Lesson One - Overview of Pathophysiology: Concepts of Health and Disease.
Part A: Overview of Pathophysiology: Concepts of Health and Disease.
When you complete this lesson, you will be knowledgeable about the major advances made by the early scholars and scientists of the 19th, 20th and 21st century that helped to revolutionize the diagnosis and treatment of disease, e.g. invention of the microscope, discovery that microbes cause disease, discovery of antibiotics, vaccinations, CAT scans, MRIs, organ transplantation, etc.
You will be able to compare and contrast the definition of "health" as it has changed since it was first defined by the World Health Organization in 1948 as the absence of disease; how it was modified in 1977 to set goals for the year 2000 of a level of health for everyone which would allow them to lead socially and economically productive lives; and how it is now defined by the US Department of Health Services in their Healthy People 2010 proposals, encompassing 319 objectives covering 22 priority areas - promoting healthy behaviors, promoting healthy and safe communities, improving systems for personal and public health, preventing and reducing diseases and disorders (WHO, 1998; WHO, 2003; DuPage, 2000).
You will be able to give a definition of:
-pathophysiology - the study of disease processes (Thomas, 1973)
-pathogenesis - origination and development of disease
-clinical manifestations - what is observed clinically in the disease process
-diagnosis - establishing the cause and nature of a disease
-prognosis - prediction of the course and outcome of a disease
-clinical course - the progression of the disease from onset to
You will be able to explain the terms:
-epidemiology - the science of explaining the interrelationships
between host, agent, and environment in causing a disease
-prevalence - number of cases of a disease
-incidence - frequency of occurr...