We offer many elective courses during the senior year to best serve each student’s individual needs and goals. Students with well-defined career goals and those who are still in the process of choosing a specific area to focus on have a wide assortment of electives to choose from. Most courses are two or four weeks in duration.
Students are also encouraged to approach faculty members for the development of unique courses.
| Department: | Family and Community Medicine |
|---|---|
| Course Number: | FCM-4999 |
| Course Name: | Community Medicine Elective |
| Instructors: | Dr. Ann Rutter |
| Course Description: | Prerequisites: Successful completion of 3rd year. Also, project must be approved 8 weeks in advance of dates (by Dr. Rutter) of your course start date. Course Description: This elective is a two or four-week experience designed to expose the student to the principals and practice of community medicine. This is not a clinically oriented elective. The elective must be focused on a specific problem and incorporate a Community Health Assessment. The Community Health Assessment will introduce you to basic aspects of evaluating health within the community with which you have chosen to work. The social and environmental factors within your patients' communities are extremely important and significantly impact the health of all people within the community. The final product should be a 5-page formal written paper (12 point font, double spaced, typed). Additionally, graphs and figures should be attached as appendices. The student must submit a final report within two weeks of completing the elective. PLEASE NOTE: THIS COURSE QUALIFIES AS A NON-CLINICAL ELECTIVE. |
| Educational Objectives: | At the conclusion of the community medicine experience, the student will: 1. Appreciate the complexity and principles of a community approach to care. 2. Know their practice community in some depth; be able to perform a rudimentary Community Health Assessment. 3. Identify specific health indicators to assess the health status of the community. 4. Describe a priority health issue of the community. Relate priority health issues to behavioral, social and environmental health determinants. 5. Identify sources and limitations of population based data. |
| Types of Patients: | Varies depending on community chosen and project topic. |
| Teaching Sessions /Conferences: | NA |
| Resources /Readings: | 1. Mokdad, AH et al. Actual Causes of Death in the United States. JAMA. 2004; 291: 1238-1245. 2. Isaacs, SL & Schroeder, SA. (2004) Class-The Ignored Determinant of the Nation's Health. NEJM. 351:11 (1137-1142). 3. Irani, P et al. Community Health Assessment: Driving the Need for Current, Easily Accessible Population Health Data. J Public Health Management Practice. 2006; 12(2): 113-118. |
| Evaluation Method(s): | Direct Observation, Written Assignment |
| Contact Information: | Karen Frankenfield, Course Coordinator, [email protected] |
| Period(s) Available: | 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10 |
| Available Length: | 2 weeks 4 weeks |
| Max Students: | 1 |
| Visiting Students: | No |