Agent. Host. Environment. All three may be present—and the outcome can still be different. Three people live in the same community. The same infectious agent is circulating. They experience similar environmental conditions and opportunities for exposure. One never becomes infected. Another becomes infected but develops no apparent illness. A third develops clinical disease. Why? At … Read more
Aurelian’s Surveillance Files Field Note #8 The case definition asks whether the patient belongs in the surveillance net. Clinical reasoning asks whether the disease actually explains the patient. Imagine a clinician working in a region where dengue is endemic. A patient arrives with fever, thrombocytopenia, and other compatible clinical findings. The surveillance criteria are reviewed. … Read more
Aurelian’s Casebook Casebook #1 Case Presentation An executive committee is reviewing its monthly hospital performance dashboard. Among the quality indicators, one measure immediately draws attention: overall hospital mortality. The dashboard reports the following: Hospital Moratality Rate Hospital A 8% Hospital B 13% Based on these figures, the conclusion seems obvious. Hospital A has the lower … Read more