COURSE SYLLABUS
Disease Surveillance and Monitoring
WELCOME MESSAGE: Please read before or during the first week of
class.
COURSE NUMBER: PHC 6251
COURSE TITLE: Disease Surveillance and Monitoring
COURSE OVERVIEW:
This course is a fully online course. This course is part of the Certificate
in Public Health specializations in Environmental Health and Infection
Control. Students may also take this course as a general technical
elective in the Master of Public Health degree program.
COURSE INSTRUCTORS:
Julie Philippart, MS, MT (ASCP)
John Lanza, MD, PhD, MPH, FAAP
CONTACT INFORMATION:
Julie Philippart: jphilipp@uthsc.edu
John Lanza: jlanza@uwf.edu
School of Allied Health and Life Sciences, University of West Florida
PREREQUISITES OR COREQUISITES:
There are no prerequisites or corequisites
Those interested in this course, the Public Health Certificate program,
or the Master of Public Health degree program should contact Dr. Enid
Sisskin at 850.473.7473 or esisskin@uwf.edu.
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
Please see the official UWF Catalog.
Disease surveillance and monitoring is the systematic collection,
analysis, interpretation, and dissemination of data for use in
prioritizing, planning, implementing, and evaluating health programs,
activities and practices in the United States and other developed and
developing countries. This course will focus on the fundamental
processes and procedures which are utilized to investigate and track
infectious and communicable diseases as well as non-infectious chronic
diseases.
Topics to be covered include: monitoring the health of populations;
considerations in planning a surveillance system; sources of healthrelated information; the changing health-care infrastructure in the
United States; opportunities for new and novel approaches to public
health surveillance; evaluating disease surveillance and monitoring
systems; analyzing and interpreting surveillance data; legal and
ethical issues pertaining to disease surveillance; surveillance in
developed and developing countries; using surveillance and monitoring
information in health education, marketing, and advocacy and to
develop public health policy; surveillance of infectious and
communicable diseases; and, surveillance of chronic diseases.
COURSE OBJECTIVES AND STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES:
This course meets the following programmatic goals for the
School of Allied Health and Life Sciences. Upon completion of this
course, students will be able to:

o
Content and Critical Thinking:
 Discuss and briefly outline the history of public
health surveillance in the United States.
 Compare and contrast procedures/methods utilized
for the investigation of infectious and chronic
diseases.
 Describe the surveillance systems utilized in the
United States and contrast with those available in
other developed and developing countries.
 List and briefly discuss new data sources for disease
surveillance and monitoring.
 Defend conclusions regarding how public health
policy development and assurance is dependent
upon public health surveillance and assessment.



Articulate the significance of the federal
government’s Healthy People program on disease
surveillance and monitoring in the United States.
Describe the surveillance systems available to track
chronic diseases.
Describe the gaps that still remain with regard to
surveillance and monitoring of chronic diseases.
Fulfillment of these goals will be assessed as follows: (1) critical
thinking within homework assignments and online participation; and,
(2) content within examinations.
TOPICS COVERED:
*
Topic
Approximate
coverage (all)
1.
Introduction; Monitoring the health of
populations
2.
Considerations in planning a surveillance
4 hours
system
3.
Sources of health-related information
4 hours
4.
The changing health care infrastructure
in the United States
4 hours
5.
Opportunities for new and novel
4 hours
approaches to public health surveillance
6.
Evaluating disease surveillance and
monitoring systems
4 hours
7.
Analyzing and interpreting surveillance
data
4 hours
8.
Legal and ethical issues in disease
surveillance
4 hours
9.
Surveillance in developed and
developing countries
4 hours
10.
Using surveillance and monitoring
information in health education,
marketing, advocacy and in developing
public health policy
4 hours
Surveillance of infectious and
communicable diseases
4 hours
11.
4 hours
12.
Surveillance of chronic diseases
4 hours
Total instructional hours
48 hours total
(all)
*indicates online course modules that may be completed from
home or using UWF computer labs.
REQUIRED TEXTS/MATERIALS:
Principles and Practice of Public Health Surveillance
Lisa M. Lee, Steven M. Teutsch, Stephen B. Thacker, Michael E. St.
Louis, Third Edition, Oxford University Press, 2010
ISBN13: 9780195372922
ISBN10: 0195372921
RECOMMENDED TEXTS:
Betrayal of Trust: The Collapse of Global Public Health. Laurie Garrett.
Hyperion Press. 2000. ISBN 0-7868-6522-9.
SPECIAL TECHNOLOGY UTILIZED BY STUDENTS: (beyond
baseline requirements of e-mail and word processing)
Students are encouraged to complete this course utilizing the
equivalent of a cable-speed modem. Completing the course modules
via a telephone dial-up connection will require significant download
times for larger audio-visual content.
REFERENCES/BIBLIOGRAPHY: None.
GRADING/EVALUATION:
Fulfillment of the programmatic goals described above will be
assessed as follows:
o
Class participation and homework assignments
 Threaded discussions – 50 points
 Assigned activities – 60 points
o
o
o
 Study questions - 120 points
Module quizzes - 120 points
Mid-term exam – 150 points
Power Point Presentation – 200 points
○ Total:
700 points
Grading for this course will be:
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
A = 95-100%
A- = 90 – 94.9%
B+ = 87-89.9%
B = 84 – 86.9%
B- = 80 – 83.9%
C+ = 77 - 79.9%
C = 74 - 76.9%
C- = 70 - 73.9%
D+ = 67 - 69.9%
D = 63 - 66.9%
F < 63%
Due to the distance learning nature of this course, all requirements
must be completed within the time scheduled, unless prior
arrangements are made with the instructor. Online facilities will be
provided so students can monitor their own progress. Additional
details are as follows:
Class Participation: Active participation in course discussions is
strongly encouraged. Students should be prepared to participate in
online discussions. Participation will be evaluated based upon quality
and quantity of assigned work completed, level and frequency of
discussion, and evidence of having read assigned materials.
 PowerPoint Presentation : As a public health professional,
part of your professional responsibilities will be to communicate
effectively with different target audiences concerning topics
pertinent to disease surveillance and monitoring. Each student is
required to develop a PowerPoint presentation on a surveillancerelated topic chosen by the student and approved by the faculty.
Each student is required to review the UWF Plagiarism Policy and
taken the library plagiarism tutorial prior to developing the
presentation. Each student is to identify the target audience of
the presentation and the presentation should be of appropriate
content, language, and level for this audience. The topic must
be presented via email to either faculty member for
approval by the 5th week of the class. The PowerPoint
presentation will consist of 15 to 20 slides including a title slide
and reference slide. The presentations will be shared with your
fellow students and will be graded on content as well as
originality and creativity. The presentation is due the 10th
week of class and must be submitted to the assigned
dropbox for grading as well as to the appropriate
discussion forum for comments and reviews by your
fellow students.
PowerPoint Presentation Rubric
Assignment PowerPoint Presentation
Criteria
Title Page: Describes content of presentation,
includes your name (First slide)
Purpose/Objectives: (Second slide)
Description of purpose or listing of objectives
and indicates target audience
Organization/Outline: Major topics and
information presented in clear and
understandable way
Slides: Content is scholarly and reflects
appropriate degree of research
Clipart/Graphics: Utilized to illustrate content
of given slide, should serve a purpose and
not required for each slide
Screen Design: Creative, readable, use of
color, animation or other special effects
enhances but does not take away from
presentation, should be professional
Originality: Topic selection and content of
slides, original material; topic interesting
References: Follow APA format (Last slide),
should be adequate number to cover topic
Total
Points
Allowed
10
10
30
60
20
30
20
20
200
Points
Allocated
EXPECTATIONS FOR ACADEMIC CONDUCT/PLAGIARISM
POLICY:

Academic Conduct Policy

Student Handbook

Plagiarism Policy
It is the philosophy of the University of West Florida that academic
dishonesty is a completely unacceptable mode of conduct and will not
be tolerated in any form. All persons involved in academic dishonesty
will be disciplined in accordance with University regulations and
procedures. Discipline may include suspension or expulsion from the
University. Scholastic dishonesty includes but is not limited to
cheating, plagiarism, collusion, the submission for credit of any work
or materials that are attributable in whole or in part to another person,
taking an examination for another person, any act designed to give
unfair advantage to a student, or the attempt to commit such acts.
In addition, any behavior that interferes with the conduct of a class is
classified as disruptive behavior and will not be tolerated.
Since we take Academic Integrity very seriously, you will need to
submit a statement before the midterm Exam that the work you are
submitting is your own and that you did not give not receive any
unauthorized aid and you are following the rules of the Exam.
ASSISTANCE:
Students with special needs who require specific examinationrelated or other course-related accommodations should contact
Disabled Student Services (DSS), dss@uwf.edu, 850.474-.. DSS
will provide the student with a letter for the instructor that will
specify any recommended accommodations.
Every effort will be made to accommodate the special needs of
disabled students. Please inform the instructor privately during
the first week of class to indicate your particular needs. All such
accommodations are officially arranged through the Office for
Disabled Student Services and a letter from this office must
accompany your request.