Two data sources that could be linked to create an enriched data set for a specific public health research purpose are social security statistics and statistics on veterans. Social security statistics examine disability benefit data and Medicare statistics. Statistics on veterans, such as hospitalization experience and deaths can be used in conjunction with social security statistics. These two data sources can be linked because a large portion of our nations veterans are of the age to also be receiving social security benefits. Some disadvantages of using statistics on veterans could arise from the fact that as a veteran you are not forced to get medical care at a veterans affairs medical center, so this health data may be incomplete. However, speaking as an employee within the Veterans Healthcare Administration, I have seen many veterans take full advantage of their healthcare benefits. Even if a veteran only receives care through the VA once or twice a year, they are still a member and can contribute to the data. Veterans often seek care outside of the VA, whether that be through a branch of the VA system, known as community care, or on their own within the private sector. What I do know is that VA healthcare providers and outside healthcare providers have the ability to communicate and share information, just as a provider from one private sector clinic to another private sector clinic does. Where this data has the opportunity to fall short is within that communication and documentation process. Our text identifies that, "research findings are only as good as the data on which they are based" (Friis & Sellers, 2021, p. 200). Public health concerns that this linked data could be used to investigate are service connected disabilities and illnesses, such as PTSD or lung cancer.  

Reference 

Friis, R.H., & Sellers, T.A. (2021) Epidemiology for Public Health Practice (6th ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.  

Staci Discussion:

The importance for epidemiologists to have access to accurate and complete data helps ensure that the research potential of health resources, policy issues and the capability to provide valuable patient outcome measurements. Data linkage allows for research to be streamlined, linking meaningful information from single database sets which could take months or even years to establish similarities. Record linkage systems provide many sources of information that could identify major public health concerns, the history of specific diseases and chronic diseases (Friis & Seller, 2020). 

 Both clinical data and reportable disease statistics sources compile data that epidemiologists need to fight the spread of infectious illnesses. Healthcare practitioners are required to record certain disorders that could risk the public, according to reportable disease data (Friis & Sellers, 2013). Examples of reportable and notifiable diseases include sexually transmitted infections, rubella, tetanus, measles, plague, and food-borne illnesses (Friis & Sellers, 2013). The local health agency receives this information first, followed by the state department and eventually the CDC and WHO (Friis & Sellers, 2013). Clinical data is information that is gathered in settings including hospitals, specialty clinics, medical records, and test findings. This information can be used to better understand why people enter hospitals, the illnesses they sought treatment for, immunization records, and absenteeism data can reveal the nature of a person's condition, if one existed, that kept them from going to work or school (Friis & Sellers, 2013). These kind of data can nevertheless be used to understand a trend, an unexpected increase, or an epidemic of a disease even though they are not standardized, difficult to generalize, and in certain cases insufficient to produce accurate assessments of illness frequency. Public health issues such as noncommunicable diseases (heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes) and communicable diseases (sexually transmitted infections/diseases, influenza, measles, etc.) would be addressed by combining these two data sets. 

Friis, R., & Sellers, T. (2020). Epidemiology for public health practice. Burlington, MA: Jones and Bartlett. 

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