BMS1042 - Biomedical sciences and society

Leader: Professor Robert Burton (Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine)

Offered

Clayton Second semester 2008 (Day)

Synopsis

Applications of epidemiological and statistical concepts and methods to typical problems in population health and in the biomedical literature. This will include consideration of fundamental ethical issues pertaining to the conduct of biomedical research and population health interventions. Much emphasis is placed on a population view of health and disease, social determinants of health, epidemiological principles, research study design and statistical analyses of data.

Objectives

On successful completion of this unit, students will be able to:

1. Explain how health and disease are measured in populations (Descriptive Epidemiology)
2. Critically analyse the strengths and weaknesses of different epidemiological study designs which are used in population health research (Analytical Epidemiology).
3. Critically appraise the biomedical literature on population health.
4. Define the concept of the social determinants of health.
5. Discuss the impact of epidemics and outbreaks on populations.
6. Explain interventions which reduce risk exposure and/or treat diseases in populations are tested.
7. Discuss the concepts of diagnostic and screening tests, and how they are applied to populations;
8. Identify fundamental ethical considerations that underpin health research;
9. Identify the importance of statistical methods in the design, analysis and presentation of the results of research studies in health and biomedicine, and in reports of health-related matters in general;
10. Apply different types of biomedical data;
11. Explain basic statistical methods and when to apply them, and be able to perform basic statistical analyses;
12. Interpret statistical results presented in the biomedical literature and other media, and convey the interpretation in simple language.

Assessment

Written examination: 50%
Group and individual tasks on population health and biostatistics : 50%

Contact hours

Biostatistics 3 hours per week, Epidemiology/Ethics 3 Hours per week

Co-requisites

Must be enrolled in course code 2230; 2341; 2999, 3356; 3404; 3445; 3528; 3804; 3855; or 3879.