Populations Health

Code:

MI127

Acronym:

SPOP

Keywords
Classification	Keyword
OFICIAL	Medicine

Instance: 2022/2023 - 2S

Active?	Yes
Responsible unit:	Public Health and Forensic Sciences, and Medical Education Department
Course/CS Responsible:	Integrated Master in Medicine

Cycles of Study/Courses

Acronym	No. of Students	Study Plan	Curricular Years	Credits UCN	Credits ECTS	Contact hours	Total Time
MIMED	289	Plano Oficial 2021	1	-	3	28	81

Teaching language

Suitable for English-speaking students

Objectives

This curricular unit has as main objective the acquisition of knowledge on the principles and concepts used in population’s health and its application for the understanding of the health and disease processes.

The syllabus of this Unit has a comprehensive nature in agreement with the objective of having a global understanding on the basic principles and major problems related with populations’ health, and to promote a vision of medical activity as part of a broader health team that it is present before and after the curative interventions.

The Unit provides tools for better critical thinking about the diversity and complexity of the factors that influence the health of individuals and populations. It uses an evidence-based approach to analyze the determinants of health and disease and the best intervention options to promote and to preserve health.

Learning outcomes and competences

Students should know how to describe and understand the main patterns of disease occurrence among populations and their determinants; They should know how to describe and understand the socio-demographic, economic, anthropological, behavioral, physical and biological conditions which influence or interact with the populations’ health status; They should be able to understand underling basic process of an investigation of an outbreak; they should gain critical skills to a better understanding of major global public health challenges

Working method

Presencial

Program

Historical perspective of Public Health; Demographic, epidemiological and nutritional transitions; Globalization and health; Patterns of disease occurrence in a population; Global burden of diseases; Data sources in health; Environmental and behavioral determinants of health in populations; Social, cultural, and economic determinants of health in populations. Prevention and control of risks (individual vs. population approach); Communicable diseases under control and emergent diseases; International health; Populations and mobility; Health and access to health care. Inequalities and Inequities in health; Maternal and child health; Health Plans and programs. To identify priorities and to define evidence-based strategies in populations’ health.

 

 

Mandatory literature

Denise Seabert; James F. McKenzie; Robert R. Pinger; An Introduction to Community & Public Health, (10th edition), Jones & Bartlett Publishers, 2021

Complementary Bibliography

Richard Riegelman, Brenda Kirkwood (editors); Public health 101: Healthy people-Healthy populations., 2nd ed. Burlington, MA: Jones and Bartlett Learning, 2014

Comments from the literature

Bibliography will also include scientific papers with relevance to the topics under study.

Teaching methods and learning activities

As this curricular unit has 3 ECTs, it is estimated a total of 81 hours of work by students; out of these 28,5h are of contact (face-to-face lectures), with the following distribution:

A weekly theoretical session of 51 min (total: 10 sessions - 8,5h)

A weekly theoretical-practical session of 150 min (total: 6 sessions – 15h)

Three seminars of 90 min - 4,5h

The stimulation of group discussions based on "case studies" i and active discussions sessions of pros and cons of an specific thematic are proposed as more effective option for the aquisition of skills.

Evaluation Type

Distributed evaluation with final exam

Assessment Components

Designation	Weight (%)
Exame	70,00
Participação presencial	10,00
Trabalho laboratorial	20,00
Total:	100,00

Amount of time allocated to each course unit

Designation	Time (hours)
Estudo autónomo	53,00
Frequência das aulas	28,00
Total:	81,00

Eligibility for exams

At least 75% of presencial participation on theoretical-practical sessions

Calculation formula of final grade

Assessment will be done by written examination comprising multiple-choice questions, corresponding to 70% of the final classification. The remaining 30% will be obtained through the assessment performed during the theoretical-practical sessions. (10% for participation on theoretical sessions and 20% for group oral presentation). Participation in teorethico-practical sessions will include the active participation of students on the discussion of the proposed topics.

Examinations or Special Assignments

Special assessment (TE, DA, ...)

Classification improvement

The improvement of classification will be carried out only through the component corresponding to the final exam.