St. George’s University, School of Medicine
Department of Public Health and Preventive Medicine
PUBH: 855: Community Medicine Seminar Series
Course Syllabus
Course Instructors:
Satesh Bidaisee, Jonathan Modica, John Swope
Seminar presenters will also include international Community Medicine practitioners.
For any queries related to the course content, please contact Satesh Bidaisee, please email:
sbidaisee@sgu.edu
For any queries related to the use of SGUx on onlinesgu, please email john@johnswope.com
Course time and location:
Thursdays during the Summer Term from May 18th to July 10th, 2015
Course will be delivered online using the SGUx learning management system.
Course Description:
Students will be exposed to relevant areas of community medicine with special emphasis on
priority health issues and diseases of public health importance in the global context. The course
is a 16 contact hour seminar series experience in which students are required to attend,
participate in presented topics in live online sessions as well as develop a concept paper on a
relevant Community Medicine topic.
This seminar series will contribute to the development of well-rounded (holistic) medical and
veterinary professionals, who will demonstrate knowledge and competence in dealing with
primary health care, desire for lifelong learning, evidence-based practice, interdisciplinary team
work, and professional and ethical behavior in practice in order to improve and sustain the health
of the human and populations. Students are expected to attend and participate in all seminar
presentations. Each student must also select and prepare a review paper based on an identified
community medical burden for submission on 2nd July, 2015 (week 7) of the summer term.
1
Competencies:
1. Apply biological principles to the development and implementation of disease
prevention, control, or management programs.
2. Integrate and apply general biological, microbiological, and parasitological concepts into
public health research and practice.
3. Identify and address the ethical and social issues implied by public health biology.
4. Utilize evidence-based medicine concepts to inform public health policies and
regulations.
5. Apply the relationships between nutrition, physical activity, and public health.
6. Apply the core functions of assessment, policy development, and assurance in the
analysis of public health problems and their solutions.
7. Embrace a definition of public health that captures the unique characteristics of the field
(e.g. population focused, community oriented, prevention motivated and rooted in social
justice) and how these contribute to professional practice.
Course Objectives:





To acquire broad public health tools needed to solve health problems of the community
with emphasis on health promotion, disease prevention, cost-effective interventions and
follow up.
To demonstrate effective oral skills for communicating with different audiences in the
context of professional public health activities.
To describe a public health issue of community medicine significance in terms of
magnitude, person, place, and time.
To communicate community medicine information to lay and professional audiences.
To embrace a definition of public health that captures the unique characteristics of the
community and how these contribute to professional practice.
Course Delivery
The course will be delivered using SGUx online learning management system. Each student will
be provided with online access to the course and all course activities including seminar
presentations, course evaluations and office hours.
2
Schedule of Seminar Topics:








Community Medicine: Applications for One Health, One Medicine: Dr. Satesh Bidaisee
Public Health Concept of Medicine: Dr. Omur Cinar Elci
Animal Disease Control and its Implications to Public Health: Dr. Rod Seupaul
Dogs and Zoonoses: A Public Health Threat: Dr. Calum Macpherson
Mental Health Services in a Community Setting: Dr. Randall Waechter
Ethics in Community Medicine Research: Dr. Shakel Henson
Community Health Organization in Developing Countries: Dr. Michael Smalley
Community Health Administration: Dr. Karen Pierre
Course Evaluations:


Students will be graded on a combination of attendance and participation for 50% of the
course grade through:
o Discussion blog postings for each seminar presentation (4 points for each of the 8
seminars = 32 points)
o Preparation, recording and submission for a peer reviewed seminar presentation
on a community medicine topic of interest (12 points from peer review and 6
points for instructor grading = 18 points)
The final 50% of the course grade will be based on submission of a review paper (see
guidelines below). Submission of the review paper will include submission of an outline
at the end of the second week, submission of final outline after review and feedback at
the end of the fourth week and final submission of complete paper at the end of the 7th
week of the course.
Discussion Blogs:
Each seminar presentation will be accompanied by a discussion question which will become
available for response immediately following a seminar presentation. Students will have until the
end of the Sunday following each seminar presentation to prepare and submit their responses.
Responses are required to be a minimum of 100 words in length.
Peer Review Student Seminar Presentation:
Students will be required to prepare and submit a recorded seminar presentation which will be
instructor and peer reviewed for the course evaluation. Student Seminar Presentation
3
The peer review seminar presentation is a culminating experience for the course and is designed
to share your knowledge and application of competencies from the course in the form of a five
minute seminar presentation. This assessment is intended to be an individual course performance
product where each student will select a particular community health issue in the form of a
disease and apply guidelines (noted below) to develop a presentation (power point format) and
record a presentation to serve as a seminar presentation.
Students are required to assume the role of a health care provider and design, present and record
their respective seminar presentations to serve as training for a general public audience. For the
respective disease burden, each seminar should include the following knowledge areas as part of
the recorded seminar submissions. Seminar presentations will be recorded using the software:
https://www.screenr.com/
Guidelines for seminar presentation topic should include the following:






Background on the disease
Transmission, Signs and Symptoms
Diagnosis
High Risk Groups
Prevention Strategies
Case Management
Assessment: Each seminar presentation will be assessed by the course instructor as well as
fellow students from the course.
Guidelines for the Review Paper:
The review paper will focus on a community medicine topic. Students will start by selecting a
topic for their paper. Carefully selecting the topic is critical for the success of the paper. There
are two determinants on selecting the best topic for the professional paper:
1. Student’s area of interest in community medicine and
2. The application of theory into community medical practice
Structure of the Review Paper:
The review paper is an evaluation and summary of previously published literature and scientific
evidence related to the topic that the student is interested in. By writing this paper students will
develop an in depth perspective in the proposed topic. The standard format for the review paper
must consist of the following:
4
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Title
Abstract
Introduction
Body of the review [includes an organized outline]
Discussion
Conclusion
References
The body of the review is the largest section of the review paper, and the organization of this
section is very important. Therefore students should start with preparation of an outline including
the sections of the body of the review. Detailed literature search and reading will help to
structure the outline. The maximum work count for each review paper is 3,000 words with
minimum of 15 cited references within the past 5 years of publication.
Course Schedule:
Week 1: 17th May, 2015: Introduction to the course/Introduction to SGUx
Seminar 1, 21st May, 2015: Community Medicine: Applications for One Health, One Medicine
Discussion 1: Identify a clinical case scenario which requires for both medical and veterinary
knowledge to be applied
Week 2: 24th May, 2015
Seminar 2, 28th May, 2015: Public Health Concept of Medicine
Discussion 2:
Submission: Draft Review Paper Outline
Week 3: 31st May, 2015
Seminar 3, 5th June, 2015: Animal Disease Control and its Implications to Public Health
Discussion 3:
5
Week 4: 7th June, 2015
Seminar 4, 11th June, 2015: Dogs and Zoonoses: A Public Health Threat
Discussion 4:
Submission: Final Review Paper Outline
Week 5: 14th June, 2015
Seminar 5, 18th June, 2015: Mental Health Services in a Community Setting
Discussion 5:
Week 6: 21st June, 2015
Seminar 6, 25th June, 2015: Ethics in Community Medicine Research
Discussion 6:
Week 7: 28th June, 2015
Seminar 7, 2nd July, 2015: Community Health Organization in Developing Countries
Discussion 7:
Submission: Final Review Paper
Week 8: 5th July, 2015
Seminar 8, 9th July, 2015: Community Health Administration
Discussion 8:
Submission: Seminar Presentation for Peer Review
6