What Public Health Is Practice Questions

35 multiple-choice questions on What public health is for paramedic and EMT students, from Chapter 3 (Public Health). Read each question, pick your answer, then tap Show answer to check it and read the explanation.

35 practice questions

1. Public health is best defined as:

   1. A. Emergency care delivered to individual patients
   2. B. Protecting the health of whole populations
   3. C. Administration of hospitals and health facilities
   4. D. Government financing of public health insurance
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   Answer: B. Protecting the health of whole populations

   Clinical medicine treats the patient in front of you; public health works on whole communities. Formally, it is the science and practice of protecting and improving the health of populations.

2. The main difference between clinical medicine and public health is that public health:

   1. A. Deals only with infectious and communicable disease
   2. B. Never involves hands-on contact with patients
   3. C. Relies on clinical judgment rather than data
   4. D. Focuses on groups and on prevention
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   Answer: D. Focuses on groups and on prevention

   EMS providers work in both worlds. Clinical care works one patient at a time.

3. The three core functions of public health are:

   1. A. Surveillance, enforcement, and direct treatment
   2. B. Assessment, policy development, and assurance
   3. C. Prevention, response, and recovery
   4. D. Surveillance, vaccination, and education
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   Answer: B. Assessment, policy development, and assurance

   Assessment measures the problem, policy sets direction, assurance makes services available. Surveillance and enforcement fall within the essential services, and direct treatment is clinical care; none of these lists is the three core functions.

4. Which agency is the primary federal public health agency for disease tracking and prevention in the United States?

   1. A. FEMA
   2. B. NHTSA
   3. C. CDC
   4. D. OSHA
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   Answer: C. CDC

   The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also issues infection control guidance used in EMS.

5. The World Health Organization functions mainly at the:

   1. A. Regional level, within individual counties
   2. B. State level, through state health boards
   3. C. International level, across member nations
   4. D. National level, as a branch of the CDC
   Show answer

   Answer: C. International level, across member nations

   WHO coordinates outbreak response across countries.

6. Local health departments are typically responsible for:

   1. A. Funding and operating the local ambulance service
   2. B. Licensing and certifying paramedics in the area
   3. C. Disease control, inspections, and immunizations
   4. D. Writing EMS treatment protocols for the county
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   Answer: C. Disease control, inspections, and immunizations

   EMS agencies often partner with them on prevention and outbreak response. Typical duties include communicable disease control, restaurant inspection, immunization, and vital records.

7. A community health needs assessment is used to:

   1. A. Identify a community's health problems and gaps
   2. B. Evaluate the performance of individual clinicians
   3. C. Set fee schedules for ambulance and clinic services
   4. D. Rank local hospitals by quality and outcomes
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   Answer: A. Identify a community's health problems and gaps

   It is the assessment function of public health applied locally. Identifying specific problems and gaps lets resources be aimed where they are needed.

8. Health promotion differs from disease prevention in that promotion:

   1. A. Takes place mainly in hospitals and clinics
   2. B. Is another term for early medical treatment
   3. C. Builds overall health, not one disease
   4. D. Targets only people who are already ill
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   Answer: C. Builds overall health, not one disease

   Promoting exercise is health promotion; a vaccination campaign is disease prevention.

9. Herd immunity refers to:

   1. A. Immunity acquired only through natural infection
   2. B. Protection when enough people are immune
   3. C. Separating infected people from the healthy
   4. D. Protection a vaccine gives one vaccinated person
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   Answer: B. Protection when enough people are immune

   It protects those who cannot be vaccinated, such as infants and immunocompromised people. Enough immunity in the population limits spread.

10. Public health law includes authority to:

    1. A. Mandate disease reporting and order quarantine
    2. B. License physicians to practice nationwide
    3. C. Order medical treatment for any individual patient
    4. D. Set the prices hospitals charge for services
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    Answer: A. Mandate disease reporting and order quarantine

    These powers rest mostly with states. Setting sanitation standards is another of these powers.

11. A paramedic notices that her agency's calls for older adults with heat illness spike every July in one neighborhood without air conditioning. Which response reflects a public health approach rather than a purely clinical one?

    1. A. Work with the health department on cooling centers and checks
    2. B. Treat each heat illness patient quickly and transport them
    3. C. Stock extra IV fluids on every ambulance during the summer
    4. D. Ask dispatch to give all heat-related calls a higher priority
    Show answer

    Answer: A. Work with the health department on cooling centers and checks

    Clinical care treats each patient who calls. Public health uses the pattern to prevent the next cases across the population, here through cooling centers and checks on at-risk residents. Faster treatment, more supplies, and higher dispatch priority all improve the response to individual patients but do nothing to prevent the illness.

12. The mission of public health is best described as:

    1. A. Regulating hospitals and other care facilities
    2. B. Assuring conditions for people to be healthy
    3. C. Treating sick patients as they present for care
    4. D. Funding ambulance services and emergency care
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    Answer: B. Assuring conditions for people to be healthy

    This definition comes from the Institute of Medicine. The full wording is fulfilling society's interest in assuring conditions in which people can be healthy.

13. The assessment function of public health includes:

    1. A. Providing direct clinical care to residents
    2. B. Passing laws that regulate health risks
    3. C. Collecting and analyzing health data
    4. D. Inspecting ambulances and EMS equipment
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    Answer: C. Collecting and analyzing health data

    You cannot fix what you have not measured. The data describe the health of the community.

14. The policy development function of public health involves:

    1. A. Collecting surveillance data on disease
    2. B. Delivering clinical care in public clinics
    3. C. Hiring and staffing community health centers
    4. D. Using science to set priorities and plans
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    Answer: D. Using science to set priorities and plans

    It translates assessment into action. That includes drafting laws and regulations.

15. The assurance function of public health means:

    1. A. Paying for care for uninsured residents
    2. B. Measuring disease rates in the community
    3. C. Setting priorities and drafting health laws
    4. D. Making sure services exist and rules are enforced
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    Answer: D. Making sure services exist and rules are enforced

    It includes licensing and enforcement. Measuring rates is assessment, and setting priorities is policy development.

16. Which is an example of a public health success in the twentieth century?

    1. A. Expansion of hospital bed capacity nationwide
    2. B. Growth of private health insurance coverage
    3. C. Faster ambulance response in urban areas
    4. D. Vaccination and water fluoridation
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    Answer: D. Vaccination and water fluoridation

    These added decades to average life expectancy. Motor vehicle safety and tobacco control are also on the CDC list of great public health achievements.

17. The 10 essential public health services include:

    1. A. Direct clinical care for uninsured patients
    2. B. Funding basic and laboratory research
    3. C. Hospital licensing, billing, and accreditation
    4. D. Monitoring health, educating, and enforcing laws
    Show answer

    Answer: D. Monitoring health, educating, and enforcing laws

    EMS touches several of them. The list also includes diagnosing problems, mobilizing partnerships, and developing policy.

18. State health departments are generally responsible for:

    1. A. Writing and enforcing federal health regulations
    2. B. Managing daily operations of local hospitals
    3. C. Conducting national biomedical research programs
    4. D. Statewide disease reporting and licensing
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    Answer: D. Statewide disease reporting and licensing

    They also hold most legal public health authority. They also coordinate local health departments.

19. Public health authority is grounded primarily in:

    1. A. Federal law under the Commerce Clause
    2. B. State police power to protect residents
    3. C. Hospital bylaws and medical staff policy
    4. D. Federal and state insurance regulation
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    Answer: B. State police power to protect residents

    That authority includes quarantine and reporting requirements. Police power is the state's authority to protect the health, safety, and welfare of residents.

20. Which federal agency regulates drugs, vaccines, and food safety?

    1. A. CDC
    2. B. OSHA
    3. C. NIH
    4. D. FDA
    Show answer

    Answer: D. FDA

    The CDC handles disease tracking and prevention.

21. The National Institutes of Health primarily:

    1. A. Conducts and funds biomedical research
    2. B. Tracks and investigates disease outbreaks
    3. C. Enforces food and drug safety regulations
    4. D. Sets national workplace safety standards
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    Answer: A. Conducts and funds biomedical research

    Its research informs clinical and public health practice.

22. Which agency sets and enforces workplace safety standards affecting EMS?

    1. A. FEMA
    2. B. OSHA
    3. C. FDA
    4. D. CDC
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    Answer: B. OSHA

    The bloodborne pathogens standard is an OSHA rule.

23. Community partners in public health typically include:

    1. A. Government health agencies working on their own
    2. B. Insurance companies and pharmaceutical firms
    3. C. Hospitals and private physician practices only
    4. D. Schools, EMS, police, and local groups
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    Answer: D. Schools, EMS, police, and local groups

    Partnership extends reach and credibility. Health departments lead, alongside hospitals and community organizations.

24. Population health refers to:

    1. A. Quality rankings of hospitals in a region
    2. B. The share of a population with insurance
    3. C. The health status of each individual patient
    4. D. Health outcomes of a group and how they spread
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    Answer: D. Health outcomes of a group and how they spread

    It emphasizes groups and disparities. That includes the distribution of outcomes within the group.

25. A health outcome is:

    1. A. A measure of whether a care process was followed
    2. B. A patient's answer on a satisfaction survey
    3. C. A resulting change in a person's health status
    4. D. The cost of a program in the annual budget
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    Answer: C. A resulting change in a person's health status

    Mortality and disability are outcomes. The change may result from an intervention or a condition.

26. Health promotion activities aim to:

    1. A. Help people control their own health
    2. B. Treat illness once symptoms have appeared
    3. C. Enforce public health and sanitation laws
    4. D. Expand local hospital and clinic capacity
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    Answer: A. Help people control their own health

    They often address lifestyle and environment. The WHO definition is enabling people to increase control over and improve their health.

27. Which program is an example of disease prevention rather than general health promotion?

    1. A. A station wellness program encouraging daily exercise
    2. B. A hepatitis B vaccination clinic for new EMS hires
    3. C. A class on healthy eating for shift workers
    4. D. A campaign promoting better sleep habits
    Show answer

    Answer: B. A hepatitis B vaccination clinic for new EMS hires

    Disease prevention targets a specific disease or injury, and a hepatitis B vaccine prevents one infection. Exercise, nutrition, and sleep programs build overall health without targeting a particular disease, which is health promotion.

28. Which is a determinant of health that public health addresses?

    1. A. Medical care, the main determinant of health
    2. B. Behavior, environment, and social factors
    3. C. Age, the strongest determinant of outcomes
    4. D. Genetic makeup, which cannot be influenced
    Show answer

    Answer: B. Behavior, environment, and social factors

    Medical care accounts for a surprisingly small share of outcomes. Access to care is also a determinant.

29. The concept of upstream intervention refers to:

    1. A. Speeding emergency response to serious incidents
    2. B. Coordinating follow-up care after discharge
    3. C. Treating the complications of established disease
    4. D. Addressing root causes before problems develop
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    Answer: D. Addressing root causes before problems develop

    Pulling people from the river is downstream; stopping them falling in is upstream.

30. A patient with confirmed active tuberculosis refuses treatment and keeps riding crowded city buses. Which action is within the legal authority of the state or local health officer?

    1. A. Directing EMS to transport the patient against his will without an order
    2. B. Imposing a criminal sentence for refusal
    3. C. Releasing his diagnosis to the bus company
    4. D. Ordering the patient into isolation
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    Answer: D. Ordering the patient into isolation

    State police power lets health officers order isolation or quarantine to protect the public, with due-process protections. EMS cannot transport a competent adult against his will without a legal order. Only a court can impose a criminal sentence, and telling the bus company his diagnosis would breach confidentiality.

31. Health equity means:

    1. A. Every community receives equal funding
    2. B. Everyone has a fair chance at full health
    3. C. Everyone holds the same insurance coverage
    4. D. Everyone receives identical health services
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    Answer: B. Everyone has a fair chance at full health

    It may require unequal resource allocation to achieve fairness. That means a fair opportunity to attain one's full health potential.

32. The first step in addressing a community health problem is usually:

    1. A. Launching a prevention program right away
    2. B. Assessing the problem using local data
    3. C. Announcing the problem to the public
    4. D. Passing a law that targets the risk
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    Answer: B. Assessing the problem using local data

    Assessment precedes policy.

33. Public health surveillance differs from research because surveillance is:

    1. A. Experimental, with randomized groups
    2. B. A one-time study answering one question
    3. C. Ongoing, systematic, and tied to action
    4. D. Voluntary and rarely used for decisions
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    Answer: C. Ongoing, systematic, and tied to action

    Data must lead to action.

34. Which best describes EMS as a public health partner?

    1. A. EMS can replace local health departments
    2. B. EMS adds data, prevention, and outreach
    3. C. EMS operates separately from public health
    4. D. EMS contributes to it only through transport
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    Answer: B. EMS adds data, prevention, and outreach

    EMS sees what no office-based provider sees. It also provides access to care for the community.

35. Accreditation of a public health department indicates:

    1. A. It meets national performance standards
    2. B. It has authority to oversee local EMS
    3. C. The department is under federal control
    4. D. It is formally affiliated with a hospital
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    Answer: A. It meets national performance standards

    It parallels EMS and hospital accreditation.