Signature Assignment will provide the opportunity to compile an epidemiological report on a health topic for a population to aim to work with as a healthcare administrator.
Pretend you are a healthcare administrator and work for either a local, regional, or international level agency (hospital, community organization, nursing home, etc) and you are asked to provide a report to address a health disparity faced by one of your vulnerable populations in your current place of work. For example, you may work as a healthcare administrator for a community hospital with a high prevalence of the seasonal flu. The vulnerable population you choose to examine in the context of epidemiology may be but one of the following:
a.Elderly
b.Children
c.Ethnic minority groups,
d.Low-income families, etc.
Based on what you have learned in the previous 8 modules, write an essay that addresses the following:
1. In your introduction introduce, define your: 1) vulnerable population and 2) health outcome of choice.
Your introduction should grab the reader’s attention.
2. Remember to present epidemiological information from sources of epidemiological information.
This information includes prevalence and incidence rates along with measures of risk.
3. Provide background information on your topic and population.
Present at least 3 relevant social determinants of health specific to your population and provide evidence to support these relationships.
4. Now that you set the stage and your reader has the background of information, identify a problem that you will examine from within your position.
5. What epidemiological research design will you use?
What are the strengths and limitations of examining this topic in this manner? List 3 advantages and disadvantages to your selected design
Describe how you will address these limitations in your role of health administrator.
6. Taking your population, topic, and study design into account, what ethical concerns should you be aware of?
How would you address these ethical concerns?
7. Once you have completed the design of your project, discuss how you would properly communicate or present this proposed epidemiological
examination to shareholders and/or Board of Directors.
What steps will you take to ensure your proposed program is well received?
8. Lastly, finish by presenting what you have learned about the role of epidemiology and how it can impact the field of healthcare administration.
Writing Guidelines
Essay must be double-spaced with 1-inch margins and typed in 12-point Times New Roman.
Your paper should have a title page and references page (not included in the 8–10-page total count).
Essays should be proofread for spelling and grammar mistakes.
You must cite all texts used, including page numbers to avoid plagiarism.
Make sure your paper has an introduction (with purpose statement), main points in the body of the paper, and an overall conclusion section.
Build support in your paper with background material including library sources that use the terms we discussed throughout the course/program (Use at least 7 sources from the Touro library)
Ethical Concerns in Human Participants Research
Author’s Name
The Institutional Affiliation
Course Number and Name
Instructor Name
Assignment Due Date
1 Introduction
Healthcare is the most challenging sector, which requires the highest response from professionals and care providers. Working with a local hospital as a healthcare worker, it has been reported that individuals and communities face health disparity based on their location, social status, and demographics. The paper includes the epidemiological research study of the Norovirus while examining its impact on vulnerable populations affected by the disease. The report discusses the strengths and limitations of examining the respective diseases, identifying the ethical concerns in the research study, and ways to address these concerns. The report is prepared to communicate the proposed epidemiological analysis to shareholders, recognise the role of epidemiology in healthcare, and evaluate its impact on healthcare administration. The purpose of this report is to conduct epidemiological research to examine the severity of the consequences of Norovirus disease in a sample of children under the age of five in an underpreviliged neighbourhood in Ghana.
The vulnerable population chosen as a study sample for this study includes young children under the age of five. Young children are more prone to viral diseases and their severity due to low immune systems and risk of dehydration. The disease can be life-threatening for young kids. It has been reported that gastro affects 1.7 billion young kids every year worldwide, leading to the loss of 500,000 young lives (Cao et al., 2021). Children under five face the more significant threat of the Norovirus and its serious consequences.
Norovirus is one of the most common diseases, which may be trivial among adults, but it has severe repercussions for young children. The health outcome of Norovirus ranges from mild to severe based on the demographics of the individual. The disease causes vomiting and diarrhoea together with fever and nausea, or gastrointestinal pain, leading to the hospitalisation of the patient, dehydration, spread of the disease in the vicinity, or rise of another related health risk (Yasir et al., 2023). Kids are more likely to get dehydrated during the illness due to loss of fluid in the body and lower liquid intake. Shah & Hall (2019) identify Norovirus as the most contagious disease that can be widespread in any area or community due to its rapid outbreak or direct and indirect transmission.
Children who experience vomit, diarrhoea, and dehydration due to the loss of large amounts of fluid need immediate medical care to avoid complications. Lartey et al. (2020) state that norovirus costs $4.2 billion to the global health system, which is a massive burden to the international economy. The figure below shows the situation of Norovirus disease in the United States. Out of 4.2 million of the total affected population, 815000 visit hospitals for outpatient healthcare services. 130000 people seek medical on an emergency basis, and 24,600 get hospitalized to treat the severity of their illness (Shah & Hall, 2019). A total of 38 people die out of millions of affected populations, which is relatively low compared to the statistics. Whereas in developing countries, the figure is as high as 212000 deaths per year in young children under the age of five (Afework et al., 2022). So, the difference between the mortality rates of two different regions is