solved 1st postDigital epidemiology is an exciting field. With millions of

1st postDigital epidemiology is an exciting field. With millions of Americans
utilizing technology every day, public health is discovering new ways to use
the abundance of digital footprints we leave behind. Digital epidemiology
collects data in public health facilities that support analyzing the disease’s
distribution and control. According to Salathé, 2018, digital epidemiology
centers on digital data and can be evaluated using smartphones, the internet,
and other electronic gadgets. The digital data aims to recognize disease
patterns and health determinants in a community and promote health and disease
prevention. Applying big data has a significant impact on the healthcare system
and research. However, it also heightens many ethical issues. A few ethical considerations with this data collection system are
patient privacy, data integrity, informed consent, risk of error, and
accountability. These profound challenges are related to health value for
individuals and communities, individual rights, and other moral obligations.
Salathé, 2018 suggests examining the Ethical National Committee of Bio-Ethics
guidelines regarding ethical consents when utilizing these data types. It is
essential to ensure that patient’s medical and personal information is well
protected, and the patient has the right to know how their data has been used.
Also, the nurse must give complete information and education about consents and
how the data is stored, transferred, and processed. A nurse and a patient must
be transparent regarding this matter. Nevertheless, humans are prone to
mistakes and cannot guarantee that these guidelines are followed and can
resolve ethical issues. Therefore, it is vital to establish policies to ensure
that nurses and other disciplines adhere and utilize this technology safe for
the patient’s best interest.2nd postEpidemiology has come a long way since the times of John Snow. Like him,
epidemiologists used to travel on foot having direct contact with the people
and diseases they were studying. Now this information and data is available at
their fingertips. Mobile devices, social media, and newer communication
technologies have made it easier for epidemiologists to explore disease spread
through the rapid development of information (He et al, 2020). We have
seen this more than ever with the COVID 19 pandemic. These technologies have
given information about real-time disease spread patterns and how human
activity affects it. With the wide availability of disease information, ethics
must be considered regarding this information. Digital epidemiology draws big
data from personal information, public health, and information technologies
(Vayena et al, 2015). Much of public surveillance is done through the use of
our mobile devices; including what we purchase, our social media conversations,
or our web searches (Vayena et al, 2015). Have you ever noticed while scrolling
Facebook, you see an ad for a product that you “googled” a week ago?
Information derived from these sources does have a beneficial part to play in
epidemiology, but sometimes the manner in which this information is extracted
may violate the privacy of people. Ethics of big data are questioned as we
learn where the line must be drawn. When is this surveillance too much?