HEAL 215/PBHL 215: Introduction To Public Health SYLLABUS

HEAL 215/PBHL 215: Introduction to Public HealthSYLLABUSCourse No.:HEAL/PBHL 215Instructor:Andrea L. DeMaria, PhD, MSSection No.:Credits:Semester:Room:Days:Time:013Spring 2014Johnson 206Tues & Thurs1:40pm – 2:55pmOffice:E-mail:Phone:Office Hours:Silcox 314demariaa@cofc.edu(843) 953-1035T: 3pm to 5:30pmR: 3pm to 5:30pmand by appointmentCourse Catalog DescriptionThis course is designed to introduce the basic tenets, applications, and foci of public health, includingintegrating public health with other health professions. It will provide a history of public health, an overview ofthe core disciplines, current events and issues in the field.Prerequisites: None.Course Materials Text: Introduction to Public Health, Fourth Ed. Schneider, Mary-Jane. lth-Mary-JaneSchneider/dp/1449697364/ref sr 1 1?ie UTF8&qid 1389019908&sr 81&keywords introduction to public health schneider Other readings and materials as assigned. OAKS: I will use OAKS to post lectures, announcements, additional required readings, articles,assignment instructions, rubrics, and grades. Please plan to regularly check your account.Course Learning ObjectivesUpon successful completion of the course, the student should be able to: Outline the various components of the public health system. Describe interrelationships among different components of public health system. Identify eras in the historical development of public health and ways that public health affectseveryone’s daily life. Explain the basic principles of epidemiology, including rates, risk factors, disease determinants,causation, and public health surveillance. Apply measures of population health and illness, including risk factors, to community healthimprovement initiatives. Outline the role of law and government in promoting and protecting the health of the public andidentifying specific functions and roles of governmental public health agencies in assuring populationhealth.

Identify criteria for evaluating health systems, including matters of access, quality, and cost.Describe the impact of the environment and describe how communicable diseases, including animaland food-borne diseases, affect health.Explain how various occupations, professions, and careers contribute to carrying out public health’score functions and essential services.EvaluationAssignmentClass Participation Oral Chapter Summary Quizzes (10) Journal Club (2) Disease Detectives (2) World’s Toilet Crisis Reflection PaperDue DatePointsRandomThursdaysFebruary 4/April 3February 18/April 17February 2530100606050Midterm Media Project & Presentation Project ProposalMarch 13/18February 18300---Charleston Heart Map ChallengeMarch 11100Interview with a Public Health ProfessionalApril 22100Final ExamTotalMay 12001000Attendance/Participation: Attendance and participation are essential for successful completion of this courseand the optimal use of your time. Worthwhile participation in class can help your grade.Assignment and Exam DescriptionsClass Participation: Class discussions, in-class exercises and activities, and online engagement will providethe venue for learning, feedback, and point accumulation toward your final grade. Participation also meansdemonstrating that you have completed the assigned readings and that you are playing an active role bycontributing your thoughts, reactions, and opinions about the class topic. In-class exercises will be completedduring class time and may not be announced ahead of time. Exercises will hone creativity, teach relevant skills,and assess knowledge of the topics and reading materials. In-class exercises may include group work – it isyour responsibility to ensure that your name appears on all of your assignments, including assignmentssubmitted by a group. If a student misses an activity due to missing class or late arrival, he/she will not beallowed to make it up without a documented excuse.Oral Chapter Summary (30 points): You will be required to summarize material discussed within thetextbook for that day’s lecture period. The oral summary should last between two and three minutesand must include key points covered in the book reading. No supplementary materials such asPowerPoint slides are required. You may not use the textbook during your oral summary. Two studentswill be selected, at random, to complete the chapter summary for each chapter. Once you havecompleted your chapter summary, you will not be called upon again. Not being in attendance withoutHEAL 215 p.2

an excused absence or the inability to provide a detailed summary, without constantly looking at yourpersonal notes, will result in a zero. Volunteers will be called upon should a student not be able tocomplete the chapter summary task.Chapter Quizzes (100 points): There will be 10 scheduled quizzes throughout the semester. Quizzes willcontain multiple choice and true/false questions related to the assigned book readings for the week.Students are allowed to use all personal and class notes, as well as the textbook to assist with quizcompletion. All quizzes will be taken online, via Oaks, and will be due by 1:30pm on specifiedThursdays.Journal Clubs (60 points): Students will be required to partake in two journal clubs throughout thesemester. For each journal club, you are required to bring two popular media articles to class. In orderto receive full credit, students must submit the complete articles (two separate documents) to theDropbox by the designated time, print one copy of each article and bring to class (these copies shouldinclude some highlighting/personal notes to prove preparedness), actively engage in small groupdiscussion, and actively engage in large group discussion. We will use these Journal Club discussions tostay up-to-date with current Public Health issues.Disease Detectives (60 points): For these activities, students will: use their epidemiology knowledge,the ability to critically read and interpret health literature, and practice writing about public healthissues. Students will act as “Disease Detectives” by employing epidemiology to solve real world publichealth challenges. They will need to ask the right questions to gather information about what happened:Who is sick? What are their symptoms? When did they get sick? Where could they have been exposed tothe illness? Using statistical analysis, students will study the answers to these questions to uncoverhealth problems in a community, whether the problem is a measles outbreak on a small college campusor a global influenza pandemic. Students will then suggest solutions to halt the outbreak, stemtransmission, and prevent further illness. Students must be in attendance on scheduled DiseaseDetectives periods, and engage in active discussion/packet completion with their small group in orderto receive full credit.World’s Toilet Crisis Reflection Paper (50 points): Students will be writing an in-depth, two-pagediscussion and reflection paper after viewing the documentary, the World’s Toilet Crisis. Students willbe required to incorporate information from the documentary, lectures, readings, discussions, andpersonal research in order to successfully compile a comprehensive paper. All papers must adhere tothe Format Standards for Written Work below. Students must be in attendance the day of the viewingin order to be eligible for full credit on the assignment. Papers will be due the Dropbox by thedesignated time. No late papers will be accepted.Midterm Media Project and Presentation (300 points): In place of a Midterm Exam, you will berequired to create a 4 to 6 minute video, similar to the This Is Public Health campaign video shown in class.Students will be required to work in self-arranged groups of 4 or 5. A project proposal, detailing all groupmembers and video ideas, will be due prior to project submission, via the Dropbox, by the designated time.Each group will formally present their Midterm Media Project to the class. Presentations should be about 10 to12 minutes in length. Presentations should not only be a showing of the video, but should also detail theexperiences of the group in making the video. Students should create a PowerPoint presentation, with oneslide containing a link to their video and displaying all group member names. No additional slides arenecessary. Further explanation and guidelines will be given in class.Charleston Heart Map Challenge (100 points): The Charleston Heart Map Challenge is an assignment tolocate installed automated external defibrillators (AEDs) on the College of Charleston campus. This assignmentchallenges you to improve access to critical life-saving technologies. Students (you may work with a partner)HEAL 215 p.3

will identify and record the location of each campus AED and take a photo “selfie” with the AED (a smartphonephoto is acceptable). If you find an AED but the management of the building will not allow you to take a photo,you may provide a photo of the building. In addition to providing a picture of you (or your partner) with theAED and location, students must type a one-page paper describing their experience with the assignment, howthe activity relates to Public Health, and a short summary of the use/importance of AEDs. Only one assignmentsubmission per partnership is required. All assignments will be due to the Dropbox at the designated time. Nolate assignments will be accepted.Interview with a Public Health Professional (100 points): Students will be interviewing an individualwho works in a Public Health position (e.g., nurse, health educator, epidemiologist, administrator, researcher,professor, etc.). Students will be required to conduct the interview (either via phone, or in-person), record anaudio recording of the interview, and write a one-page summary paper discussing their interview experienceand newfound information. The header of the paper should include: the name, credentials, and contactinformation (phone and email) of the interviewee, date and location of interview, and start and ending time ofinterview. Required questions to be asked during the interview will be derived during a scheduled class period.Additional questions may be asked. All papers must adhere to the Format Standards for Written Work below.Students must submit the audio recording of the interview, and their one-page paper to the Dropbox by thedesignated time. No late assignments will be accepted.Final Exam (200 points): The exam will be cumulative and will cover all the assigned readings (even if wedid not necessarily discuss them in class), lecture material, and any material that speakers or other studentscontributed in class. Multiple choice, true/false, and short answer questions can be expected. The exam mustbe taken on the scheduled date and time, unless prior arrangements have been made and a documented reasonfor needing to take the exam at a different time has been presented.Grading ScaleGradeAAB BBC Total Points940900 - 939870 - 899840 - 869800 - 839770 - 799GradeCCD DDFTotal Points740 - 769700 - 739670 - 699640 - 669600 - 639599 and belowI adhere to the following descriptions of grade achievements: Grade A , A, A-: Denotes excellent mastery of the subject and outstanding scholarship (far aboveclass average). Grade B , B, B-: Denotes good mastery of the subject and good scholarship (above class average). Grade C , C, C-: Denotes acceptable mastery of the subject and usual achievement expected (at theclass average). Grade D , D, D-: Denotes borderline understanding of the subject, marginal performance, and doesnot represent satisfactory progress toward a degree (below the class average). Grade F: Denotes failure to understand the subject and unsatisfactory performance (far below theclass average).HEAL 215 p.4