Sorry, folks! It's been a busy few weeks…
Friday, 5 March
Field trip! My Epidemiology & Control of Communicable Diseases course held the day's activities at the Health Protection Agency's (HPA) Centre for Infections (CfI). The HPA is basically the UK's version of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The roles and responsibilities are quite different in some aspects, but that's the best comparison to make! The lectures on outbreaks of Salmonella and TB in the UK were the most interesting parts of the day. If a career in HIV/AIDS doesn't work out for me, I may go into outbreak investigation and control. It's exciting and is a great exercise for your brain! Instead of food borne illness investigation, it would be something like ebola in Central Africa. Now that's cool.
Wednesday - Friday, 10 - 12 March
More outbreak investigations! ECCD was the culprit again. The course is known for its outbreak control exercise, where you are assigned in a team and have to investigate, define and implement control measures for an outbreak of a disease [in W. Africa after a funeral]. It was great, but tiring. We had to interview the "attendees", perform statistical analyses and write a four-page report that was due on Friday night. It was gruelling to spend extended hours sitting in front of a computer screen, articulating what was happening or what needed to happen or why something was happening and writing a coherent report. In the end, I enjoyed my group and think that we did well. The School is excellent for providing seminar experiences that make learning fun and interactive!
Alas, things will only get busier. There are only two weeks left in Term 2! This year's flying!
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That sounds like a lot of work, but sort of, well, FUN too!
ReplyDeleteI imagine you are right in your element :D