Upon completion of the course, you will be able to:
1) Describe the breadth of Public Health & Preventive Medicine Practice in the U.S. specifically, and the world in general
2) Describe the content and technology of public health practice, with an emphasis on its application to under served populations in a community.
3) Differentiate between the public health professions contributing to improvement of the public's health
4) Articulate the functions of national, state and local public health providers/agencies
5) Describe the major categorical functions of public health in relation to the year 2010 national health goals.
6) Better understand the forces of change impacting the public health profession by health care reorganization.
7) Describe the links between public health & medical care.
8) Be able to describe how public health activities strengthen the community's health status and interrelate to public and private human service agencies.

This course addresses the following MPH competencies:
1A (1,3,9), 1B (1,2,5,8), 1C(1,2,3,4,5,8,10), 1D(1,2,4,5,6,7,8,9), 1E(1,2,5,8,10), 1F(1,2,3)
IIA (1,2,3,4,5,6),  IIB(1,4,5,6,9,19,), IIC (2, 7,9)

Key Words

Public Health, Goals, Objectives, Health Care System, Content of Public Health, Core Content, Expanded Content, Resources. Public Health Law, Public Health Ethics.

READINGS.

The required readings for the Introduction to Public Health practice are found in:
Introduction to Public Health, 2nd Edn. by Mary Jane Schneider. Published by ASPEN in 2006.

Essentials of Public Heath - BJ Turnock. Jones & Bartlett, 2007

Strongly recommended: The Future of Public Health (available on-line) published by Institute of Medicine in 1988, and 'The Future of the Public's Health in the 21st Century' (also on line from IOM) these should be scanned before each class.

Additional appropriate readings can also be found in:
Maxcy-Rosenau-Last's Textbook of Public Health & Preventive Medicine. 13th Ed. edited by Last or 14th Ed. edited by Wallace, published by Appleton and Lange, Norwalk CN., (13th Ed. 1992. 14th Ed 1998).  The 13th edition is more focused on public health while the 14th edition is more focused on clinical preventive medicine. This particular reference wll only be of value to MDs, DDS, DMVs. Most of the material provided in the EPID-600 course will be found in Dr. Buttery's essays which update the original ones , that were the basis for his 'Handbook for Health Directors' published by Oxford University Press in 1990.  That material is now out of date. Click Here for these essays updated for 2008

Other supplementary readings may be recommended by special guest lecturers, or experts on specific topics, designed to augment sessions presented by the course director. Students are also advised to become familiar with:
The American Journal of Public Health
The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA)
Millbank Memorial Fund Quarterly
Public Health & Human Ecology: Last J. M. Appleton & Lange. 1997 2nd Ed.

The following references can be consulted during the course:
US Preventive Service Task Force: Guide to Clinical Preventive Medicine 3rd edition
Reading & understanding Applied Statistics, A Self Learning Approach, Stahl & Hennes (CV Mosby)
Socioeconomic Characteristics of Medical Practice. AMA Center for Health Policy Research.
Control of Communicable Disease in Man.  Ed: Vavid L. Heymann, 18th Ed. 2004, APHA
Students are expected to become familiar with current public health issues, such as:

SPECIAL REFERENCES:

You should visit the MMWR Weekly Report and click on the FREE MMWR subscription.   This will send you the MMWR each week as an email attachment.  You will be able to read the MMWR in html or adobe format.  You should read this each week and be prepared to use the material in class, in examination answers, and to enhance class material.
        Prior to each session visit Healthy People 2010 and review the criteria related to the evening's topics by clicking on the Leading Indicators .  You may want to visit HP 2000 and see how the criteria have changed since 1990.  Think about why they have changed.  What data has been used to develop indicators?
        You should also visit the  National Academy of Sciences publication list to look at The Future of Public Health and consider whether the Recommendations of this 1988 are currently being implemented, or why they are not yet implemented.  What differences can you find in the above reference to the "PH in the 21st century".  Be prepared to discuss these issues with your lecturers.

You are expected to read a daily regional newspaper of general circulation (e.g. Richmond Times Dispatch, Washington Post. New York Times) and at least one weekly news magazine such as US News & World Report or Newsweek. Students will also find useful information for the course by accessing the Internet either through the school's intranet or their personal computers. The course director will provide Web addresses (URLs) for the CDC, the NIH, the AMA the IOM of NAS and the APHA.

Accumulated Bookmarks for course

EVALUATION

This course is designed to provide you with general knowledge of the scope and content of public health, and its relation to health care services.

Mid term and Final examinations will assess your ability to describe the scope and content of public health practice in written form. The final Summary Grade will be a standard letter grade summing the results of mid term, and final written exams. [Note about grading. Although the each question is assessed a letter grade, the letter is determined by first grading each answer on a 100 point scale with 92-100=A, 81-91=B, 71-80=C,  <71 =D/Fail] 

Mid Term Examination: (15 points)
The examination will consist of an open book examination, for which the student will be required to complete one 700 word (minimum) essay, from 3-5 topics related to the first 6 weeks of presentations.

Final Examination: (35 points)
This examination will also be an open book examination for which the student will be required to complete 2 (two) 700 word (minimum) essays, from 5 topics that will be presented at the last session of the course.  The essays should be presented as an email attachment sent to course director . 

The other 50 points are distributed equallly among the Weekly Quizzes and Discussion Board items, after first grading on a 100 point scale.
The Weekly Quizzes are found on the discussion board by clicking on the assignment tab and choosing the assignment of the week. A week starts from 00:01am each Monday through 11:59pm the following Sunday. The quizzes are marked as they are completed. If you do not get 100% on your quiz on your first attempt you may repeat the quiz within the study week. For this reason you are urged to take your quiz early enough to allow grading and potential repeat. Waiting until Sunday to complete a quiz negates any attempt to repeat the quiz to improve your score. All Blackboard submissions have a time & date stamp. Material turned in late will not be graded unless an extension has been granted 24 hours before the end of the study week.

Guide to answering written examination questions.  Carefully review the Keywords and Concepts for the topics.  Additional points are given for using material provided in the lectures, readings and from Web Research.  This additional review is likely to lead to an "A" for the question answered.

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