NR 443 Epidemiology Questions
1. Who was the first nurse epidemiologist who pioneered the use of statistics to improve
public health?
b. Florence Nightingale
Florence Nightingale used statistics to show changes in outcomes as hospital conditions
improved during the war because of nurses.
2. A nurse noted that 15 people became very ill while eating at the school banquet for the
basketball team. To calculate the rate of illness, what other fact does the nurse need?
c. How many people ate at the banquet
To be able to calculate the rate, the nurse needs to know how many (15) of the total population
(the missing number) became ill at the event. Therefore, the nurse needs to know how many
people ate at the banquet.
3. A rate might be accurately defined as
d. The number of events divided by the number of persons at risk.
A rate is a fraction in which the numerator is the actual number of events and the denominator
is the total population at risk; this fraction is converted to a standard base to enable
comparisons between various population groups of any size.
4. A nurse was asked whether the agency should offer additional health promotion
programming for young mothers in the Two Oaks neighborhood or the Centerville
neighborhood. Two Oaks is a village that has a population of 4000 persons, of whom 50 are
single mothers, whereas Centerville is an urban area of 15,000 people, of whom 150 are
single mothers. On the basis of this information, which of the following would be the best
response by the nurse?
a. Additional programming will be helpful and appropriate in either neighborhood.
b. The nurse needs to know the total number of children in these neighborhoods before
making a decision.
c. The nurse should choose to focus on single mothers in Centerville.
d. The nurse should choose to focus on single mothers in Two Oaks.
Single mothers are a population that is considered to be a high-risk group. Because Two Oaks
has a higher rate of single moms than Centerville does, it would be important for the nurse to
offer additional health promotion programming in this community.
5. Assuming that City A has a murder rate of 12 per 100,000 population and City B has a
murder rate of 24 per 100,000 population, which city has the more worrisome problem?
a. The answer cannot be determined from these data.
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, NR 443 Epidemiology Questions
b. City A has the more worrisome problem.
c. City B has the more worrisome problem.
d. Both cities have equally worrisome problems.
Because City B has a murder rate of 24:100,000, whereas City A has a rate of 12:100,000, the
murder rate in City B is twice as high as that in City A and hence has the more challenging
problem.
6. A nurse was given the following data about the children attending school in two area
communities:
School Asthmatic Children Number of Children Number of Persons in
in School Community
Centerville 25 1000 15,000
Elementary
Centertown 25 1000 15,000
Suburban Elementary
Centerville Junior 35 1500 15,000
High
Two Oaks Elementary 5 200 5000
Two Oaks Junior High 10 300 5000
Totals: 100 4000 55,000
What is the rate of asthma in the school-age population?
a. 5:1000
b. 25:1000
c. 100:20,000
d. 400:2000
With 100 asthmatic children among 4000 total children, the rate is 100:4000, simplified to
25:1000.
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1. Who was the first nurse epidemiologist who pioneered the use of statistics to improve
public health?
b. Florence Nightingale
Florence Nightingale used statistics to show changes in outcomes as hospital conditions
improved during the war because of nurses.
2. A nurse noted that 15 people became very ill while eating at the school banquet for the
basketball team. To calculate the rate of illness, what other fact does the nurse need?
c. How many people ate at the banquet
To be able to calculate the rate, the nurse needs to know how many (15) of the total population
(the missing number) became ill at the event. Therefore, the nurse needs to know how many
people ate at the banquet.
3. A rate might be accurately defined as
d. The number of events divided by the number of persons at risk.
A rate is a fraction in which the numerator is the actual number of events and the denominator
is the total population at risk; this fraction is converted to a standard base to enable
comparisons between various population groups of any size.
4. A nurse was asked whether the agency should offer additional health promotion
programming for young mothers in the Two Oaks neighborhood or the Centerville
neighborhood. Two Oaks is a village that has a population of 4000 persons, of whom 50 are
single mothers, whereas Centerville is an urban area of 15,000 people, of whom 150 are
single mothers. On the basis of this information, which of the following would be the best
response by the nurse?
a. Additional programming will be helpful and appropriate in either neighborhood.
b. The nurse needs to know the total number of children in these neighborhoods before
making a decision.
c. The nurse should choose to focus on single mothers in Centerville.
d. The nurse should choose to focus on single mothers in Two Oaks.
Single mothers are a population that is considered to be a high-risk group. Because Two Oaks
has a higher rate of single moms than Centerville does, it would be important for the nurse to
offer additional health promotion programming in this community.
5. Assuming that City A has a murder rate of 12 per 100,000 population and City B has a
murder rate of 24 per 100,000 population, which city has the more worrisome problem?
a. The answer cannot be determined from these data.
1
, NR 443 Epidemiology Questions
b. City A has the more worrisome problem.
c. City B has the more worrisome problem.
d. Both cities have equally worrisome problems.
Because City B has a murder rate of 24:100,000, whereas City A has a rate of 12:100,000, the
murder rate in City B is twice as high as that in City A and hence has the more challenging
problem.
6. A nurse was given the following data about the children attending school in two area
communities:
School Asthmatic Children Number of Children Number of Persons in
in School Community
Centerville 25 1000 15,000
Elementary
Centertown 25 1000 15,000
Suburban Elementary
Centerville Junior 35 1500 15,000
High
Two Oaks Elementary 5 200 5000
Two Oaks Junior High 10 300 5000
Totals: 100 4000 55,000
What is the rate of asthma in the school-age population?
a. 5:1000
b. 25:1000
c. 100:20,000
d. 400:2000
With 100 asthmatic children among 4000 total children, the rate is 100:4000, simplified to
25:1000.
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