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In clinical epidemiology you have to take into account the risks of the populations. There are general risks that everyone will be exposed to but there are also risks associated with exposure and disease in general.
In all patients there should be a determination of risk factors, this will help lead to a correct diagnosis, treatment plan and outcome of the patient. While some "risk factors" are inherited others are from environment or behavioral.
(Fletcher, et al., 2014) Inherited risk factors would be those such as having the gene for breast or colon cancer. Examples of environmental risks would be working with toxins or infectious agents. Behavioral risk factor examples include smoking, drinking excessively, having unprotected sex with multiple partners, no exercise and overeating. (Fletcher, et al., 2014)
Studies that have been able to show the risk through data. One such tool used is a risk prediction tool. As with a lot of chronic disease it is multiple risk factors together that reflect the true risk of developing the disease. With other diseases it may be one really strong risk factor. By combining them both you can develop a risk prediction model. Often referred to as a risk prediction tool.
One such example is the The NCI Breast Cancer Risk Assessment Tool. By answering questions related to risk factors, one can determine to an extent the risk of developing breast cancer.
This cannot be all inclusive, but can raise awareness and apply focus on those things within our control to lower risks where we can. Also, one doesn't want to report a risk as a direct cause of the disease. (Lukes, 2007) Studies include relationships between variables to determine, they also use tables to determine ratio and relative risks.
While the clinician is devoted to each patient. Epidemiology focuses on the population. While the two are very similar, they differ in what they do with the information gathered. Epidemiology is going to focus on the outcomes of a population when certain preventative measures are put into place.
This is a part of evidenced based practice. For instance, if we know that sunburn causes skin cancer, but we know that wearing sunscreen prevents it, why from a clinical standpoint would we not instruct and educate our patients to wear sunscreen?
Same goes for risk factors associated with heart disease, and colon cancer.Through the work of epidemiology of studying populations and prevention, we as clinicians can help each patient that we come in contact with.
Reference:
Fletcher, R. H., Fletcher, S. W., & Fletcher, G. S. (2014). Clinical epidemiology: the essentials. (5th ed.). Philadelphia: Wolters Kluwer Health/Lippincott Williams & Wilkins
Harris, M. (2016). A journey through 90 years of the Weekly Epidemiological Record. Weekly Epidemiological Record, 91(13), 169-176.
Lukes, E. (2007). Epidemiology basics for occupational health nurses. AAOHN Journal, 55(1), 26-33.