Public Health

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Course

PUBH 302

Semester

Spring

Year

2022

Catalog

School of Medicine

Course Directors

Pauline G. Smith, PhD

Email: psmith3@sgu.edu

Temitayo Olagbemi, MD

tolagbem@sgu.edu

Deputy Course Director

Skyla Montano, MD,

Email: smontano@sgu.edu

Course Information

PUBLIC HEALTH - COURSE DESCRIPTION

The course is a three (3) credit course taught over a 16-week term. The course content will build on the foundations of scientific knowledge, including the biological and life sciences and the concepts of health and disease. Through a multidisciplinary approach, students will explore the determinants of health and the philosophical and organizational foundations of the professional practice of public health. It also provides an integrated overview of the field by surveying epidemiology, biostatistics, preventive medicine, environmental health, social and behavioral aspects of health and health policy. It also introduces students to the core public health functions of assessment and policy. The course will include didactic lectures, case study, online discussions and oral presentations.

Students will be required to apply core public health knowledge towards critiquing the available scientific literature, evaluating case-based scenarios to engage in analysis and problem solving, discussing current and significant local and global public health events, and effectively communicating health education and promotion strategies across the disease spectrum.

The material to be covered in this course is based primarily on PowerPoint slides and additional information taken from other reference texts.

GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

The Public Health (PUBH302) course embraces the mission of St. George’s University’s School of Arts and Sciences and of the Doctor of Medicine Program of St George’s University School of Medicine Continuum.

This course will contribute to the development of healthcare professionals, who will demonstrate multidisciplinary knowledge and competence in dealing with global health issues, desire for lifelong learning, evidence-based practice, interdisciplinary team work, and professional and ethical behavior in practice in order to improve and sustain healthy populations.

OBJECTIVES

To understand the history, and philosophy of public health as well as its core values, concepts and functions across the globe and in society.
To describe the basic concepts, methods, and tools of public health data collection, use and analysis and why evidence-based approaches are an essential part of public health practice.
To explain the concepts of population health, and the basic processes, approaches, and interventions that identify and address the major health-related needs and concerns of populations.
To examine the underlying science of human health and disease, including opportunities for promoting and protecting health across the life course.
To discuss the socioeconomic, behavioral, biological, environmental and other factors that impact human health and contribute to health disparities.
To apply the fundamental concepts, and features of project implementation, including planning, assessment and evaluation.
To apply basic concepts of public health-specific communication, including technical and professional writing and the use of mass media and electronic technology.

SGU SCHOOL OF MEDICINE MISSION

The mission of St. George’s University Doctor of Medicine degree program is to provide an international, culturally diverse environment in which students learn the knowledge, skills and attitudes required for postgraduate training in the health profession, while being inspired to develop compassion, curiosity, tolerance and commitment to patients and society, dedication to life-long learning and an understanding of the vital role of research in healthcare.

SGU SCHOOL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES MISSION

St. George’s University is committed to the total development of the student. The School of Arts and Sciences offers undergraduate students a broad-based education that lays a durable foundation for critical and independent thinking in a multicultural world. Our programs cultivate the pursuit of academic excellence and ethical behavior to develop a sense of community, responsibility, and leadership that equips our students to excel in their chosen careers.

FACULTY, STAFF AND CONTACT INFORMATION

Visiting speakers may collaborate with teaching faculty for instruction in this course.

COURSE MATERIAL

COPYRIGHT

Course material, whether in print or online, is protected by copyright. Course materials, in part or in their entirety, may not be copied, distributed or published in any form, printed, electronic or otherwise.

As an exception, students enrolled in the course are permitted to make electronic or print copies of all downloadable files for personal and classroom use only, provided no alterations to the documents are made and that the copyright statement is maintained in all copies.

COURSE WEBSITE

Public Health (PUBH302) course offers a website through MyCourses (Sakai), our learning management system. This site is used for COMMUNICATION (including Announcements, Calendar and Discussion Forums), COURSE TOOLS (including Syllabus, Resources, Tests & Quizzes and Gradebook).

Course Management tool: To learn to use Sakai, the Course management tool, access the link https://apps.sgu.edu/members.nsf/mycoursesintro.pdf

To login, go to myCampus Secure Login (Carenage), type in your user ID and password, and click on MyCourses.

ELECTRONIC RESOURCES

Distribution of course material will be in electronic format. Links to external websites are included, where appropriate. In accordance with Committee for Technology based Teaching and Learning (CTTL) recommendation, students are provided with unlocked PDF files, which may be annotated for personal use. This format facilitates active learning, as it allows highlighting and annotations, using a variety of platforms, operating systems and annotation software. Copyright restrictions regarding the duplication of materials apply (see copyright statement above).

Resources folder contains multiple subfolders in which you will be able to find the course material provided.

Please note: electronic versions of course materials posted on the course website are the most up-to-date versions. Due to reproduction deadlines, distributed paper versions may vary from posted electronic versions. It is the responsibility of each student to check on the latest available electronic versions for updates and corrections.

REQUIRED TEXTBOOKS

There is no required textbook. Course resources, including readings, lectures and videos will be available on the Sakai site.

Course Materials: The course schedule, assignments, and syllabus are available on Sakai.

Supplementary Readings:

1. Mary-Jane Schneider. 2016. Introduction to Public Health.

REQUIRED ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT

Laptop

Students need a personal laptop as specified by SGU Examination Services. It is the responsibility of each student to ensure his/her laptop is in full working condition, as specified by Examination Services, and keep it up to date and equipped for the SGU wireless network at all times.

COMPONENTS OF THE COURSE

LECTURES

Meetings: 8:30-9:45 am on Tuesdays and Thursday

Lectures are an essential component of the PUBH 302 course. They are designed to provide students with an outline of what they are expected to know, to prioritize important aspects of course content and to clarify complex materials. The course will take on a hybrid (synchronous/asynchronous) format. Lectures will be held in the classroom, on zoom and through lecture recordings. The sessions will be in in the form of group discussions, buzz, MCQs, Q&A, and flipped classrooms.

The class schedule may change due to lecturer availability. Changes will be reflected in syllabus.

WEEK	DATE	CONTENT	Location	PRESENTER	ACTIVITY DUE
1	Tues 18^thJan	Course Introduction	Classroom	Smith, Olagbemi & Montano
	Thur 20^th Jan	Discussion and research on diverse background of health	Classroom	Smith, Olagbemi & Montano
2	Tues 25^th Jan	Library workshop	Classroom	Paparo
	Thur 27^th Jan	Historical perspective of Public Health	Classroom	Smith
3	Tues 1^st Feb	PSA Planning	Classroom	Smith, Olagbemi & Montano	Discussion post 1
	Thur 3^rd Feb	Public Health Core Values, Concepts and Functions Across the Globe and in Society	Recording	Smith
4	Tues 8^th Feb	TOH	Zoom	Smith
	Thur 10^th Feb	Science of Health and Disease Health across the ages	Zoom	Olagbemi
5	Tue 15^th Feb	Determinants of Diseases	Zoom	Keku
	Thur 17^th Feb	Introduction to Toxicology	Classroom	Bidaisee
6	Tues 22^nd Feb	Science of Health and Disease Health across the ages	Classroom	Olagbemi	Discussion Post 2
	Thur 24^th Feb	Group PSA recording (Group 1 & 2)	Classroom	Smith & Olagbemi
7	Tues 1^st Mar	Group PSA recording (Group 3 & 4)	Classroom	Smith & Olagbemi
	Thur 3^rd Mar	Jeopardy Game (mid-term review)	Classroom	Smith & Olagbemi
8	Tues 8^th Mar	Mid-term Exam
8	Thur 10^th Mar	Mid-term Exam
9	Tue 15^th Mar	Final Assignment	Classroom	Smith & Olagbemi
	Thur 17^th Mar	Health Program Planning, Implementation, Monitoring and Evaluation	Classroom	Glasgow
10	Tues 22^nd Mar	An Examination of Coronavirus COVID-19	Recording	Olagbemi	Discussion Post 3
	Thur 24^th Mar	TOH	Zoom	Olagbemi
11	Tue 29^th Mar	Introduction to Public Health Data Collection	Recording	Smith
	Thur 31^st Mar	TOH	Zoom	Smith	Quiz 1
12	Tue 5^th April	A Public Health Approach to Cervical Cancer	Classroom	Montano
	Thur 7^th April	Introduction to Public Health Ethics	Classroom	Macpharson
13	Tue 12^th April	Environmental Science in Public Health	Classroom	Smith
	Thur 14^th April	Disaster Management	Classroom	Montano	Quiz 2
14	Tue 19^th April	Health Care Systems (Final Assignment Preparation)	Recording	Cobb
	Thur 21^st April	Assigned Oral Presentations	Zoom	Smith, Olagbemi & Montano
15	Tue 26^th April	Assigned Oral Presentations	Zoom	Smith, Olagbemi & Montano	Discussion Post 3
	Thur 28^th April	Written Reports	Classroom
16	Tues 3^rd May	NO Final Exam

POWERPOINT PRESENTATION

Students will be required to present on a community medicine topic. The 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 15-minute PowerPoint presentation. This assessment is intended to be a group course performance product where each group will select a particular community issue and apply guidelines (noted below) to develop a presentation (PowerPoint format).

Students are required to assume the role of a health care provider and design and present their respective 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 presentation. Guidelines for seminar presentation topic should include the following:

Background on the disease
Transmission, Signs and Symptoms
Diagnosis
High Risk Groups
Prevention Strategies

WRITTEN REPORT

The PowerPoint presentation should be accompanied by a written report.

The standard format for the review paper must consist of the following:

Title page
Abstract
Introduction
Body of the review
1. Background on the disease
2. Transmission, Signs and Symptoms
3. Diagnosis
4. High Risk Groups
5. Prevention Strategies
Discussion
Conclusion
References

Format Standards for Written Work:

A title page should include the topic, name of course, names of group members and the date submitted.
Submit work using double-space, 1–inch margins, and 12-point typeface (Times New Roman or Arial).
Number pages and use a simple header on all pages.
Edit and proofread all work. Do not solely rely on spell and grammar check.
Always keep a copy of your work.
References are required in work that includes citations, quotes, or other people’s ideas. APA (American Psychological Association) referencing should be used http://www.apastyle.org .
The maximum work count for each review paper is 3,000 words with minimum of 15 cited references within the past 10 years of publication.

DISCUSSION BLOG

Online discussions are a great tool to extend classroom conversations and learning through continued student engagement with class material online. The course will be accompanied by four public healthrelated cases with accompanied discussion question(s) which will require students to submit responses. Students are encouraged to critically assess and provide informed opinions on the discussion question. All blog submissions are required to be a minimum of 250 words in length. Students will also have to read every posting and reply to a minimum of 2 posts in a manner that can lend further insight, and/or offer a different perspective. Responses should be a minimum of 100 words in length. Any reference to existing publications must be cited appropriately.

Benefits of using online blog discussion:

Builds class community by promoting discussion on course topics
Allows time for in-depth reflection- students have more time to reflect, research & compose their thoughts before participating in the discussion
Facilitates learning by allowing students to view and to respond to the work of others
Develops thinking and writing skills

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT

In groups, students will prepare a Public Service Announcement (PSA) on a health issue. The goal is to raise awareness on the particular disease the group has chosen. The PSA will be recorded via video and the assessment will be done in groups.

COURSE AND INSTRUCTOR CRITIQUE

Students are expected to attend all classes and other related academic activities as defined for each course by the course director. One such academic activity is participation in the St. George’s University (SGU) Course and Instructor Critique Program.

Student Participation in the Evaluation Process is Mandatory

When requested, students enrolled in a course are expected to complete all required faculty and course evaluations. Failure to complete all required course and instructor critiques will mean that students did not fulfill all course requirements. The critiques coordinator will notify students when evaluation periods have begun and send periodic reminders to ensure that critiques are submitted within the allotted time frame.

The Importance of Evaluation

Evaluation is a necessary component of any course. Just as students anticipate a fair and accurate evaluation of their performance and achievement in a course, SGU requires that faculty and course evaluations be completed each term. Continual evaluation and assessment of faculty ensures that the instructional program not only remains consistent, but also improves to meet the needs and expectations of students.

Feedback

At the beginning of each term, course directors address the class and summarize the results of the course and instructor critiques from the previous term. In this summary, course directors will report areas that students rated highly and areas that received the lowest ratings. For areas receiving low ratings, the course director details what changes were made to address students’ concerns, thus ensuring that course evaluation influences course design and delivery.

Mid-term Exam

The midterm exam will be cumulative and will cover assigned readings, lecture material and any material that guest speakers may contribute in class.

Assessment Points

The total assessment points that can be earned in the course are listed in the table below:

Assessment	%
Discussion posts	10
Quiz	10
PSA	20
PPT Presentation	15
Group Paper	20
Mid-term Exam	20
Participation and Attendance	5
Total	100

Disclaimer: To protect against any errors in the calculation of the equivalent raw points above, grades will be determined purely based on the officially published grading scale (in percentage scores) in the Sakai gradebook listed in the scoring and grading policy (see below).

STUDENT SUPPORT

Office Hours:

Appointments can be made by emailing the course director (psmith3@sgu.edu)

Additional Academic Support

DES Supplemental Learning (contact Ms. Lisa Findley, DES)
Learning strategists: (DES) Dr. Mondel George MGeorge8@sgu.edu
Writing Lab: Ms. Krystal Da Breo kdabreo1@sgu.edu

School of Arts and Sciences Master Syllabi — Info for All Sections

Plagiarism Policy

Academic Integrity

The St. George’s University Student Manual (2019/2020) states as follows:

“Plagiarism is regarded as a cardinal offense in academia because it constitutes theft of the work of someone else, which is then purported as the original work of the plagiarist. Plagiarism draws into disrepute the credibility of the Institution, its faculty, and students; therefore, it is not tolerated” (p. 48).

Plagiarism also includes the unintentional copying or false accreditation of work, so double check your assignments BEFORE you hand them in.

Be sure to do good, honest work, credit your sources and reference accordingly and adhere to the University’s Honor Code. Plagiarism and cheating will be dealt with very seriously following the university’s policies on Plagiarism as outlined in the Student Manual.

Your work may be subject to submission to plagiarism detection software, submission to this system means that your work automatically becomes part of that database and can be compared with the work of your classmates.

Attendance Requirement

The St. George’s University Student Manual (2019/2020) states as follows:

“Students are expected to attend all classes and or clinical rotations for which they have registered. Although attendance may not be recorded at every academic activity, attendance may be taken randomly. Students’ absence may adversely affect their academic status as specified in the grading policy. If absence from individual classes, examinations, and activities, or from the University itself is anticipated, or occurs spontaneously due to illness or other extenuating circumstances, proper notification procedures must be followed. A particular course may define additional policies regarding specific attendance or participation” (p. 9).

Examination Attendance

The St. George’s University Student Manual (2019/2020) states as follows:

“All matriculated students are expected to attend all assigned academic activities for each course currently registered. Medical excuses will be based on self-reporting by students. Students who feel they are too sick to take an examination or other required activity on a specific day must submit the online SAS medical excuse, which is available on Carenage. Students are only allowed two such excuses a year. Upon consultation with the Director of University Health Service, the third excuse will result in a mandatory medical leave of absence. The policies regarding make-up examinations are at the option of the Course Director” (p.46).

For additional specific examination policies and procedures, refer to the St. George’s University Student Manual (2019/2020), pages 31 through 37.

Student Accessibility and Accommodation Services Policy

The St. George’s University Student Manual (2019/2020) states as follows:

“A student with a disability or disabling condition that affects one or more major life activities, who would like to request an accommodation, must submit a completed application form and supporting documentation to the Student Accessibility and Accommodation Services (SAAS) located in the Dean of Students Office. It is highly recommended that students applying for accommodations do so at least one month before classes begin to allow for a more efficient and timely consideration of the request. If a fully completed application is not submitted in a timely fashion, an eligibility determination may not be made, and accommodations, where applicable, may not be granted prior to the commencement of classes and/or examinations” (p. 8).

Disclaimer

It is the responsibility of the student to read and understand the policies, laws, rules and procedures that while they could affect your grade for a course, have not been specifically outlined in the course syllabus. These are contained in the St. George’s University Student Manual.