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Glossary of terms used in health research - E

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  • E-epidemiology
    • Wikipedia
      E-epidemiology is the science underlying the acquisition, maintenance and application of epidemiological knowledge and information using digital media such as the internet, mobile phones, digital paper, digital TV. E-epidemiology also refers to the large-scale epidemiological studies that are increasingly conducted through distributed global collaborations enabled by the Internet.
  • E-health
    • Wikipedia
      E-health is the transfer of health resources and health care by electronic means.
  • Early diagnosis
    • MeSH
      Methods to determine in patients the nature of a disease or disorder at its early stage of progression. generally, early diagnosis improves prognosis and treatment outcome.
  • Early termination of clinical trials
    • MeSH
      Earlier than planned termination of clinical trials.
  • Eclipsing
    • In clinical evidence a systematic review should be excluded (eclipsed) if, and only if, there is a review with a later search date with either identical methods, clearly superior methods, or similar methods including the same primary sources.
  • Ecological study
    • Wikipedia
      An ecological study is an epidemiological study in which the unit of analysis is a population rather than an individual. For instance, an ecological study may look at the association between smoking and lung cancer deaths in different countries.
  • Economic analysis
    • Comparison of the relationship between costs and outcomes of alternative healthcare interventions.
  • Economic epidemiology
    • Wikipedia
      Economic epidemiology is a field at the intersection of epidemiology and economics. Its premise is to incorporate incentives for healthy behavior and their attendant behavioral responses into an epidemiological context to better understand how diseases are transmitted. This framework should help improve policy responses to epidemic diseases by giving policymakers and health-care providers clear tools for thinking about how certain actions can influence the spread of disease transmission.
  • Economic evaluation
    • A “comparative analysis of alternative courses of action in terms of both their costs and consequences”. Two essential features of this definition are worth noting. Firstly, economic evaluation involves a comparison between alternative courses of action. Secondly, the options are evaluated in terms of both their costs and their benefits. Such analyses can be set within the context of a randomized control trial or other health research study design, or can be undertaken through decision analysis modeling approaches.
  • Economic outcome
    • A consequence of the use of health care products, services, or programs that affect costs from any of several perspectives.
  • Ectopic pregnancy
    • MeSH
      A potentially life-threatening condition in which the embryo, mammalian implants outside the cavity of the uterus. Most ectopic pregnancies (>96%) occur in the fallopian tubes, known as tubal pregnancy. They can be in other locations, such as uterine cervix; ovary; and abdominal cavity (pregnancy, abdominal).
  • Editorial
    • Wikipedia
      Editorial [MeSH - publication type]: work consisting of a statement of the opinions, beliefs, and policy of the editor or publisher of a journal, usually on current matters of medical or scientific significance to the medical community or society at large. The editorials published by editors of journals representing the official organ of a society or organization are generally substantive.
  • Editorial board
    • Wikipedia
      A group of people, usually at a publication, who dictate the tone and direction the publication's editorial policy will take.
  • Editorial policies
    • MeSH
      The guidelines and policy statements set forth by the editor(s) or editorial board of a publication.
  • Editorial review
    • Wikipedia
      In this process, articles which meet the minimum requirements for submission (such as including the necessary descriptions of funding, privacy and publication releases, ethics/institutional review board approval, statements of original work, signatures of authors, and so on,) are first looked over by a managing editor or a member of an editorial board. They may be referred back to the authors for revision and resubmission, rejected, or presented to the editorial board for final approval.
  • Educational meetings
    • A strategy for changing clinician behavior. Participation of professionals in workshops that include interaction and discussion.
  • Effect modifiers (epidemiology)
    • MeSH
      Factors that modify the effect of the putative causal factor(s) under study.
  • Effect size
    • Wikipedia
      A generic term for the estimate of effect of treatment for a study.
      A dimensionless measure of effect that is typically used for continuous data when different scales (e.g. for measuring pain) are used to measure an outcome and is usually defined as the difference in means between the intervention and control groups divided by the standard deviation of the control or both groups.
      A standardized scale free estimate of the relation between an exposure and an outcome. In a general sense, this term is applied to any measurement of the difference in the outcome between the study groups (so relative risk, odds ratio, and risk difference can be defined as “effect sizes”). When the effect size is applied to measurements of continuous variables (such as mean), its most common estimator is the standardized mean difference, which is calculated as the difference of means divided by the variability of the measures (the standard deviation). This is mainly useful when there is no common measure to all the studies.
  • Effectiveness
    • Wikipedia
      The extent to which a specific intervention, when used under ordinary circumstances, does what it is intended to do. Clinical trials that assess effectiveness are sometimes called pragmatic or management trials.
      In medicine, the ability of an intervention (for example, a drug or surgery) to produce the desired beneficial effect.
      A measure of the extent to which a specific intervention, procedure, regimen, or service, when deployed in the field in routine circumstances, does what it is intended to do for a specific population; a measure of the extent to which a health care intervention/activity fulfills its objectives.
      The benefit (e.g. to health outcomes) of using a technology for a particular problem under general or routine conditions, for example by a physician in a community hospital or by a patient at home.
  • Effectiveness research
    • Research to determine whether an intervention produces desired results under the conditions in which the intervention is likely to be used.
  • Efficacy
    • Wikipedia
      The extent to which an intervention produces a beneficial result under ideal conditions. Clinical trials that assess efficacy are sometimes called explanatory trials and are restricted to participants who fully co-operate.
      The maximum ability of a drug or treatment to produce a result regardless of dosage. A drug passes efficacy trials if it is effective at the dose tested and against the illness for which it is prescribed. In the procedure mandated by the FDA, Phase II clinical trials gauge efficacy, and Phase III trials confirm it.
      The benefit of using a technology for a particular problem under ideal conditions, for example, in a laboratory setting, with in the protocol of a carefully managed randomized controlled trial, or at a “center of excellence.”
  • Efficacy research
    • Research to determine whether an intervention produces desired results under optimal or near optimal conditions.
  • Efficiency
    • The extent to which objectives are achieved by minimizing the use of resources.
  • Egger's method
    • A procedure to detect publication bias. It consists in a simple linear regression of the effect size in a study divided by its standard error on the inverse of standard error and testing whether the intercept is statistically significant (at p < 0.1).
  • Electronic data capture
    • Wikipedia
      An electronic data capture (EDC) system is a computerized system designed for the collection of clinical data in electronic format for use mainly in human clinical trials.
  • Electronic health record
    • MeSH - Wikipedia
      An electronic health record (EHR) (also electronic patient record or computerized patient record) is an evolving concept defined as a systematic collection of electronic health information about individual patients or populations.
      Media that facilitate transportability of pertinent information concerning patient's illness across varied providers and geographic locations. Some versions include direct linkages to online consumer health information that is relevant to the health conditions and treatments related to a specific patient.
  • Eligibility criteria
    • In clinical trials, requirements that must be met for an individual to be included in a study. These requirements help make sure that patients in a trial are similar to each other in terms of specific factors such as age, general health, and previous treatment. When all participants meet the same eligibility criteria, it gives researchers greater confidence that results of the study are caused by the intervention being tested and not by other factors.
      Summary criteria for participant selection; includes inclusion and exclusion criteria.
  • Embryo
    • Wikipedia
      The product of the division of the zygote to the end of the embryonic stage, eight weeks after fertilization. (This definition does not include either parthenotes - generated through parthenogenesis - nor products of somatic cell nuclear transfer.)
  • Embryo loss
    • MeSH
      Early pregnancy loss during the embryo, mammalian stage of development. In the human, this period comprises the second through eighth week after fertilization.
  • Embryo research
    • MeSH
      Experimentation on, or using the organs or tissues from, a human or other mammalian conceptus during the prenatal stage of development that is characterized by rapid morphological changes and the differentiation of basic structures. In humans, this includes the period from the time of fertilization to the end of the eighth week after fertilization.
  • Emergency management
    • Wikipedia
      Emergency management (or disaster management) is the discipline of dealing with and avoiding risks.
  • Emergency medical services
    • MeSH - Wikipedia
      A branch of emergency services dedicated to providing out-of-hospital acute medical care and/or transport to definitive care, to patients with illnesses and injuries which the patient, or the medical practitioner, believes constitutes a medical emergency.
      Services specifically designed, staffed, and equipped for the emergency care of patients.
  • Emergency threshold
    • Mortality rate above which an emergency is said to be occurring. Usually taken as a crude mortality rate of 1 per 10,000 per day, or as an under-five mortality rate of 2 per 10,000 per day.
  • Empirical
    • Wikipedia
      Empirical results are based on observation rather than on reasoning alone.
      Based on experimental data, not on a theory.
  • Empirical research
    • MeSH - Wikipedia
      Research that derives its data by means of direct observation or experiment, such research is used to answer a question or test a hypothesis (e.g. "Does something such as a type of medical treatment work?").
      The study, based on direct observation, use of statistical records, interviews, or experimental methods, of actual practices or the actual impact of practices or policies.
  • Encyclopedia
    • MeSH - Wikipedia
      A type of reference work, a compendium holding information from either all branches of knowledge or a particular branch of knowledge.
      Encyclopedias [MeSH - publication type]: works containing informational articles on subjects in every field of knowledge, usually arranged in alphabetical order, or a similar work limited to a special field or subject.
  • Endemic
    • Wikipedia
      In epidemiology, an infection is said to be endemic (from Greek en- in or within + demos people) in a population when that infection is maintained in the population without the need for external inputs. For example, chickenpox is endemic (steady state) in the UK, but malaria is not.
  • Endemic disease
    • MeSH
      The constant presence of a disease or infectious agent within a given geographic area or population group; may also refer to the usual prevalence of a given disease within such area or group.
      Describes a disease that is constantly present, to a greater or lesser degree, in a population living in a particular area.
      The constant presence of diseases or infectious agents within a given geographic area or population group. It may also refer to the usual prevalence of a given disease with such area or group. It includes holoendemic and hyperendemic diseases. A holoendemic disease is one for which a high prevalent level of infection begins early in life and affects most of the child population, leading to a state of equilibrium such that the adult population shows evidence of the disease much less commonly than do children (malaria in many communities is a holoendemic disease). A hyperendemic disease is one that is constantly present at a high incidence and/or prevalence rate and affects all groups equally.
  • Endpoint
    • Wikipedia
      In clinical trials, an event or outcome that can be measured objectively to determine whether the intervention being studied is beneficial. The endpoints of a clinical trial are usually included in the study objectives. Some examples of endpoints are survival, improvements in quality of life, relief of symptoms, and disappearance of the tumor.
      Overall outcome that the protocol is designed to evaluate. Common endpoints are severe toxicity, disease progression, or death.
  • Endpoint determination
    • MeSH
      Establishment of the level of a quantifiable effect indicative of a biologic process. The evaluation is frequently to detect the degree of toxic or therapeutic effect.
  • Enrollment
    • Wikipedia
      The act of admitting a participant into a trial. Participants should be enrolled only after study personnel have confirmed that all the eligibility criteria have been met. Formal enrollment must occur before randomized assignment.
  • Environment and public health workers
    • WHO Statistical Information System: includes environmental and public health officers, sanitarians, hygienists, environmental and public health technicians, district health officers, malaria technicians, meat inspectors, public health supervisors and similar professions.
  • Environmental epidemiology
    • Wikipedia
      Environmental epidemiology is the branch of public health that deals with environmental conditions and hazards that may pose a risk to human health. Environmental epidemiology identifies and quantifies exposures to environmental contaminants; conducts risk assessments and risk communication; provides medical evaluation and surveillance for adverse health effects; and provides health-based guidance on levels of exposure to such contaminants.
  • Environmental exposure
    • MeSH
      The exposure to potentially harmful chemical, physical, or biological agents in the environment or to environmental factors that may include ionizing radiation, pathogenic organisms, or toxic chemicals.
  • Environmental factor
    • Wikipedia
      In epidemiology, an environmental factor (or so called environmental trigger) are those determinants of disease that are not transmitted genetically. In more basic terms, an environmental factor is a factor caused, aided, or triggered by the environment.
      An extrinsic factor (geology, climate, insects, sanitation, health services, etc.) which affects the agent and the opportunity for exposure.
  • Environmental health
    • MeSH - Wikipedia
      The branch of public health that is concerned with all aspects of the natural and built environment that may affect human health.
      The science of controlling or modifying those conditions, influences, or forces surrounding man which relate to promoting, establishing, and maintaining health.
  • Environmental medicine
    • MeSH - Wikipedia
      A multidisciplinary field involving medicine, environmental science, chemistry and others. The scope of this field involves studying the interactions between environment and human health, and the role of the environment in causing or mediating disease.
      Medical specialty concerned with environmental factors that may impinge upon human disease, and development of methods for the detection, prevention, and control of environmentally related disease.
  • Environmental monitoring
    • MeSH - Wikipedia
      Environmental monitoring describes the processes and activities that need to take place to characterize and monitor the quality of the environment.
      The monitoring of the level of toxins, chemical pollutants, microbial contaminants, or other harmful substances in the environment or workplace by measuring the amounts of these toxicants in the bodies of people and animals in that environment, among other methods. It also includes the measurement of environmental exposure. Levels in humans and animals are used as indicators of toxic levels of undesirable chemicals.
  • Environmental strategies
    • Environmental strategies are prevention strategies aimed at the immediate cultural, political and social environment of people.
  • Ephemera
    • Wikipedia
      Transitory written and printed matter not intended to be retained or preserved.
      Ephemera [MeSH - publication type]: works consisting of transient everyday items, usually printed on paper, that are produced for a specific limited use and then often thrown away.
  • Ephemeral literature
    • Literature judged to have a short period of usefulness and only for a small audience, not normally considered worth indexing or cataloguing. It may, however, be important. It includes reports, proceedings of conferences and other types of publication.
  • Epidemic
    • Wikipedia
      In epidemiology, an epidemic epi- meaning "upon or above" and demic- meaning "people", occurs when new cases of a certain disease, in a given human population, and during a given period, substantially exceed what is "expected," based on recent experience (the number of new cases in the population during a specified period of time is called the "incidence rate").
      The occurrence in a community or region of cases of an illness, specific health-related behavior, or other health-related events clearly in excess of normal expectancy. The community or region and the period in which the cases occur are specified precisely. The number of cases indicating the presence of an epidemic varies according to the agent, size, and type of population exposed, previous experience or lack of exposure to the disease, and time and place of occurrence.
      The occurrence of more cases of disease than expected in a given area or among a specific group of people over a particular period of time.
  • Epidemic curve
    • A histogram that shows the course of a disease outbreak or epidemic by plotting the number of cases by time of onset.
  • Epidemic model
    • Wikipedia
      A simplified means of describing the transmission of communicable disease through individuals.
  • Epidemic period
    • A time period when the number of cases of disease reported is greater than expected.
  • Epidemic threshold
    • Is the critical number or density of susceptible hosts required for an epidemic to occur. The epidemic threshold is used to confirm the emergence of an epidemic so as to step-up appropriate control measures.
  • Epidemiologic factors
    • MeSH
      Events, characteristics, or other definable entities that have the potential to bring about a change in a health condition or other defined outcome.
  • Epidemiologic measurements
    • MeSH
      Statistical calculations on the occurrence of disease or other health-related conditions in defined populations.
  • Epidemiologic research design
    • MeSH
      The form and structure of analytic studies in epidemiologic and clinical research.
  • Epidemiologic studies
    • MeSH
      Studies designed to examine associations, commonly, hypothesized causal relations. They are usually concerned with identifying or measuring the effects of risk factors or exposures. The common types of analytic study are case-control studies; cohort studies; and cross-sectional studies.
  • Epidemiologic study characteristics
    • MeSH
      Types and formulations of studies used in epidemiological and clinical research.
  • Epidemiologic triad
    • The traditional model of infectious disease causation. Includes three components: an external agent, a susceptible host, and an environment that brings the host and agent together, so that disease occurs.
  • Epidemiological transition
    • Wikipedia
      In demography and medical geography, epidemiological transition is a human phase of development witnessed by a sudden and stark increase in population growth rates brought about by medical innovation in disease or sickness therapy and treatment, followed by a re-leveling of population growth from subsequent declines in procreation rates.
  • Epidemiology
    • MeSH - Wikipedia
      The study of the health of populations and communities, not just particular individuals.
      The branch of medical science that deals with the study of incidence and distribution and control of a disease in a population.
      The study of the patterns, causes, and control of disease in groups of people.
      The study of the distribution and determinants of health-related states or events in specified populations, and the application of this study to the control of health problems.
      Field of medicine concerned with the determination of causes, incidence, and characteristic behavior of disease outbreaks affecting human populations. It includes the interrelationships of host, agent, and environment as related to the distribution and control of disease.
  • Episode of care
    • MeSH
      An interval of care by a health care facility or provider for a specific medical problem or condition. It may be continuous or it may consist of a series of intervals marked by one or more brief separations from care, and can also identify the sequence of care (e.g., emergency, inpatient, outpatient), thus serving as one measure of health care provided.
  • Episodes of illness
    • Clusters of visits and/or procedures that are related to a particular illness, disease, or condition.
  • Equality
    • Principle by which all persons or things under consideration are treated in the same way.
  • Equipment failure analysis
    • MeSH
      The evaluation of incidents involving the loss of function of a device. These evaluations are used for a variety of purposes such as to determine the failure rates, the causes of failures, costs of failures, and the reliability and maintainability of devices.
  • Equipoise
    • MeSH - Wikipedia
      A state of uncertainty where a person believes it is equally likely that either of two treatment options is better.
      A state of uncertainty on the part of an investigator or a community of investigators regarding the relative merits of interventions. From middle French terms meaning equal weight. Equipoise is an ethical problem when a professional believes one study intervention is superior. Randomly assigning groups of persons to the alternative intervention thus conflicts with an obligation to do the best for the patient or community. “Community” or “clinical” equipoise—collective professional uncertainty—may be invoked to make trial participation ethically acceptable.
      Expectation of real uncertainty on the part of the investigator regarding the comparative therapeutic merits of each arm in a trial.
      Also called therapeutic equipoise.
  • Equity
    • Principle of being fair to all, with reference to a defined and recognized set of values.
      The absence of avoidable or remediable differences among populations or groups defined socially, economically, demographically, or geographically; thus, health inequities involve more than inequality—-whether in health determinants or outcomes, or in access to the resources needed to improve and maintain health—-but also a failure to avoid or overcome such inequality that infringes human rights norms or is otherwise unfair.
      Fairness in the allocation of resources or treatments among different individuals or groups.
      Equity is about “fairness”. It is often confused with equality, or “the state of being equal”. Fairness and being equal are not necessarily the same things. Inequality can be fair if there are differences in need, or differences in contribution, effort or deserve. The reason we are interested in equity is the same as for efficiency—that is, scarcity. If resources were not scarce, it would be fair for people to consume as much as they want or need of any particular commodity, including health care. However, because of scarcity, we have to judge what a fair allocation might be. In health care, there are two general equity concepts to consider, both dating from the time of Aristotle, namely horizontal equity and vertical equity.
  • Equity in health
    • Equity in health implies that everyone should have a fair opportunity to attain his or her full health opportunity, and that no one should be disadvantaged from achieving this potential.
      The absence of systematic differences in one or more aspects of health status across socially, demographically, or geographically defined population groups.
  • Equivalence trial
    • Trial that estimates treatment effects that exclude any patient-important superiority of interventions under evaluation. Equivalence trials require a priori definition of the smallest difference in outcomes between these interventions that patients would consider large enough to justify a preference for the superior intervention (given the intervention's harms and burdens). The confidence interval for the estimated treatment effect at the end of the trial should exclude that difference for the authors to claim equivalence (i.e., the confidence limits should be closer to zero than the minimal patient-important difference). This level of precision often requires investigators to enroll large numbers of patients with large numbers of events. Equivalence trials are helpful when investigators want to see whether a cheaper, safer, simpler (or increasingly often, better method to generate income for the sponsor) intervention is neither better nor worse (in terms of efficacy) than a current intervention. Claims of equivalence are frequent when results are not significant, but one must be alert to whether the confidence intervals exclude differences between the interventions that are as large as or larger than those patients would consider important. If they do not, the trial is indeterminate rather than yielding equivalence.
      A trial designed to determine whether the response to two or more treatments differs by an amount that is clinically unimportant. This is usually demonstrated by showing that the true treatment difference is likely to lie between a lower and an upper equivalence level of clinically acceptable differences.
  • Essay
    • Wikipedia
      A short piece of writing which is quite often written from an author's personal point of view.
      Essays [MeSH - publication type]: works consisting of collections of papers or interpretive literary compositions not previously published.
  • Essential documents
    • Documents that individually and collectively permit evaluation of the conduct of a study and the quality of the data produced.
  • Essential drugs
    • MeSH - Wikipedia
      Those drugs that satisfy the health care needs of the majority of the population; they should therefore be available at all times in adequate amounts and in appropriate dosage forms, at a price the community can afford.
      Essential medicines are those that satisfy the priority health care needs of the population.
      Drugs considered essential to meet the health needs of a population as well as to control drug costs.
      Also called essential medicines.
  • Essential national health research
    • Each developing country should establish and strengthen an appropriate health research base to understand its own problems, improve health policy and management, enhance the effectiveness of limited resources, foster innovation and experimentation, and provide the foundation for a stronger developing country voice in setting international priorities.
  • Estimate of effect
    • Wikipedia
      The observed relationship between an intervention and an outcome expressed as, for example, a number needed to treat to benefit, odds ratio, risk difference, risk ratio, standardized mean difference, or weighted mean difference. (Also called treatment effect.)
  • Estimated general mortality rate
    • The estimated total number of deaths in a population of a given sex and/or age, divided by the total number of this population, expressed per 100,000 population, for a given year, in a given country, territory, or geographic area.
  • Ethical approval
    • Independent review of the scientific merit and implications of a study regarding the dignity, rights, safety, and wellbeing of research participants.
  • Ethical review
    • MeSH
      A formal process of examination of patient care or research proposals for conformity with ethical standards. The review is usually conducted by an organized clinical or research ethics committee, sometimes by a subset of such a committee, an ad hoc group, or an individual ethicist.
  • Ethicist
    • MeSH - Wikipedia
      An ethicist is one whose judgment on ethics and ethical codes has come to be trusted by a specific community, and (importantly) is expressed in some way that makes it possible for others to mimic or approximate that judgement.
      Persons trained in philosophical or theological ethics who work in clinical, research, public policy, or other settings where they bring their expertise to bear on the analysis of ethical dilemmas in policies or cases.
  • Ethics
    • MeSH - Wikipedia
      A philosophical discipline concerned with understanding how human beings should act, what is good, and what kind of life is best.
      The philosophy or code pertaining to what is ideal in human character and conduct. Also, the field of study dealing with the principles of morality.
  • Ethics committees
    • MeSH
      Committees established by professional societies, health facilities, or other institutions to consider decisions that have bioethical implications. The role of these committees may include consultation, education, mediation, and/or review of policies and practices. Committees that consider the ethical dimensions of patient care are ethics committees, clinical; committees established to protect the welfare of research subjects are ethics committees, research.
  • Ethics consultation
    • MeSH
      Services provided by an individual ethicist (ethicists) or an ethics team or committee (ethics committees, clinical) to address the ethical issues involved in a specific clinical case. The central purpose is to improve the process and outcomes of patients' care by helping to identify, analyze, and resolve ethical problems.
  • Ethnic approach
    • The project either solely targeted other ethnic groups or included them specifically in the intervention.
  • Ethnic group
    • MeSH - Wikipedia
      A group of people whose members identify with each other, through a common heritage that is real or assumed.
      A group of people with a common cultural heritage that sets them apart from others in a variety of social relationships.
  • Ethnicity
    • The cultural practices, language, cuisine, and traditions — not biological or physical differences — used to distinguish groups of people.
  • Etiology
    • MeSH-  Wikipedia
      The study of the cause or origin of a disease.
      Used with diseases for causative agents including microorganisms and includes environmental and social factors and personal habits as contributing factors. It includes pathogenesis.
  • Evaluability assessment
    • Evaluability assessment is a systematic process to check whether or not a program is logically theorized, planned, and resourced, and sufficiently well implemented, before the conduct of an impact or outcome evaluation.
  • Evaluable disease
    • Disease that cannot be measured directly by the size of the tumor but can be evaluated by other methods specific to a particular clinical trial.
  • Evaluable patients
    • Patients whose response to a treatment can be measured because enough information has been collected.
  • Evaluation
    • The systematic assessment of the relevance, adequacy, progress, efficiency, effectiveness and impact of a course of action.
      Systematic and scientific collection, processing and analysis of data related to the implementation of an intervention, in order to assess whether the objectives of an intervention have been achieved.
      A process that attempts to determine as systematically and objectively as possible the relevance, effectiveness, and impact of activities in the light of their objectives.
  • Evaluation method
    • The methodology/approach used in the process of evaluation. This includes quantitative methods as well as qualitative approaches.
  • Evaluation of program planning
    • The planning and design phase. The evaluation of this phase starts, at the latest, when the idea of beginning the intervention becomes concrete. This is the time when objectives and methods are chosen. The evaluation of the program planning reflects the process of defining the problem, the need for intervention, the target population and the objectives. Furthermore, it includes the evaluation of the resources, and ends with planning for further evaluation.
  • Evaluation resources
    • Human and financial resources used to perform the evaluation.
  • Evaluation studies
    • MeSH
      Studies determining the effectiveness or value of processes, personnel, and equipment, or the material on conducting such studies. For drugs and devices, clinical trials as topic; drug evaluation; and drug evaluation, preclinical are available (MeSH).
      Evaluation studies [MeSH - publication type]: works consisting of studies determining the effectiveness or utility of processes, personnel, and equipment.
  • Evaluation tools
    • Technical resources and specific instruments used to perform the evaluation.
  • Event
    • The occurrence of a dichotomous outcome that is being sought in the study (such as myocardial infarction, death, or a four-point improvement in pain score).
  • Event rate
    • Proportion or percentage of study participants in a group in which an event is observed. Control event rate (CER) and experimental event rate (EER) are used to refer to event rates in control groups and experimental groups of study participants, respectively.
  • Evidence
    • Wikipedia
      Evidence comprises the interpretation of empirical data derived from formal research or systematic investigations, using any type of science or social science method.
      Facts or testimony in support of a conclusion, statement or belief.
  • Evidence-based guidelines
    • Wikipedia
      Evidence-based guidelines (EBG) is the practice of evidence-based medicine at the organizational or institutional level. This includes the production of guidelines, policy, and regulations. This approach has also been called evidence based healthcare.
  • Evidence-based experts
    • Clinicians who can, in a sophisticated manner, independently find, appraise, and judiciously apply the best evidence to patient care.
  • Evidence-based health care
    • Wikipedia
      Extends the application of the principles of evidence-based medicine to all professions associated with health care, including purchasing and management.
      Evidence-based health care is the conscientious use of current best evidence in making decisions about the care of individual patients or the delivery of health services. Current best evidence is up-to-date information from relevant, valid research about the effects of different forms of health care, the potential for harm from exposure to particular agents, the accuracy of diagnostic tests, and the predictive power of prognostic factors.
  • Evidence-based health promotion
    • The use of information derived from formal research and systematic investigation to identify causes and contributing factors to health needs and the most effective health promotion actions to address these in given contexts and populations.
  • Evidence-based individual decision making
    • Evidence-based individual decision (EBID) making is evidence-based medicine as practiced by the individual health care provider.
  • Evidence-based medical ethics
    • Wikipedia
      A form of medical ethics that uses knowledge from ethical principles, legal precedent, and evidence-based medicine to draw solutions to ethical dilemmas in the health care field. Sometimes this is also referred to as argument-based medical ethics.
  • Evidence-based medicine
    • MeSH - Wikipedia
      Evidence-based medicine is the conscientious, explicit and judicious use of current best evidence in making decisions about the care of individual patients. The practice of evidence-based medicine means integrating individual clinical expertise with the best available external clinical evidence from systematic research.
      Evidence-based medicine (EBM) aims to apply the best available evidence gained from the scientific method to medical decision making. It seeks to assess the strength of evidence of the risks and benefits of treatments (including lack of treatment) and diagnostic tests.
      An approach of practicing medicine with the goal to improve and evaluate patient care. It requires the judicious integration of best research evidence with the patient's values to make decisions about medical care. This method is to help physicians make proper diagnosis, devise best testing plan, choose best treatment and methods of disease prevention, as well as develop guidelines for large groups of patients with the same disease.
  • Evidence-based nursing
    • MeSH - Wikipedia
      Evidence-based nursing or EBN is a type of evidence-based medicine. It involves identifying solid research findings and implementing them in nursing practices, in order to increase the quality of patient care.
      A way of providing nursing care that is guided by the integration of the best available scientific knowledge with nursing expertise. This approach requires nurses to critically assess relevant scientific data or research evidence, and to implement high-quality interventions for their nursing practice.
  • Evidence-based policy making
    • Wikipedia
      Policy making is evidence based when practice policies (e.g., use of resources by clinicians), service policies (e.g., resource allocation, pattern of services), and governance policies (e.g., organizational and financial structures) are based on research evidence of benefit or cost-benefit.
  • Evidence-based practice
    • MeSH - Wikipedia
      The conscientious, explicit, and judicious use of current best evidence in making decisions about the care of individual patients. Evidence-based clinical practice (or evidence-based health care) requires integration of individual clinical expertise and patient preferences with the best available external clinical evidence from systematic research, and consideration of available resources.
      A way of providing health care that is guided by a thoughtful integration of the best available scientific knowledge with clinical expertise. This approach allows the practitioner to critically assess research data, clinical guidelines, and other information resources in order to correctly identify the clinical problem, apply the most high-quality intervention, and re-evaluate the outcome for future improvement.
  • Evidence-based practitioners
    • Clinicians who can differentiate evidence-based summaries and recommendations from those that are not evidence-based and understand results sufficiently well to apply them judiciously in clinical care, ensuring decisions are consistent with patients’ values and preferences.
  • Evidence based public health
    • Public health endeavor in which there is an informed, explicit, and judicious use of evidence that has been derived from any of a variety of science and social science research and evaluation methods.
  • Evidence review
    • Refers to the process of critically appraising evaluation research and summarizing the findings, with the purpose of answering a specified review question.
  • Excess mortality rate
    • Mortality above what would be expected based on the non-crisis mortality rate in the population of interest. Excess mortality is thus mortality that is attributable to the crisis conditions. It can be expressed as a rate (the difference between observed and non-crisis mortality rates), or as a total number of excess deaths.
  • Exclusion criteria
    • Wikipedia
      The characteristics that render potential subjects ineligible to participate in a particular study or that render studies ineligible for inclusion in a systematic review.
  • Exclusive breastfeeding under 6 months
    • Proportion of infants 0–5 months of age who are fed exclusively with breast milk.
  • Expanded access
    • Wikipedia
      Refers to any of the FDA procedures, such as compassionate use, parallel track, and treatment IND that distribute experimental drugs to participants who are failing on currently available treatments for their condition and also are unable to participate in ongoing clinical trials.
  • Expanded access trial
    • Wikipedia
      A way to provide an investigational therapy to a patient who is not eligible to receive that therapy in a clinical trial, but who has a serious or life-threatening illness for which other treatments are not available. Expanded access allows a patient to receive promising but not yet fully studied or approved therapies when no other treatment option exists. Also called compassionate use trial.
  • Experimental
    • Wikipedia
      In clinical trials, refers to a drug (including a new drug, dose, combination, or route of administration) or procedure that has undergone basic laboratory testing and received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to be tested in human subjects. A drug or procedure may be approved by the FDA for use in one disease or condition, but be considered experimental in other diseases or conditions. Also called investigational.
  • Experimental drug
    • Wikipedia
      A drug that is not FDA licensed for use in humans, or as a treatment for a particular condition.
      A substance that has been tested in a laboratory and has gotten approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to be tested in people. A drug may be approved by the FDA for use in one disease or condition but be considered experimental or investigational in other diseases or conditions. Also called investigational drug.
  • Experimental event rate
    • Wikipedia
      In epidemiology and biostatistics, the experimental event rate (EER) is a measure of how often a particular statistical event (such as response to a drug, adverse event or death) occurs within the experimental group (non-control group) of an experiment.
  • Experimental intervention
    • An intervention under evaluation. In a controlled trial, an experimental intervention arm is compared with one or more control arms, and possibly with additional experimental intervention arms.
  • Experimental study
    • A study in which the investigators actively intervene to test a hypothesis. In a controlled trial, one type of experiment, the people receiving the treatment being tested are said to be in the experimental group or arm of the trial.
      A study in which the investigator specifies the exposure category for each individual (clinical trial) or community (community trial), then follows the individuals or community to detect the effects of the exposure.
  • Experimental therapy
    • A therapeutic alternative to standard or control therapy, which is often a new intervention or different dose of a standard drug.
  • Expert opinion
    • MeSH
      Expert opinion usually refers to the views of professionals who have expertise in a particular form of practice or field of inquiry, such as clinical practice or research methodology. Expert opinion may refer to one person’s views or to the consensus view of a group of experts.
      Presentation of pertinent data by one with special skill or knowledge representing mastery of a particular subject.
      Also called expert testimony.
  • Explanatory trial
    • A trial that aims to test a treatment policy in an ideal situation where patients receive the full course of therapy as prescribed, and use of other treatments may be controlled or restricted.
  • Exposed group
    • A group whose members have been exposed to a supposed cause of disease or health state of interest, or possess a characteristic that is a determinant of the health outcome of interest.
  • Exposure
    • A condition to which patients are exposed (either a potentially harmful agent or a potentially beneficial one) that may have an impact on their health.
  • Exposure assessment
    • Wikipedia
      Exposure assessment identifies the specific agent(s), determines the route of exposure, and quantifies the amount and duration of exposure.
  • External evaluation
    • Collection, analysis‚ and interpretation of data conducted by an individual or organization outside the organization being evaluated.
  • External resources for health
    • External resources for health expressed as a percentage of total expenditure on health.
  • External validity
    • Wikipedia
      The extent to which results provide a correct basis for generalizations to other circumstances. For instance, a meta-analysis of trials of elderly patients may not be generalizable to children. (Also called generalizability or applicability.)
      A study is externally valid or generalizable if it can produce unbiased inferences regarding a target population (beyond the subjects in the study). This aspect of validity is only meaningful with regard to a specified external target population. For example, the results of a study conducted using only white male subjects might or might not be generalizable to all human males (the target population consisting of all human males). It is not generalizable to females (the target population consisting of all people).
  • Externality
    • Wikipedia
      The result of an activity that causes incidental benefits (desirable effects) or damages (costs, pollution) to others with no corresponding compensation provided or paid by those who generate the externality.
  • Extramural
    • Outside (the walls or boundaries of) a community or institution. Refers to ‘external’ sources of support (such as funding) as opposed to ‘internal’ (intramural) support.
  • Extrapolation
    • Wikipedia
      Mathematical attempt to extend the findings of a mortality study to a population and/or period that was not represented by the sample.
  • Extremely low birth weight
    • MeSH
      Birth weight less than 1,000 grams.
      An infant whose weight at birth is less than 1,000 grams (2.2 lbs), regardless of gestational age.
  • Extremely preterm birth
    • A live birth or stillbirth that takes place after at least 20 but less than 28 completed weeks of gestational age.