Outbreak Investigation

Note: This week's discussion is a reflection on the experience of completing this assignment. Try to complete your assignment early in the week to give yourself time to create your discussion and respond to peers.

In the fields of epidemiology and public health, the ability to swiftly and effectively investigate disease outbreaks is a critical skill for epidemiologists and other health professionals. Outbreak investigations not only serve to identify the source and contain the spread of infectious diseases, but they also provide valuable insights into disease patterns, risk factors, and effective interventions. This knowledge can inform public health policies and strategies, ultimately protecting communities and improving health outcomes. In this assignment, we will delve into the importance of outbreak investigation and practice some of the investigative and critical thinking skills you will need in your career.

Instructions

For this assignment you will need to access the CDC's Solve the OutbreakLinks to an external site. tool.

• If needed, please access the 508 Accessible: Solve the Outbreak Links to an external site.page and work with your instructor on options to submit the assignment.

After you have accessed Solve the Outbreak, look for the Level 1 section. You should see thirteen possible outbreak scenarios for you to choose from. You can earn up to 1500 points on a scenario. Your goal for this assignment is to score at least 1000 points on three of the scenarios and score a total of 5000 points total across all the scenarios you attempt.

As you complete the simulations, be sure to click on the supplementary materials embedded within the activities so that you can learn more about the disease conditions as well as important epidemiological terms.

To complete this assignment, do the following, after accessing the Solve the Outbreak website:

• Click on Level 1.
• Preview the available scenarios.
• Select your first scenario and work through it until you've achieved a score of at least 1000 points.
• Take a screenshot of your completion screen that shows you scored at least 1000 points.
• Insert the screenshot into a Word document.
  • You should have one screenshot in your Word document.
• Complete the same steps for a second and third scenario.
  • You should have three screenshots of your score pages in your Word document now.
• At this point you should have at minimum 3000 total points and at most 4500 total points. Your goal is to reach 5000 total points.
  • Work through as many additional scenarios as you need to reach 5000 total points on the Solve the Outbreak challenge.
• After reaching 5000 total points, click on “Scores” at the bottom of the screen and then, click on “Stats.”
• Take a screenshot of your “Stats” screen that shows you have at least 5000 total points.
• Insert the screenshot into your Word document.
  • You should now have 4 total screenshots.
• Submit the Word document with your 4 screenshots in the assignment area.

Competencies Measured

By successfully completing this assignment, you will demonstrate your proficiency in the following course competencies and rubric criteria:

• Competency 1: Apply epidemiological methods to the breadth of settings and situations in public health practice.
  • Submit a screenshot that shows a score of at least 1000 points on one of the Solve the Outbreak scenarios.
  • Submit a screenshot that shows a score of at least 1000 points on a second Solve the Outbreak scenarios.
  • Submit a screenshot that shows a score of at least 1000 points on a third Solve the Outbreak scenarios.
  • Submit a screenshot of the Your Stats page that shows a cumulative score of at least 5000 points.